When Paul Lennon launched Tasmanian photographer Richard Bennett’s book Islands of Tasmania last week, no mention was made of the fact that the Premier’s Office had given Mr Bennett $154,100 of taxpayers ‘ money to produce it.
The deal raises three immediate questions:
Were other photographers invited to tender? Or was it just Mr Bennett?
If it was just Mr Bennett, how does this accord with Tasmanian government tendering policies?
Is there any other Tasmanian artist or writer who has ever been paid by the Tasmanian government this sort of sum to produce a book?
Or is it, as it would appear, the biggest government-funded private citizen literary deal in Tasmanian history?
Mr Bennett would appear to be a favoured son of the Lennon Government. The print chosen as a gift to Frederick and Mary was a Richard Bennett print. His recent book Seeing is Believing, which presented a benign view of current Tasmanian forestry practices, was launched at Forestry Tasmania’s Airwalk at Tahune by Paul Lennon. Some of the images in that book focus on regenerated clearfells, presenting them in a highly positive manner*.
The text of Islands of Tasmania is written by Bruce Montgomery, who worked for some three years with the Forests and Forests Industry Council until about a year ago.
*What Mr Lennon said: seeing_is_believing_book_launch.pdf
