Lara Giddings’ cards are now all on the table. Having proven her Government is incapable of managing an economy, there’s now growing evidence that she’s leading Tasmania into an economic abyss from which a near-term return looks impossible.
Since releasing her flawed first Budget (Jarvis Cocker analysis, HERE), (John Lawrence analysis, HERE), virtually every public statement has demonstrated a total abrogation of personal responsibility. At a time when leadership is required, Giddings has proved herself a master of delegation. When explanations are demanded, she shrugs them off with claims of complexity. In short, Giddings is in denial, and it appears the media haven’t worked that out yet.
As a futile debate about compensation for Gunns dominates valuable column inches in our newspapers, there’s a complete information vacuum as to why Gunns, or in fact anybody, should be compensated by the taxpayer. There may well be sound legal argument as to why compensation is payable, but to date, that information has scarcely even been sought, let alone provided.
And at the same time Giddings is spruiking her new economic development plan, she’s turning her blind eye to illegal earthworks at what once constituted a nature reserve.
If she’s been given advice from her army of minders inside DPAC and Treasury that the $200 million spent on paperwork represents substantial commencement of a pulp mill, then let’s hope those advisors are the first shunted off to Centrelink when a new Government is installed.
Presumably, although one is starting to doubt, somebody in Government can read. Perhaps they should start with Gunns’ 2008/09 Annual Report. Two years ago, shortly after Parliament rammed through legislation extending construction permits, Gunns told both shareholders and the ASX that $150 million had already been spent on the project, and a final joint-venture partner was soon to be announced.
Even a year ago, Gunns claimed to have spent $205 million on the project. Now, the figure is the same. Clearly, the project hasn’t budged in a year, and one suspects most of the $50 million spent over two years has been on public relations exercises of dubious validity.
Then a small matter of Gunns’ corporate behaviour could be considered. Already subject to a shareholder claim that could run to hundreds of millions of dollars, the company is now facing delisting from the stock exchange. It’s a matter of record, not opinion, that Gunns’ levels of disclosure over the last six weeks have contravened the Listing Rules. In short, if unpaid creditors don’t finish the party, ASIC and the ASX will.
Despite that, we’re subjected to the ongoing charade of trucking a few bulldozers to a vacant allotment.
If Tasmania had political leadership, this whole sorry mess could have ended on the 30th August. But Giddings remains on a power trip into oblivion, and it seems increasingly probable the Labor ship will collapse alongside the pulp mill project which has divided the State for too long.
First published: 2011-09-07 08:59 PM
• Gunns: Now workers fear for their entitlements …
Unions Tasmania wants timber company Gunns to say if it has enough money to pay employees annual leave and other entitlements.
Secretary Kevin Harkins says local managers are telling employees there will be no money unless the Federal and State Governments compensate the company for exiting native forest logging.
Mr Harkins says the reports are coming from more than one Gunns site.
“It’s obviously deeply concerning for employees.”
“We’re calling on Gunns to clarify what its financial position is and whether they do have an ability to meet their entitlements.
“What we’re saying to the Government is that before they hand over any money to Gunns, they need to make sure those entitlements are secure,” he said.
A spokesman for Gunns says the company categorically denies the claims and will not be making further comment.
• Jan Davis, TFGA: Private forests trapped by 11th hour IGA secret agenda
Dated: 8 September 2011
At the last minute, the intergovernmental agreement on Tasmania’s forests (IGA), which was purported to apply only to public forests, was quietly widened to take in 885,000 ha of private forests – and 1600 private forest owners are waiting for an explanation from the two governments about why. Clause 31 of the IGA states: “The Governments expect that Signatories to the Statement of Principles will support the provision of Forest Stewardship Council and/or Australian Forest Standard certification for appropriate remaining forestry activity in Tasmania.”
The Tasmanian Farmers and Graziers Association, which represents the private growers, today claimed neither the Gillard nor Giddings governments had explained reasoning behind the dramatic broadening of the IGA’s agenda.
“This essentially means that the owners of all forests in Tasmania have been warned their forests will have to be certified to approved standards no matter the use to which the trees are put, even if it is for carbon storage,” TFGA chief executive Jan Davis said today.
“A month has passed since the IGA was signed and still we have had no response to our requests for an explanation as to how this clause came to be included in the IGA without any consultation.”
Ms Davis said this potentially has enormous ramifications for private forests, which amount to 26 per cent of the total forest cover in Tasmania and represent the bulk of the “remaining forestry activity” mentioned in the clause.
“There may be no market requirement to have such certification, or any price premium for undertaking the accreditation process, yet this clause can be used to enforce a management regime quite beyond reason,” she said.
“It doesn’t stipulate forest activity on public land; it’s all-encompassing,” Ms Davis added.
“You can’t keep us out of the talks on the pretence that you are not discussing our land and our resources and then, at the 11th hour, suddenly include provisions that affect us dramatically without any consultation or – worse still – any funding.”
