The $5 billion waste

Sadly, the news coming from Tasmania leaves little hope for our growth and development as a state and is more a brazen show of our leaders’ lack of foresight and maturity, but is this our fate?

The public side of the state is as good as broke under the Labor Green accord and with the Liberals crowing with their own promises of state salvation, yet still floating aimlessly in the same wayward boat as the government, there remains no sign in sight of recovery from their entwined ideology and more of the same misery in store for Tasmanians after the next election.

According to the printed media, Lara Giddings (here) continues to cavort openly with the mythological pulp mill behemoth and was on radio recently confirming unswerving support for the beleaguered beast while her tough speaking Liberal forest felling allies exceed her in their statements to build a pulp mill and continue to keep the forests open for business (here).

A story today $5b cost of forest fight (here) confirms the retardation of Tasmania’s economy because of this constant and life draining battle that rages around our forests and hinges on the construction of one of the world’s largest pulp mills on one of the world’s smallest islands.

This project was first let loose on the public in 2005 and it was assumed that rubber stamps would abound, forests would fall as feedstock and Gunns would claim another triumph over their island treasure.

Gunns were the darlings of the state, flying high above the inversion layer, punching through with their chimney of success.

Avoiding the eagles to fly with turkeys saw a few minor spanners clogging the works along the way, but with some careful legislative tweaking the pulp mill was considered a done deal and the woes of state would now become history.

Fast forward to 2012 and Gunns’ demise appears assured, with countless opportunities squandered over the last seven years in the name of the glorious pulp mill paradigm.

Despite a glowing report (here) to our Federal masters that Longreach and Penola would bring home the bacon from the pulp mill pig, it seems the fanciful trough has nothing in the bottom for our masters but lick marks.

Giddings and Hodgman remain lock step with this project and the Greens are along for the ride by default. With such firm polar views anchored to Tasmania’s tragic reality, there will never be a way to move our state forward simply by leaving it all to our political masters’ mindset.

At one stage in the show, their argument of “jobs” may have held water, but seven years on the paper drinking cup is mush and the entire forest industry is doomed as it continues to do as it has always done, all the while expecting a different result- Einstein called this behaviour “insanity”.

To live as we do we need industry, but as did the late Ray Anderson, (here) self confessed industrial plunderer, we as a state need to realise that industry must embrace the environment and work with those boundaries to be truly sustainable.

To the worldwide casual observer, the ilk of Giddings and Hodgman are simplistic politicians, perhaps well meaning in their way, but phenomenally out of their depth in the reality of global change, global empathy and local action.

Forest plunderers Gunns and their train wreck inheritor and company broom, L’Estrange has sticky taped the last few coins of lost fortune to a cleared field in northern Tasmania and despite their cargo cult dream, they’ve forlornly witnessed the latest and perhaps last JVP, the so called “White Knight” Chandler disappear in the orange dust of Longreach.

The Gunns’ patch riddled life raft of hope, now seems full of its last supporters, desperate to convince the community of Tasmania that success is but a heartbeat from reality, achievable, sustainable and ready for a near billion dollar tax gorging from government (here) when the forests are fed to the chippers and baked to pulp perfection.

Now as Gunns focuses on apportioning blame to those of the emerald tinge, the reality of its plight blurs in the periphery and the last ace emerges from under the table.

Will this project be sold (here) to a “go it alone” investor?

Step back and look at what remains of the timber industry, the pulp mill dream and the head in the sand reality facing our government and you could believe that we are doomed.

Look past their self absorbed and blinkered world to the vast assets of this state and the benefits of scale that differentiate us from the mammoth population of mainland Australia and large parcels of the planet.

We are a state of entrepreneurs, of growers, of clever thinkers, of artisans, of futurists, of people rich in talent, who live in a place of immense beauty and colour, of natural wonder and largely clean and safe spaces.

We live in a time of untold knowledge and communication, a time of inspiration, a time that is constantly changing and morphing into our future.

Each of us plays a part in the driving of our future.

We can no longer rely on the perception of government and the lyrics of the club tie and the firm handshake to assure success.

Community has always been the strength of Tasmania and as we weave through the challenges of this time, community will again become our rock.

Look toward each other, toward unity, toward all that is fair and equitable and try to focus on the multitude of positives that surround and envelope us all.

This is the reality of our future together.