Fiona Reynolds Sunday Examiner
“I think the people of the North-West Coast would welcome the pulp mill with open arms and clearly the people of Launceston don’t. “I was lobbied heavily by the Burnie City Council to tell Gunns to shift the pulp mill up to Burnie right at the very early stages. “Well I didn’t believe it was the job of Government to dictate that to private industry.” Mr Lennon said he could also have avoided the Pulp Mill Task Force becoming part of the political argument … “The whole purpose of the task force was to keep the public informed about the process for the pulp mill,” Mr Lennon said. “The mistake I made is that the task force should have been attached to the RPDC, not the Department of Economic Development. “It could have been totally in Julian Green’s area of responsibility.” Read more here
And
The Gardener: He later shows us a pair of sandstone kookaburras: “There we are, looking over our garden. Honey (Bacon) gave us those.” The tour of the home and its hectare of garden and paddocks took two hours. Mr Lennon’s unwavering drive to achieve his goals – which critics argue was at any cost – seems to have been transferred from politics to the garden. “Every blade of grass stands up straight,” he said, pointing to a patch of lawn. “It’s my pride and joy. Better than the Botanical Gardens. “I spend all day out here sometimes – it’s been a big effort to get it under control.” And while he said he’s more relaxed – “I hadn’t had a four- week annual leave holiday in almost 20 years” – Mr Lennon easily switches back into political battle mode. When flippantly asked whether he was a conservationist, after pointing out a broken-down piece of fence that will be re-used as a trellis, Mr Lennon retorted: “What’s a conservationist? Someone Peg Putt (former Greens leader) agrees with?” It took him a moment to realise it wasn’t a serious question. He later spoke of how he has no regrets about quitting. “It was time to move on and I did,” he said. Read more here
And
It’s not true: `Mike Hawkes should stick to driving, frankly’ PAUL Lennon has angrily denied devising a plan to quickly approve Gunns’ proposed pulp mill through legislation, a month before the company withdrew from the RPDC process … Mr Lennon said Mr Hawkes’ evidence “is not true”. … “I mean it just shows you how the facts of a story can be completely turned around,” he added. “Yes I had a meeting with Kons but what I told him was that to get a decision on the pulp mill by the end of the financial year then the draft final report from the RPDC would need to be published by May. “If you have a look, that was the process that was laid down by the RPDC. “Mike Hawkes should stick to driving, frankly. “I find it disgraceful that someone who was in a position that he was in would become involved in these things.” On Mr Hawkes’ claim that Mr Kons described the Cabinet process as “bulls…”, Mr Lennon said “you’d have to ask Steve Kons”. Read more here
(Dr) Warwick Raverty
November 8, 2008 at 13:00
Another striking example of how ‘absolute power corrupts absolutely’. Now that the absolute power has been relinquished, the man reverts to some much less corrupted way of thinking. He’s clearly not being back to being ‘totally honest and uncorrupted’ though. Why would Mike Hawkes lie about what Steve Kons told him? Much more likely that Paul Lnnon was indeed plotting with Gunns to get Gunns a ‘less independent’ assessment process on Feb 4th 2007. I see this interview as just another case of an ‘I was not a Nazi!’ speech being prepared in case there is a ‘Nuremberg’ Royal Commission held at some point down the track – as indeed there should be. If matters are all strictly according to what Lennon has said in the Examiner today, why did the ALP and Libs combine to block Lennon and Gay being called and sworn before the LC public appointments enquiry????????
Bev
November 8, 2008 at 16:22
Lennon still does not get it! Ok, he has stated that he should have “gauged” public opinion – well it was fairly bleeding obvious, right from the beginning in January 2005 that the site choice was unpopular and two years later the RPDC also had made it clear that the Longreach site was inappropriate. However, even at this time, Lennon was bullying his way forward, despite opininion polls consistently showing that approx 80% of Tasmanians were against the mill and the site. The other statement he makes that he thinks many of the opponents “will change their minds over the next six months” also proves that Lennon is still focussed on jobs that don’t and won’t exist at the expense of existing alternative businesses in the Tamar Valley. In 6 months, with a definitive NO! to the Pulp Mill, there will be more activity in the Valley, despite current economic conditions. Obviously, Lennon has not been listening to all the small business operators, home owners etc, in the Tamar Valley who have put business expansion, home renovations etc on hold because of this pulp mill! How much has this cost the Tasmanian economy already?
