The man who did nothing

Cheshire
HOW pathetic and useless is one of our senior politicians at undertaking his duties?

David Llewellyn has only just finished telling Paliament that “No amount of scientific backup and so on will alter the facts as they now stand” about the Tarkine Road (Hansard, last week). That is, he has no interest in scientific input to inform his advice.

But hang on, then there are the sea stars in Frederick Henry Bay. For this we are told: “Mr Llewellyn said it was “almost a fruitless exercise” to try to eradicate seastars. “I certainly encourage people in specific areas to clean them up if they are there but it will be a very difficult task to eliminate seastars from our environment now — in fact, an impossible task, the scientists are telling me,” he said.” (Mercury March 11).

So suddenly the science is helpful, because this time it helps him justify doing nothing.

On a roll, this bastion of inactivity has now proclaimed that the endangered swift parrot is a write off, “virtually doomed” and “unlikely to be viable in the long term” (Mercury March 11). But where did this comment come from? State government staff and interstate experts have been cooperating on the protection of this species for years. Swift parrot numbers remain low, but they have not been plummeting. They are still a regular sight in Tasmania and they still breed successfully each year. Their population is clearly being maintained, if low, which is far from a losing battle.

So why the sudden outbreak of pessimism? Oh, that’s right, it is because they have suddenly got in the way of forestry. That’s our ‘world’s best’ forest industry, the one that takes threatened species seriously until it means they actually have to do something. That alone means the parrot’s outlook shifts from surviving to getting a big red cross.

But wait a minute, hasn’t this all erupted over Weilangta, the forest where Bob Brown campaigned in court to demonstrate that the industry was threatening the survival of this species? Did the industry and the state government not fight Senator Brown’s claim tooth and nail, saying that this was not the case and everything was just peachy? Either it is or isn’t, Minister, you need to get your story straight.

Because of this logging inconvenience, let us throw away all of the work that has been done on the swift parrot over the years. Let us write it all off so industry can log away. Let us even have the Premier announce a ludicrous and widely condemned plan to plant lots more trees for the parrot. It sounds good on the surface, even if the trees will not be useful as feeding sites for years, while much more important nesting sites continue to be lost.

Let us completely ignore the advice of experts and the nationally agreed swift parrot recovery plan to do something totally unconnected with the core needs of the species. Let us not even approach the state government’s own experts to seek their comment before announcing the new state plan. Because if we do, we might have to listen to them. And worse, we might then have to do something meaningful.

At least Nero fiddled while Rome burnt, but David does nothing. Poorly.