The unholy alliance

Dan Edwards New Matilda
“In the documentary, and more strongly in the book, Millwood’s investigation of the Brenda Hean case leads him to suggest that the destruction of Lake Pedder, the threats made against Hean and Price, and the mystery surrounding the pair’s disappearance, are all symptomatic of an ongoing cycle of abuse and a culture of silence on the apple isle.

No doubt Millwood’s portrait of Tasmania is selective, and the fact that the island has produced figures such as Brenda Hean, Bob Brown and Christine Milne demonstrates there is a strong culture that runs counter to the island’s ruling ideology. But Whatever Happened to Brenda Hean? does not purport to be a rounded portrait of the state. Millwood uses the Hean story, and his attempts to break the silence surrounding her disappearance, as a means of exploring a particular set of disturbing questions about Tasmania’s political culture, the island’s history, and a unique environment that is slowly but surely being destroyed by an unholy alliance of government and big business.”Read more here