And no Paul, I don’t believe you when you deny fast-tracking the pulp mill. Legislation does not get written so quickly and it was obviouls that there had been collusion between Gunns and the government in this process. The alternative is that you would have us believe that Gunns simply wrote an entire piece of legislation, just in case they might need it? Pull the other one…..
john hayward
November 8, 2008 at 17:06
The man’s gifts as a malignant buffoon have not faded in retirement.
His suggestion that the Pulp Mill Task Force spin campaign should have been a function of the RPDC shows a breathtaking incomprehension of any notion of integrity. That the Tasmanian Labor Party supported him for so long should warrant their banishment from politics.
Another vintage piece of Lennon was his unsubstatiated claim that Mike Hawkes’ brave testimony was perjury. It was notable that he implied Mr Hawkes should have “stuck to driving”, i.e. kept his mouth shut, yet clumsy show of the thuggishness that has dominated his public life.
Lennon deserves one last political encore – in a fully empowered ICAC or Royal Commission into years of massive kleptocracy.
John Hayward
Pete Godfrey
November 8, 2008 at 20:30
I totally agree with Mr Hayward on this one. Lennon is at it again, he wouldn’t know the truth if it knocked on his front door.
To say that Mike Hawkes should stick to driving is the response that one would expect from a bully and a thug. ” NO DOBBING ALLOWED IN TASMANIA”
I too hope that an ICAC is implemented and that Lennon (is questioned).
He never did attempt to listen to the people at any time he was in power to now turn around and say he should have listened is very rich indeed.
Nice try Mr Lennon but we are not interested just like you weren’t interested in us when you were running Tasmania for your mates at Lindsay St
Valleywatcher
November 8, 2008 at 20:57
WTF? I read the Examiner article and the bit I found most disturbing was the bit when asked what he is doing with his time, this man who ran this state for however long it was responded with pride about his bloody lawn….””Every blade of grass stands up straight”…..”It’s my pride and joy. Better than the Botanical Gardens. I spend all day out here sometimes – it’s been a big effort to get it under control.”
I think this says something about this very strange person, but I’m not sure quite what. I do know I am very disturbed by it.
David Crichton-Gill
November 8, 2008 at 22:07
Every blade of grass stands up straight,†he said, pointing to a patch of lawn. “It’s my pride and joy. Better than the Botanical Gardens.
What a shame he didn’t have the same compassion and respect for Tasmanians, the environment and democracy as he has for his straight blades of grass!
Tasmania has a long way to go but can only be a better place without political thugs like Lennon.
One down ….many many more to go!
emily
November 8, 2008 at 23:20
Who’s got more to lose by telling the truth, Mike Hawkes or Paul Lennon?
Ross
November 8, 2008 at 23:26
Quote
“I was lobbied heavily by the Burnie City Council to tell Gunns to shift the pulp mill up to Burnie right at the very early stages. “Well I didn’t believe it was the job of Government to dictate that to private industry.â€
Quite right Paul, In Tasmania, in my opinion, it seems that some private industry dictates to government
Charles and Claire Gilmour
November 9, 2008 at 11:33
“Every blade of grass stands up straight,†“It’s my pride and joy…. It’s been a big effort to get it under control.â€
Well there you go. Says it all – The mentality behind the man. The reasoning, attitude, what he aspires to. He’d want to hope his lawn mower didn’t get a screw loose.
No doubt he is one of those frustrated gardeners, battling constantly against nature, what is natural, where control leaves no room for natures little quirks, for natural growth, for natural biodiversity.
This ‘control’ an ‘ordered’ mentality shows the reasoning behind his love affair with plantations, as opposed to the rugged beauty of nature. It shows the attitude behind why he was so unbending in not listening to the people. His ‘PRIDE and joy’ was more important than the people around him.
Maybe he should have stuck to growing straight rows of grass. Obviously easier than getting the public ‘under control’. Maybe if he’d made the effort to let the public stand up tall and talk straight, he would have known what it felt like to be the publics ‘pride and joy’, rather than become the states embarrassment.
