• Christine Milne: The report also shows Forestry Tasmania lost $8.8 million and $9.2 million in the past two financial years, confirming that Forestry Tasmania is sucking millions of dollars out of the state budget which is money that could be spent on hospitals and schools. If it was a private business, Forestry Tasmania would have been in receivership years ago.

• What Lara says: URS strategic review confirms market challenges

• Read the report: HERE

• Vica Bayley: Crisis driven trade-missions to lock in a short-term native forest fix have been a hallmark of the government response to the industry downturn for many years. This trip would be total waste unless Minister Green takes a long-term view and explores options for plantation products that can be made from our existing plantation base.

• Bryan’s trade mission, by Davo, here

• Earlier John Lawrence analysis on Tasmanian Times:
Dr Amos, it’s just plain nonsense
All John Lawrence analysis, HERE

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Tasmania’s farm sector needs investment

Jan Davis, TFGA CEO MR
04.02.12 2:10 am

Agriculture has long been the backbone of the Tasmanian economy,” the TFGA said in its submission, and that forms the context for farmers’ advice to the government for the future.

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Threat to vocational education and training

Greg Brown TEA President MR
04.02.12 12:40 am

The Tasmanian Education Association has condemned the Tasmanian Skills Institute (TSI) CEO and Board for their plan to retrench 55 full time equivalent teachers.

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The Assange case means we are all suspects now

John Pilger, johnpilger.com
03.02.12 5:56 am

With American courts demanding to see the worldwide accounts of Twitter, Google and Yahoo, the threat to Assange, an Australian, extends to any internet-user anywhere. Washington’s enemy is not “terrorism” but the principle of free speech and voices of conscience within its militarist state and those journalists brave enough to tell their stories.

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Miranda Gibson breaks Tasmanian tree sitting record today. Broken ...

Still Wild Still Threatened MR
03.02.12 2:45 am

I am here to highlight the ongoing logging that is occuring in Tasmania’s high conservaiton value forests. This tree that I’m sitting was ear-marked for protection. Now is it due to be logged. This ongoing destruction is being driven by Ta Ann. It is great to see a new cyber action launched on Tuesday , which is demonstrating to the cusotmers of Ta Ann’s products that the community does not want to see these forests destroyed to make flooring.

• Rob Blakers’ picture-essay on the Mt Mueller forests, including pics of discarded cerlery-top pine: HERE

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Yes Minister

John Green
03.02.12 2:30 am

Michelle O’Byrne, Lara Giddings at a protest rally against PS cuts. Pic: Rob Walls: http://robertwalls.wordpress.com/

So with a little bit of courage and imagination the State Government can get itself out of the hole it has dug itself into. It is in a deep, desperate, dark, poisonous place because the popularity of the Premier is 16%, even less than Lennon. The extinction of the Labor Government is almost a certainty unless there is a change of course and Labor principles adopted and implemented.

• Alice Claridge, Mercury, Friday: Healthcare condition critical

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TODAY, TOMORROW: Tasmania Over Five Generations: Return to Van Diemen’s Land?

John Biggs
03.02.12 2:07 am

Lieutenant-Governor George Arthur ‘was delighted with someone who could deliver such a thunderous declamation about the evils of alcohol ...’

“… a narrative, placed in its social and economic context, which beguiles and entraps. Why have we not learnt from the past? Why repeat avarice, stupidity and abuse of position?”
                —  Justice Pierre Slicer.

Tasmania’s social and political progress is seen through the eyes of five father-son generations, starting with Abraham Biggs who arrived in 1833 down the years to the author. After 40 years abroad, John Biggs returned to Tasmania to find a tapestry of Byzantine complexity, woven with the warp of government and the woof of corporate power.  Abraham Biggs might well look from that distant shore, smile, nod and murmur: “Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.”

And a discount for Tasmanian Times readers! Click the ad on the right hand side of the TT homepage for a discounted order form.

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Gunns Supreme Court bid dismissed

Peter McGlone Director Tasmanian Conservation Trust Inc MRs
02.02.12 4:24 am

A Code Green protest late last year on the mill site

Today the Supreme Court of Tasmania dismissed Gunns Ltd’ s application for a stay or postponement of the case and the TCT now expects the case to proceed to trial as soon as possible.

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Environment Focus for State Budget

Phill Pullinger, Peter Skillern Environment Tasmania
02.02.12 4:00 am

Weld Valley. Pic: Rob Blakers

Tasmania’s peak environment body, Environment Tasmania has called for a stronger funding model for the Parks & Wildlife service, progression of marine and coastal policies, and initiatives to support sustainable agricultural landscapes in its submission to the Tasmanian government’s 2012-13 State budget.

