Unresolved Concerns with the Integrity of the Upper House

“An email requesting the resignations of Legislative Council members who are also members of Timber Communities Australia (TCA) was sent to all members of the Legislative Council on February 17th 2013. The President of the Legislative Council replied to this email, but declined a request for her response to be published on Tasmanian Times.”

See the original article which included the resignation request by clicking here: A lack of confidence in the integrity of the Upper House.

The President of the Legislative Council, Sue Smith, does not accept that councillors who are also members of Timber Communities Australia (TCA) and participating in the Select Committee on the Tasmanian Forests Agreement Bill 2012 should resign. This is despite the testimony of the TCA Chairman, Mr Jim Adams, to the Select Committee that the TCA Board feels it must represent the views of the timber industry ahead of the views of their membership (see more details here: FSC’s governance in question ). This confirmed the notion that TCA acts as a “front organisation” for the timber industry, whilst mis-representing itself as being a community grass-roots organisation for timber workers.

Sue Smith’s response included a disclaimer in the email footer to say that it was “confidential and solely for the use of the intended recipient”. I replied with a request to publish the response on Tasmanian Times, but the request was declined on the basis that her response was directed specifically to me.

In my mind any work undertaken by a member of the Legislative Council should be open to public scrutiny, and I think it is very disappointing that Sue has chosen to correspond with me privately on such a matter of public interest. I therefore suggest that other TT readers who might wish to view Sue’s email response on this matter should send a request seeking a copy of the email correspondence to sue.smith@parliament.tas.gov.au. I hereby give permission for any part of the email correspondence written by myself to be released by Sue.

One thing I am prepared to publish here is my opinion of Sue’s response. I considered it to be dismissive of the fundamental concern that I had raised, about Legislative Council members participating in the “charade” of TCA when it has long been known to be an industry front group. I also found her response to be more supportive of her immediate “team” (i.e: the Legislative Council members) than of the public interest. A reference to the “toothless” Integrity Commission as being the appropriate forum for raising such concerns was entirely predictable, but utterly pointless, as we know that….by apparent design of Upper House legislation….the $3 million per year expenditure of this body is a complete waste of public money whilst it has no power to compel evidence.

Once again I think we should remember that the submission to the Select Committee by Malcolm Mars ( here ) put certain members of the Legislative Council on notice about their potential conflicts of interest, which they have chosen to ignore. The consolation in relation to any future Royal Commission on this matter is that their behaviour has been on full display via the public record.

Kev Rothery is an IT Specialist who emigrated to Tasmania 8 years ago. Kev takes a keen interest in local affairs, and is a former employee of The Wilderness Society Inc. He believes in the importance of public participation, and the right of the public to be properly informed.