Bid to call Lennon, Gay fails

Michael Stedman Mercury
THE Greens have failed in an attempt to call former premier Paul Lennon and Gunns chairman John Gay before the Bar of Parliament. The Greens wanted the pair to answer allegations they may have conspired to fast-track the assessment of the pulp mill. Former ministerial driver Michael Hawkes gave evidence before a Legislative Council committee earlier this week that Mr Lennon told Mr Kons in February last year the mill would be approved by May — a month before Gunns pulled out of the Resource Planning and Development Commission process. Greens Leader Nick McKim said there was a case that Parliament was grossly misled in voting for the Government’s alternative assessment process. “There is strong evidence of a Broadmarsh conspiracy to rip the pulp mill out of the RPDC’s competent assessment process and stick it into the Parliament where it could be fast-tracked,” Mr McKim said. He said suggestions Mr Lennon could have been simply referring to the May 28, 2007 deadline originally proposed by the RPDC were misleading. He said Gunns had been informed by the RPDC in October 2006 that its failure to produce environmental assessment had led to a blow-out in the original timeline. “No reasonable person could have expected the pulp mill assessment to have been completed by May unless they had inside information that the mill was going to be ripped from the RPDC,” Mr McKim said. The Liberals did not support the motion. The State Government said it would not support the move or a separate motion the Liberals debated yesterday for a Commission of Inquiry to investigate other controversies, including the aborted appointment of Richard McCreadie as interim police commissioner. Read more here
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