Labor family photo album disguised as Annual Report

The Port Arthur Historic Site Management Authority Annual Report has so many large, colour pictures of State and Federal Labor Members it is difficult to determine who or what the report is supposed to be about.

So frequent and prominent are the picture of Labor Members of Parliament you would think no one else even visited Port Arthur that year.

The glossy pictures feature Michelle O’Byrne 3 times, Kevin Rudd 4 times, the Premier David Bartlett is pictured on 3 occasions and Peter Garrett twice.

On top of that, the State Minister is personally named an astounding 6 times, the Prime Minister 5 times, the Tasmanian Premier 5 times and the Federal Minister, Peter Garrett on 3 different occasions. Not to mention the other numerous references to them by their titles.

The document is so blatantly political that it detracts from the many achievements the Authority has made in recent times.

When I raised the issue in GBE Hearings late yesterday, the Minister accused us of misrepresenting the situation when in fact the political spin is part of the very report which she signed off.

This report should have been produced for the benefit of the Tasmanian community and taxpayers, celebrating some of the achievements of the Port Arthur staff, not the Australian Labor Party.

A full copy of the Annual Report is available online at
http://www.portarthur.org.au/pdfs/PAReport08-2009Final.pdf
Sue Napier MP Shadow Minister for Environment, Heritage and the Arts