BARTLETT GOVT DESERTING ELLIOTT RESEARCH STATION
Workers Facing Dismissal and Eviction, Offices to be Levelled
Kim Booth MP
Greens Primary Industries Spokesperson
Saturday, 12 September 2009

www.tas.greens.org.au
The Tasmanian Greens today revealed that the Bartlett Government is overseeing the secret shutdown of the Elliott Research Station near Burnie, and accused the government of deserting agricultural research in Tasmania and making a nonsense of David Bartlett’s food-bowl thought-bubble.

Greens Primary Industries spokesperson Kim Booth MP said all the workers at the Elliott Station bar one have been told they must voluntarily resign and take redundancy payouts, or face dismissal from the Station within weeks, and that the office buildings will then be levelled.

Mr Booth said the Greens understand that workers at Elliott are also facing eviction from their homes on the Station, and are calling on the Bartlett Government to show compassion to the families involved.

“On the one hand we have Premier David Bartlett babbling on about his vision of Tasmania as a food-bowl, and on the other we have his government abandoning agricultural research stations across the state,” said Mr Booth.

“Farmers are currently battling against a flood of cheap imports, climate change, and unfair price offers from manufacturers, and the Bartlett Government’s response is to abandon the Cressy, Grove, and now Elliott Research Stations.”

“Its all very well for David Bartlett to come up with food-bowl thought-bubbles, but turning agricultural research into a desert is not the way forward.”

“The Elliott Research Station is almost exclusively focussed on the dairy industry and Tasmanian dairy farmers, who are already facing an uncertain future following a disastrous cut in the farmgate price for their milk, will be incredibly disappointed by this attempt to secretly abandon the Station.”

“The Greens are calling on Premier David Bartlett to reverse his government’s short-sighted decision to abandon agricultural research stations across the state, and to instead continue government support for the agricultural research, development and extension activities carried out at these stations,” said Mr Booth.

Kim Booth