But maybe now he could get a job as one of the green keepers at Gunns golf club in Kingsmeadows. Well afterall, he already as links to at least one board member there – and it would be in keeping with jobs for the boys.
But it sounds like it’s more than Peg Putt who’s ‘driving’ him around the bend. Mr Kons driver can now join the ‘hit’ list of any who dare to tell the truth.
Could it be that paranoia has set in?
As Lennon said, “What’s a conservationist†Someone Peg Putt agrees with?â€
Has he entered Robin Gray’s “green†nightmare? Maybe they could have paint offs – who can create and paint a picture of the craziest environmental nightmare?
Maybe there could be a remake of the movie about that mental quadriplegic, The lawn mower man? And Lennon could take pride of place and be the leading man?
William Blake in 1799 probably sums it up best, when he said,…
The TREE
which moves some to tears of joy,
is in the eyes of others
only a green thing,
which stands in the way.
Dave Groves
November 9, 2008 at 19:13
These staements by Lennon come out of the blue.
Perhaps he knows something we don’t?
Perhaps ICAC is closer than we think??
Gerry Mander
November 9, 2008 at 20:03
Every blade of grass stands up straight,†he said, pointing to a patch of lawn. “It’s my pride and joy.
If only he has said that about all the trees!
james crotty
November 9, 2008 at 23:03
“The mistake I made is that the task force should have been attached to the RPDC, not the Department of Economic Development. “It could have been totally in Julian Green’s area of responsibility.â€
The mistake we made is for one moment believing that Lennon was committed to an independent assessment from the RPDC. The task force was nothing but propaganda. It would be a joke if it wasn’t so sad that we let it happen.
“Well I didn’t believe it was the job of Government to dictate that (the location of the pulp mill) to private industry.†(my brackets) This strains credulity. Last count we were going to be paying for an awful lot of it.
The lesson to be learnt is not to let it happen again. Lennon never would have gotten away with it unless his cabinet and caucus either agreed or were too inept or too inarticulate to mount effective opposition. Bartlett and his mates deserve credit for finally relieving us of a blight upon public life. And one, from his comments, Lennon appears unable to recognise he comprised.
Abe
November 10, 2008 at 00:17
Credit where credit is due, everyone, eh?
Lennon may have given this exclusive to The Examiner, but its only (yet another) desperate attempt to ‘balance’ this newspaper’s recent work as the best investigative reporting media outlet in the state.
Which is what The Examiner have been proving since shortly after Fiona Reynolds came onboard as Editor. The Ex changed recently (apart from old Stevo, but he’s rusted on isn’t he?), but nobody seems to have noticed this amazing transformation.
So I’m just issuing a call-out to all you northern types, and southerners too for that matter – The Ex is back with a vengance and is now clearly the pre-eminent news-breaking media outlet in Tasmania.
By a long way, too.
The reasons?
The Examiner are publishing news, real Tasmanian news, irrespective of source, and breaking big stories as a result – mainly due to two things:
1) They’re reporting various Greens-generated issues for the first time in many years (keeping in mind their location in Kim-Booth-leak-source-ville), and then they’re cashing in on the ALP packing shit about their new behaviour and ‘feeding’ them exclusives in a desperate (and so far failed) attempt to cultivate the cheer-leader reporting that used to occur; and,
2) The Ex has hired a large number of cabable new journalists, including three (count em, three!) in Hobart alone. Maturbatory-hand-gesture-gate occurred simply because The Ex is now staffing Paliament permanently, instead of going home after the choice bits (like every other media outlet in Tassie) – they are definitely working harder than the rest.
The Exaggerataor is really doing it at the moment, and I think they’re leaving The Mockery, and the others too, in their wake.
Anyone else got an opinion on this?
Rick Pilkington
November 10, 2008 at 02:01
The great endowment that Mr Lennon is to anti-pulp mill movement, he will never know.
He will never likely grasp just how much he gave to the campaign against a project that ultimately killed his political career.
It is probably a good thing that he doesnt full realise. For Mr Lennon to fully appreciate the consequences of the own goals he has kicked, the true extent of his folly, would probably cause him pain that he could not bear.
Now thanks to Fiona Reynolds little outing to the bizzarre and obedient lawns of Lennons sandstone retreat in Broadmarsh there is even more fodder the publics case against Australia’s trashiest proposal.
