www.tas.greens.org.au
The Tasmanian Greens today described as bitterly disappointing the Bartlett government’s refusal to secure Freer Farm as an agricultural educational facility, and reiterated their demands that it be taken off the market.
Greens Leader Nick McKim MP said that despite the Premier promising that the sale would not proceed unless he was convinced it would not compromise agricultural training, it did not appear that any comprehensive assessment was occurring to ascertain exactly the contribution Freer Farm makes to the Primary Industry sector.
“Freer Farm should not be sold. It is very clear that students and stakeholders value it and want the farm to remain in public hands and operating as an agricultural educational and skills development facility,” Mr McKim said.
“Why is David Bartlett not guaranteeing to the north-west community that Freer Farm is not for sale?”
“The Premier needs to come clean about exactly what he meant by claiming Freer Farm would not be sold unless he was convinced that the sale would not compromise agricultural training, and what cost benefit process he has initiated to assess this facility’s contribution.”
“The government cannot seriously believe that a business case is all that needs to be done to ascertain the true value of Freer Farm to the primary industry sector, without also assessing its value as a skill development and training facility.”
“Make no mistake about it, the Bartlett government will move to sell off the farm as soon as it thinks it can get away with it.”
Nick McKim MP Greens Leader
