It beggars belief. Well, actually, it shouldn’t. This is a Labor government after-all …
First, DHHS buggers the state’s egg industry, to save $200,000, only for the State Government to spend that, and more, on a fruitless tourism junket to the US for one of its ministers.
The Minister for Tourism, Michelle O’Byrne, said this year’s G’Day USA promotion had secured Tasmania a place in the rich American tourism market:
“This trip represents a $325,000 investment, including the $130,000 participation fee, and I need to ensure it delivers for our industry. (Gov’t Press Release, 4/02/2011, HERE).
Meanwhile, just a little earlier, EGG producers in Tasmania are faced with killing 3500 hens and fear the end of the state’s egg industry, following the loss of a $200,000 Health Department contract (The Examiner, 16/12/2010, HERE). And in case it’s already behind the paywall:
Health move brings state egg angst
BY LUCY POSKITT
16 Dec 2010
EGG producers in Tasmania are faced with killing 3500 hens and fear the end of the state’s egg industry, following the loss of a $200,000 Health Department contract.
Pure Foods Eggs Tasmania had been contracted to provide 80,000 dozen eggs a year to the Health Department for its hospitals and other health facilities for the past five years.
The eggs were sourced from farmers at Longford in the North, Latrobe in the North- West and the Margate area in the South.
The new contract has been awarded to PFD Food Services, a national wholesaler with offices in Tasmania but whose headquarters is in Melbourne.
Their eggs are believed to be sourced from Queensland.
Pure Foods managing director Danny Jones said that while the group had “won” the tender to provide eggs in the 55-gram premium barn-laid egg category, this was a product that it did not expect to sell, as the cheaper 59-gram cage-laid eggs were most popular with the department’s business units.
“We felt that our price was competitive, there was not a high margin in it,” he said.
“We have to import some of our feed, because the ingredients are not grown here, which doesn’t make us particularly viable.
“(The industry) is something that we don’t want to see disappear.”
Tasmanian Commercial Egg Producers Association president John Groenewold said the tender process was flawed.
“When they issue a contract, they should take into account food miles, freshness and employment considerations, and the overall impact on the economy,” he said.
Both industry figures said that the loss of the contract could lead to the killing of 3500 birds, the number needed to fulfil a contract of that size.
Health Department chief financial officer Penny Egan said the tender went out in September for the supply of food products including fresh and frozen produce, dry groceries, bread, milk, meat and eggs, for an 18-month period.
“Under government procurement rules there is no provision for preference for local bidders,” she said.
Picture: Salad days for Michelle at the Waldorf Astoria in New York in 2009
Wild About Wildlife, Philanthropic Dinner, Waldorf Astoria New York
21 Jan 2009
Minister O’Byrne (LEFT) and key note speaker Tim Flannery (RIGHT) photo credit: Jennifer Mitchel
http://gdayusa.discovertasmania.com/photo.html#
First published: 2011-02-07 03:50 AM
On Tasmanian Times, Greg James: Tourism in Tasmania is a failure
Related:
Federal defends donations
GAMBLING and hotel giant Federal has defended its decision to donate hundreds of thousands of dollars to political parties, claiming it was a normal part of the democratic process.
Federal corporate affairs manager Daniel Hanna was responding to revelations in the Sunday Tasmanian that the company had donated more than $172,000 to political parties over the past decade.
The Federal Group, which is the licensee of most poker machines in the state, has donated up to $30,000 at a time to individual parties.
The Tasmanian branches of the Australian Labor Party and the Liberal Party have received the lion’s share of donations, according to figures from the Australian Electoral Commission.
“These donations have generally been aimed to assist the two political parties to develop policy platforms in the election context,” Mr Hanna said.
“In the modern era, political parties need to raise funds because elections are expensive and not funded by the taxpayer.
“It is therefore a responsibility of major investors and employers in the state, like the Federal Group, to make a contribution so that sufficient resources can be directed towards sound and evidence-based policy development.”
