Where is Lennon’s sense of propriety?

Polly Watch

We have just had reports of the former Chairman of the RPDC pushed out of his position because he complained about his role being compromised during the pulp mill hearing due to pressure from the government-paid ‘task force’.

Now, within weeks, we have a report that once again Lennon has tried to interfere with the RPDC process by asking that the hearing be fast-tracked, after pressure via the media that the mill may be built on the mainland, Lennon asks RPDC to speed upvGunns assessment

There have been various reports in the media, supposedly from a spokesperson for a mainland council, that the council is waiting in the wings to grab the pulp mill proposal, but with no detail about whether the people living in that community would accept a pulp mill (or even if they have heard of it) or if it would be a suitable site for a mill. These devoid-of-information reports are the equivalent of a real estate agent pressuring a client to pay the asking price without delay because ‘others’ are champing at the bit to buy the property.

Newspaper reports that Gunns held up the hearing because they failed to provide information requested was confirmed by the new Chairman of RPDC, who said that because of the delay, the hearing wouldn’t be finalised until late 2007. The new Chairman also had to refuse demands to meet with the proposer. Shouldn’t these incidents lead to serious doubt about the proposer and his proposal?

At the same time, another report has been published that the Tasmanian Parliament has sat for the least amount of days of all the States so that the Government can’t be fully questioned about its decisions, Parliamentary schedule a disgrace: Opposition. Has this anything to do with the amount of time that Lennon has spent running to Launceston to placate Gay? Lennon was elected to represent all the people, through open parliamentary process, not to spend time acting like a lobby agent for a select few.

At what point will all other politicians in the House band together to call this ‘un-premier’ type behaviour to account? Lennon’s actions are more galling than those of the Governor who was sacked. Can all other politicians find another $500,000 or so, and tell Lennon to immediately either shape up or ship out?

This whole on-going fiasco, one embarrassment after another, is like a bad bush-ranger movie that has come to life — are the rest of the gang prepared to follow Ned to his comeuppance?