Economy
Bartlett shoots the messenger
PREMIER David Bartlett has launched an extraordinary attack on a country GP who raised concerns about toxins in her town’s water supply, accusing her of being in league with the Greens.
Alison Bleaney, a GP in the northeast Tasmanian town of St Helens, prompted an official investigation after research commissioned by her found toxins in the town’s water source destroyed human cells.
The findings, revealed in The Australian this month and featured on ABC TV’s Australian Story, prompted an investigation by the Environmental Protection Agency and improved filtration of the St Helens water supply.
Mr Bartlett told The Weekend Australian he was “very sceptical” about Dr Bleaney’s motivation. He accused the GP and campaigner for regulation of chemical use in water catchments of “leading the Green charge” in the past two state election campaigns.
He said it was “strange” Dr Bleaney had raised fears about the pesticide atrazine in the lead-up to the 2006 election campaign, and was now running a similar push before the March 20 poll.
“Can you see a pattern here — 2006, Alison Bleaney leading the Green charge with a whole range of concerns proven to be completely false,” Mr Bartlett said.
“What a happy coincidence for the Greens that a few weeks out from another election, this raises its head.”
The Premier dismissed testing commissioned by Dr Bleaney and Sydney marine scientist Marcus Scammell from independent scientists as “supposed data”.
The research found that toxins in the George River, which feeds into the St Helens water supply, killed shell-fish and human cells. It suggested the toxins might have originated from the leaves of Eucalyptus nitens, a species of tree bred for use in plantation forestry and widespread in tree farms.
Mr Bartlett said Dr Bleaney’s decision to release the evidence publicly before handing it to the health department was suspicious.
“This just seems like a very strange tactic to me, and one that I think Tasmanians should be very sceptical about,” he said. However, Dr Bleaney said that Mr Bartlett’s accusations were “hilarious” and were a case of “shooting the messenger”.
“My motivation has all the way through been public health,” she said. “I support many of the Greens’ policies and the way they do business, but I’m not a member of the Greens and I’m not a politician or a political animal.”