John West
It’s now down to raw politics and finalising commercial deals to suit both major parties – not Labor and Liberal, No! Gunns Ltd and the Federal Coalition.
Also, link here:
Turnbull weakens on pulp mill site
The Oz with the Greens in Turnbull’s electorate
THE reliable word is Senator Bill Heffernan has become “Mr fix-it” for John Howard on the proposed pulp mill.
Heffernan will be trying to negotiate with John Gay and the Gunns Board to entice them to delay the construction, review the mill technology and perhaps reconsider the siting for the mill.
This will take considerable heat off Howard in Tasmania but it will come – as usual – at great cost to the taxpayer!
The formal play through Turnbull’s office is to make the Commonwealth draft conditions appear tough, make them public and give 10 days for public submissions.
Turnbull is delaying his final decision for as long as is politically possible; all the while ‘behind-the-scenes’ deals are going on continuously. Turnbull released his Department’s draft advice on the conditions for the pulp mill last Monday. The draft conditions have given him sufficient room to invoke more time to get the more advice from people like the Chief Scientist to the Commonwealth. Turnbull’s approach has given the Commonwealth ample room to change tack and more time to negotiate with Gunns. Gunns (and particularly Gunns director & the ol’ political stager, Robin Gray) would now realise all this.
It also gives Gunns Ltd time to see the politics and capitalise on the potential of BIG money on offer from Canberra. And that’s where Bill comes in; he is a true-blue Howard-man and he’d be perhaps the only guy in the Commonwealth that could cut a deal with Gunns and salvage the Liberal-held seats of Bass and Braddon in northern Tasmania.
It’s now down to raw politics and finalising commercial deals to suit both major parties – not Labor and Liberal, No! Gunns Ltd and the Federal Coalition.
A few weeks ago tall, bald Peter Garrett was spotted making a quick Tassie visit to shore up Labors’ forestry policy. Keep up the pollie-watch at Tassie’s airports, you just might see Big Bill striding through the gates.
