Contempt for the public

Turnoff Thetelly

Shame on the two major parties, with nothing to differentiate one from the other, in their level of contempt for the Tasmanian public.

Read the press release from William Hodgman, Leader of the State Liberal Party, and note that there is not a hint that the Liberal Party will boycott Lennon’s latest attempt to scuttle, without a mandate, without reference to the people of Tasmania, the State’s independent planning body.

Link: http://www.tas.liberal.org.au/default.cfm?action=news_detail&ID=6646 including: “Notwithstanding the Labor Government’s complicity in the events that led to the withdrawal of the pulp mill from the RPDC yesterday, the State Opposition believes investors in this State should have some certainty of timeframe, especially after three years.”

Hodgman has simply stated, selectively, what has occurred, but has made no attempt to say what he would have done in the event of directors of a private company refusing to lodge documentation on time to the State’s independent planning body and then crying foul about that body not rushing through the planning process in order to rubber-stamp that company’s profit-making proposal.

Note that Hodgman says that he supports the RPDC guidelines, but he is careful to avoid voicing support for the RPDC body examining how those guidelines will be met.

This empty piece of political speak from Hodgman could have been written by any other Tasmanian content to sit on the fence and do nothing as democracy is trampled by a supposed leader elected to govern for all, not just for self-styled profit-focused elites.

Shame on the two major parties, with nothing to differentiate one from the other, in their level of contempt for the Tasmanian public.

In a previous TT comment in December 2006, Mill and the Feds, I noted links to quotes from Prime Minister Howard and the then Minister for the Environment, Senator Campbell, and pointed out that Howard backed a “chlorine-free pulp mill” during the last federal election campaign and Campbell promised full assessment under Commonwealth environmental law:

PM Howard: “… but I would indicate that if that feasibility study turns out to be positive then the Federal Government would consider contributing some $5 million to the project costs of the development of an environmentally friendly, chlorine-free pulp mill.”
NB: “chlorine-free pulp mill”.
http://www.pm.gov.au/media/Interview/2004/Interview955.cfm

Sen. Campbell: “A proposal by Gunns Ltd to develop a new pulp mill in Tasmania will be fully assessed under the Australian Government’s Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, the Minister for the Environment and Heritage, Senator Ian Campbell, said today.”
Where is the outcome of the assessment?
http://www.deh.gov.au/minister/env/2005/mr25jan05.html

Both Liberal Party men failed to keep these election promises, and Howard still paid Gunns at least $5 million for a proposal with watered-down environmental outcomes. We have no idea of the amount of public funds Lennon has thrown at this private project to date, and the financial drain on the public purse is on-going, with Parliament called in to special sittings and another lot of expensive experts to be summoned.

Will Tasmanians now accept the gravity of the crisis about lack of majority representation in politics in Tasmania and take the opportunity to register a protest vote in the coming federal election, by voting only for independents and others?