• Download Budget submission:

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Ban duck shooting

Cassy O’Connor MP Greens Environment Spokesperson
02.02.12 3:59 am

Declare a Ban on Duck Shooting! We need an end to the annual slaughter of native water fowl, which most Tasmanians agree is cruel, senseless and damaging to the environment

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Ta Ann customer campaign launched. McKim. Colbeck. Bryan’s begging-bowl to Asia

Peg Putt, Markets for Change, Jenny Weber, Huon Valley Environment Centre, Ula Majewksi, The Last Stand
02.02.12 3:59 am

Pic: Matt Newton http://www.matthewnewton.com.au

A new campaign targeting Ta Ann Tasmania and their ongoing use of Tasmanian high conservation value (HCV) forests launches today. Taan.com.au is a partnership between Markets for Change, Huon Valley Environment Centre and The Last Stand.

• See http://www.taann.com.au

• Nick McKim: Hodgman’s woodchip trade mission a waste of time

• Richard Colbeck: The forestry negotiations process has been a complete failure and this is demonstrated in a number of ways.

• ABC Online: Workers fight sawmill shutdown

• ABC Online: Bryan Green to visit woodchip buyers in Asia

• Nick McKim: The Problem is the Product, Not the Pitch

• Pilko, in Comments: Colbeck is either breathtakingly ignorant and failing to grasp this most obvious aspect of the sawmillers failing business model or being deliberately dishonest.

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$900 million Korean suburb gets nod

David Killick, Mercury; Greg James
02.02.12 3:59 am

• David Killick, Mercury: Billed as an “integrated lifestyle, education, and residential development”, ParanVille will be one of the biggest residential subdivisions developed in the state and promises to give the struggling building industry a massive boost. It is expected to attract residents from Korea, China and Japan who are keen to escape harsh northern winters and the threat of nuclear accidents, its backers said yesterday

• Greg James: For those of you who think 5,000 people will come to Paranville in 1,000 houses, there is nowhere in any Tasmanian Suburbs that approaches that type of density. The average is 1.86 people per housing unit (ABS). I do believe that if Damon Thomas LM of Hobart is their adviser/consultant that he needs to have a rethink and a quick look at their web-site that like the failed Huntingfield development advertises that the Tasmanian Government will expedite visa entry. This is either false or there is a new paradigm occurring that no one but the Tasmanian Government knows about, (would this surprise anyone).

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Hobart office vacancy the highest in eight years

Mary Massina, The Property Council of Australia’s Tasmanian Executive Director MR
02.02.12 3:58 am

The Property Council of Australia’s Tasmanian Executive Director, Mary Massina, says the office market and investor confidence will be further affected by the State Government examining public service job cuts.

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Life Imprints: Living in a Contaminated World

Dr Alison Bleaney
02.02.12 3:55 am

The current Australian approach at the regulatory level resembles that of an ostrich, or three monkeys on a wall-deaf, blind and dumb, though this analogy unnecessarily denigrates ostriches and monkeys. I think the authors are spot on. I hope you all spread this knowledge far and wide to educate your profession, the public, and thence the politicians, that the status quo is a dumb choice for the future.

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Libs still taking Big Tobacco’s blood money ... Heat on Wightman. Paul Barry analysis

Nick McKim MP Greens Leader MR
01.02.12 7:41 am

But Voters Still Denied Full Details of Party Donations “As the only state party still accepting tobacco company political donations, any credibility the Liberals might have sought on public health policy has gone up in smoke,” Mr McKim said. “British American Tobacco, Phillip Morris and the Tasmanian Liberal Party continue to be friends-with-benefits, which explains the Liberals’ reprehensible stance against a ban on tobacco company donations.”

• Nick McKim, Thursday: The Tasmanian Greens today have called for a state-based political donations scheme to be in place by the next election, in light of the millions donated to the Liberal and Labor parties in 2010-2011 by vested interests, revealed by the Australian Electoral Commission’s latest political donations figures,

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Historic equal pay win

Health and Community Services Union (HACSU) Acting State Secretary, Tim Jacobson
01.02.12 4:26 am

We now call on the Premier Lara Giddings to join with the Prime Minister and commit to fully funding this outcome.

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Ad men rejoice but Coles shonky claims have farmers offside again

SENATOR THE HON RICHARD COLBECK Senator for Tasmania
01.02.12 4:00 am

At least this time Coles openly admit this is an advertising ploy.

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HCC: Ancanthe ... and all that ...

Margot Giblin
01.02.12 2:26 am

Irritating homilies, rabbit hole pursuits, statements of the bleeding obvious, unedifying wrestling with the English language,  entirely predictable grandstanding along with nasty little personal spats had combined to put this meeting well beyond the realms of efficiency or relevance by 8pm.

It was enough for this writer, who left.

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Brickworks closure creates housebuilding opportunities

Greens Alderman Helen Burnet, Hobart City Council MR.
01.02.12 2:15 am

To subdivide and create a housing estate would be a good move for Kemp and Denning, and would also help stimulate the building industry, thereby creating jobs beyond the life of the brickworks.

