I won’t be silenced

Peg Putt Press Release

The Tasmanian Greens today stressed that the public was entitled to know the whole truth of government involvement in Gunns’ decision to pull out of the RPDC assessment of their pulp mill and that the Greens are duty bound to explore this in Parliament on the public record, as they dismissed a move to try and silence their Leader via a letter from Tasmania’s senior public servant circulated to media outlets.

Greens Opposition Leader spokesperson Peg Putt MHA also is appalled by the revelation of Labor backbench member Heather Butler MHA on radio this morning that the Labor caucus was also never informed that the RPDC had found Gunns’ IIS and Supplementary Information material to be critically deficient, something they only became aware of when the Greens raised it in Parliament over the past ten days.

“The government is running scared because the revelation that they kept from Parliament and from the people of Tasmania the fact that Gunns had failed to present satisfactory information to the RPDC and knew that to be the case when they pulled out and got a fast track approval instead, is a scandal.”

“Almost every day there is a new revelation of the double game that has been played, and today we find that the Premier also kept the Labor caucus in the dark about the true situation that Gunns faced at the RPDC when they pulled out.”

“No doubt caucus was spun the same line as was the Parliament, that this as all about Gunns’ timelines and the vital fact that their impact statement wasn’t up to scratch was omitted.”

“It is the role of non-government parties to ask the difficult questions and hold government to account and I will not be silenced by the Secretary of DPAC personally attacking me for doing my job.”

“Her ostensibly private letter to me was sprayed around the media before I had even opened it, in a blatantly political move to try and shift the focus from the government machinations I have been digging into.”

“I utterly reject the claim that I set out to personally disparage the Departmental Secretary, indeed I never even referred to her by name and it was the Premier who introduced her specific identity into the parliamentary exchanges.”

“This is not about what the Secretary has done personally in terms of any focus on that particular person and it is precious to assume so, its about the Greens delving into how the decision for Gunns to withdraw from the RPDC came about and the government’s role in that.”

“The public are entitled to know the truth of the government’s involvement and it is proper and appropriate that I should explore this in Parliament on the public record, not by back room phone conversations as suggested in the letter.”

“The Head of the Premier’s Department should expect actions undertaken in that role’s capacity to be subject to scrutiny and it is absurd to suggest otherwise.”

Ms Putt also said that it was apparent that the letter being distributed to media outlets was a desperate attempt by Labor to avoid ongoing scrutiny on the serious outstanding questions that the Premier has refused to answer about this matter.

“The Premier should stop hiding behind this diversionary tactic and instead answer the serious question about whether anyone in his government, or his staff had any contact with Gunns or their agents that involved discussions about alternative approvals processes for the pulp mill between the time that Gunns received the message from the DPAC Secretary that their Supplementary information was considered critically deficient by the RPDC, and when they pulled out from the RPDC process, followed by Labor rushing fast-track legislation through the Parliament.”

Download: Jun15-LETTER-Putt_to_Hornsey-re_letter_to_media_ATTACH.pdf

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