• How they voted:
YES: Farrell, Harriss, Hall, Rattray, Taylor, Forrest, Hiscutt, Goodwin, Dean, Mulder.
NO: Armitage, Valentine, Gaffney, Finch.
The Tasmanian Greens today expressed sadness and disappointment at the Legislative Council’s decision to pass the Pulp Mill Assessment Amendment Bill (2014) unamended.
“This is a sad day for the Tamar Valley, for our democracy, and for Tasmania’s future,” Mr McKim said.
“As it has for so many years, the Legislative Council has looked to the past when it should have looked to the future.”
“Shamefully there are 29 Members of the Tasmanian parliament who are prepared to let corporate interests dictate their votes, rather than the interests of the Tasmanian people.”
“Congratulations to the four Legislative Councillors who had the courage to speak up against this toxic piece of legislation.”
• Richard Colbeck: Photographs reveal deceit of Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area extension
• John Hawkins, in Comments: When looked at from afar, Tasmania, with its kind and thoughtful people, is at the top of the tree in terms of self-inflicted wounds that causes the common good to be constantly clearfelled. The fact that Labor and Liberal have voted against the long term interests of Tasmanians as evidenced by a complete disregard of due process would suggest that their political vote has been bought. To buy a political party which votes en bloc on a common ticket you have to buy – or more likely in Tasmania – hold a threat of exposure over those who frame the ticket. No-one in their right mind would vote to bend our laws to suit the liquidator of a bankrupt public company over a matter so important to Tasmania that parliament has to be recalled. There is something very wrong here. Our parliament has been infiltrated by bad people who operate by blackmail or some unspoken power over our leading political representatives. The Greens for all their faults are all that is left to us to combat the corruption of integrity so evident in our now destitute Parliament.
