Sue Neales Mercury Comment
For example, how does Tasmania treat political whistleblowers such as Nigel Burch, the sacked adviser to former deputy premier Steve Kons, who dared to retrieve an important shredded government document from a Burnie rubbish bin which he thought might be vital evidence at a later date of a potential corruption attempt? Not particularly well. Mr Burch is now being pursued by the Tasmanian Government and the police — and most likely through the law courts in the future — at the behest of the Premier. Does Tasmania also lock out its malcontents, stirrers, outsiders and those who challenge the old-style orthodoxy or norm, as Boyes contends Austrian society tightly does? Many Tasmanians would say so, certainly the 600-odd who attended the “Tasmanians for a Healthy Democracy” meeting last Thursday night in Launceston. Even before the meeting had started, the State Government — courtesy of heavy-handed Cabinet secretary Graeme Sturges — had issued a press release calling the meeting anti-government and accusing its organisers of being a Greens front. Read more here
On Tasmanian Times: Democracy Tasmania: A collection of articles/analysis
