Mill: public to pay

Bob McMahon Tasmanians Against the Pulp Mill MR

Tasmanian public to pay for the pulp mill …
THE TASMANIAN public was informed today that it will most likely pay for Gunns pulp mill water and effluent pipelines.

“We’ve been expecting this for some time”, said Bob McMahon, TAP spokesperson. “The premier will stop at nothing to get his pulp mill, no matter how odious and socially de-stabilizing. His legacy to Tasmania is turmoil.”

“The transport system is already gifted to Gunns and I’m guessing the public will be asked to pay for the wharf as well. How about the wood fired power station? Anything and everything is on the cards,” said McMahon.

The question is how much further will the premier go in declaring other parts of the pulp mill “essential state infrastructure” thus relieving Gunns of the embarrassment of having to raise the whole $2 billion in a world where risk capital is both expensive and difficult to procure?

“The big question Tasmanians are asking is how aware is Prime Minister Kevin Rudd of Premier Lennon’s plundering of the public purse to build John Gay his pulp mill, because that public money is taken from public health, public education, public housing?” continued Mr. McMahon.

“So far Rudd has given no indication that he is anything but complicit in Lennon’s misappropriation of public money. He is still behaving in Tasmania like Howard’s echo and has not responded to the substance of any of the briefing material we have sent him and his ministers. The bare facts are that the risks and impacts of this proposed pulp mill on the lives, livelihoods, businesses, health and property values of tens of thousands of Tasmanians were deliberately excluded from consideration in the assessment process. Rudd seems happy that this unfair treatment continues,” concluded McMahon.

Earlier: What the hell is going on?