Like an open and infected wound the tale of the Gunns Pulp Mill just seems to get smellier with every day that passes. And with everyday that it goes untreated, the likelihood that the host will become septic and die increases. Take heed Mr Bartlett. Vigilance is required.
So lets pick one for starters. Hampshire.
Lennon tells us “we could have done more work there”.
It is my understanding that the RPDC’s Pulp Mill Assessment Process (PMAP) required detailed information on the capital and operating cost differences between mill proposals at Long Reach and Hampshire. The the 2004 Environmental Guidelines (which were actually written for Hampshire) in requiring information for a full assessment demanded that if the site selected has associated environmental problems the proponent (Gunns) must state clearly what alternative sites have been considered and why they have been rejected in favour of the proposed site.
Gunns stubbornly refused to provide this information to the RPDC PMAP and to my knowledge even at the time Gunns abandoned the RPDC this information was never ever forthcoming.
This was indeed a bone of contention for the RPDC panel until the bitter end. They were highly supspicious of Gunns motives for withholding this assessment work
So when Lennon say ‘We’, that is: Lennon and Gunns needed to do more work on the Hampshire option, we are again reminded that Lennon was too close to the project. The RPDC PMAP require that Gunns, not Paul Lennon and the Tasmanian Government, do the work on the Hampshire site.
In early 2007 Lennon cut short his annual leave to drive north and placate the antsy tantsy John Gay who was “apparently” threatening to quit the RPDC PMAP. A week or two later, acting as a messenger boy for Gunns, Lennon ‘leaned’ on Chris Wright to speed up and make easier the PMA process. Paul Lennon told Fiona Reynolds he just wanted to “keep the project alive”.
That none of the above was Paul Lennons job was also not lost on the people of Tasmania.
When a Premier is not doing his job it doesnt take long for people to notice.
That is why Paul Lennon lost his job.
Duncan Grant
November 10, 2008 at 09:21
Every blade of grass stands up straight,†he said, pointing to a patch of lawn.
Well this explains his attitude to forests. The man has a bleeding mowing addiction!
crud
November 10, 2008 at 14:27
I wonder if he consults peter cundall on his lawn,geez,watch out for the corbys paul.
Charles and Claire Gilmour
November 10, 2008 at 20:04
(13) Agree credit where credit is due and although generally still only have a quick squizz on the shelf (as still smarting from being called unaustralian!) no doubt Fiona Reynolds has some what changed the mates toilet paper into something not so Lennon/Gay/Gunns biased. And doesn’t seem to aspire to the old notion of trying to clearfell the public for their concerned opinions. (Though at least one seemed to think her shake up meant she didn’t know how to run the paper as a business!) Maybe running it as a business and not FOR a certain business has been the key, eh? But then again, go up … up … up the ex’s echelons and Gays’ mates might still be influential too!
Lennon obviously, still seems to love to exaggeratingly impose his importance in it. Is that due to who he knows or because of what he knows? Not sure how relevant giving air space to Lennon, who seems to have desperately grabbed hold of the reigns, and seized the moment to try to lead a backward facing donkey of a government from the sidelines, is, but hey … stupid is as stupid says and the snippets, if not somewhat revealing, are at least worth the laugh.
Hopefully healthy competition will lead to some in-depth investigative journalism. Is it allowed now?? Seeing as ‘in hindsight’ stories – those stories looking into how things really have unfolded over the last few years, – seem to be the flavour of the moment, journos looking into ex exaggerators senior government appointments might produce some extra sales.
Oh and maybe someone in the appropriate position could advocate to the northwest paper to completely pull their head out of the sand, and bring the northwest into the 21 century! At least let the public know that there is actually government in Tasmania, no matter how useless. Or are we to be forever spun by forestry and the wood chipping union dream?
Ultimately, the exag rag has a lot of catching up to do, and deservedly so.
Steve
November 11, 2008 at 00:07
Good post Rick (14).
Aside from other concerns, I can’t help but be fascinated by a ex-union, Labor premier suggesting that, because someone is a driver, they are somehow unable to recollect as clearly, (or as honestly?) as a politician.
Seems to me that the old fashioned litmus test of honesty still applies; “he who gains no benefit either way is most likely to bear honest witness”