Alfred Zudbrecka
After reading much of the media reporting of these developments ( Contempt for the public ) I am amused that people seem to be suggesting that this is a “shock” development.
I would have thought that most could see this coming from a mile away.
Perhaps people are more naive than I thought?
Do people really believe that enabling legislation was drafted by Hornsey et. al. overnight? What a load of baloney! Anyone with half a gram of grey matter knows that legislation takes months (at the best of times) to draft. We are clearly seeing the playing out of tactics that were decided (and drafted) during the Christmas recess.
Anyhows let’s make a few more observations with a critical eye and a strategic glance.
The most enlightening aspects of this “news” is both the timing and the Premier’s “open letter” on Saturday.
Once again our ever-astute Tasmanian media failed to pick-up on anything! For those with a few brain cells (and a handy pocket calculator) one may have noticed many of the fanciful “facts” published in Lennon’s Letter. Most notably the line that each Tasmanian household would benefit to the tune of $870 pa. This is really saying that the State government hopes to pocket $174 million pa in revenues.
Apart from being an astronomically ridiculous figure, it says more about how the Government intends to account for the project within the revenue-side of the ledger of the State Budget.
Budget preparations have commenced some time ago with the anticipation of a mid-June release. The reality is that the Mill will only produce annual cash revenues to the state of about $3.5 million (GST and Payroll Tax). However the presence of a Mill will allow a great deal of room for “creativity” in estimates of economic growth — especially when the cash tin is bare and one needs to go to the bank to borrow for a new hospital.
For those with a not-too-short memory, one may recall that the 2006 State Budget placed a great deal of emphasis on the Pulp Mill with regards to economic growth.
We now know that:
A. Growth predictions are totally buggered, and,
B. Costs have blown-out. Consequently the Governments 4-year budget prognosis will be looking somewhat shabby with the Pulp Mill going down the gurgler.
Hence the urgency has more to do with the Government getting its Treasury in order before June so that (once again) the true and disastrous state of the Budget bottom line can be slipped down the back of the couch of pulp mill overstatement. This is really why the Premier has set a deadline of no later than August. John Gay will certainly have given him an answer by Budget time.
Keep reading between the lines people.
Three-day parliamentary approval, public need not apply:
Lennon sets new deadline
Earlier:
The real conspiracy
The stench of ’89