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Gunns’ Pulp Mill lifeline extended – community will protest

Anne Layton-Bennett, Friends of The Tamar Valley MR
01.02.12 2:00 am

The ANZ continues to state it will not provide funding for the pulp mill, yet the pulp mill is now all that Gunns has left. So who is telling the truth, Gunns or the ANZ? Gunns has no retail outlets. It’s sold its vineyards and hardware stores;its sawmill at Forest Enterprises Australia is up for sale, and apart from a stagnating woodchip facility in Portland Victoria, the company has no other real income.

• Check today’s Share Price HERE

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Education: Change is easy – it’s improvement that’s difficult. Report released

Jean Walker*
01.02.12 1:58 am

Firstly I want to summarise what has happened to Tasmanian education in the last fifty years.  Was there ever a better era, educationally speaking? Probably not if you look at it in a very general way, but perhaps there was for some students. As the debate has to start somewhere, let’s make it the 60s when “comprehensive” education was introduced.  This was probably the most radical change in public education, with the greatest impact for the future, to occur since its inception.

• ABC Online: Premier confirms school closures

• Wednesday, Mercury: Report tips 40 schools to fail: The report will be available on the education website http://www.education.tas.gov.au under latest media releases.

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The perception of the planning process in the media

Emma Riley
01.02.12 1:55 am

The planned entrance to the temple

After reading The Mercury’s article on ‘Temple dream doubts’ (January 20, 2012), I could not help to be disappointed at the continuing misperceptions of the planning system and the planning process that often appears in mainstream media.

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Gina’s Fairfax grab. The Unpretentious Charmer. Mercury sells history

ABC Online. David McKnight, The Age.
01.02.12 12:33 am

• Fairfax media is reporting that Australia’s richest person Gina Rinehart is behind a multi-million dollar share raid on the media company.

• FOR someone who has a genuine love of newspapers and a deep interest in television, Rupert Murdoch has very odd views on journalism and the media. He is contemptuous of most journalistic ideals, reserving special disdain for what he calls the ‘‘liberal media’‘. While the rest of the world hailed the investigative journalism of the Watergate scandal in the 1970s, Murdoch scorned it as ‘‘the new cult of adversarial journalism’‘.

• Mercury: Mercury building for sale

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Ta Ann ... tell the truth. Booth: Vested interests cynically blame Triabunna for job losses

Senator Christine Milne, Greens Acting Leader
31.01.12 3:36 am

All together now ...Pro- and anti-Ta Ann protesters mingle outside Ta Ann HQ, Sandy Bay. Pic: Matt Newton http://www.matthewnewton.com.au

Ta Ann should reveal truth about Eco Ply to Japanese customers The fact that Ta Ann has been named as the major driver behind the government’s decision to log 43 logging coupes within the 430,000 hectares of high conservation value forests that are supposed to be protected under the IGA is proof that Ta Ann is sourcing material from Tasmania’s wild and pristine forests. “How many Government hand outs does Ta Ann expect? Already it has a 16 year contract for a fixed price and Tasmanians are denied information about the financial returns to the state for the logging volumes that are delivered to its door.

• Kim Booth: Vested industry interests have been in denial for so long that they have brought this on themselves, by having no plan to transition the industry to a sustainable model. The IGA is intended to provide the industry with a way out of this crisis, and the longer the industry tries to stall its progress the worse it will be for the timber industry workers who are the real victims in all this.

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Labor Inaction Threatens State’s Clean Green Image

Cassy O’Connor MP Greens Environment Spokesperson
31.01.12 2:40 am

Labor has been using the tired excuse of waiting for action at the national level on container deposit reform, which is the same excuse used by successive Labor Environment Ministers for taking no action at all.

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Banks holster Gunns. Delaying the inevitable: Booth

Editor
31.01.12 1:57 am

Gunns Limited confirms that the terms for an extension to 31 December 2012 of its syndicated debt facility (currently $340m) and primary working capital facilities, have been agreed with its primary banking syndicate etc etc ...

• Rest of the announcement HERE

• Kim Booth, Greens: The ANZ will be remembered for not only extending the misery for Tamar Valley residents but also internationally for supporting corrupt approval processes in defiance of the equator principles which the bank purports to subscribe to ...

• Check today’s Share Price HERE

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Ancanthe and Coupe BA388D ...

John Powell, Myrtlebank, Golden Valley.
31.01.12 1:08 am

•  Heritage Tasmania’s works manager Ian Boersma said the subdivision was adjacent to Ancanthe Park, which contains the Lady Franklin Gallery, a place on the Tasmanian Heritage Register. He said the council should try to ensure the setting was preserved, interpreted and celebrated. (The Barbarians may not be at the gates, HERE)

What if ...
• Heritage Tasmania’s works manager Ian Boersma said the proposed logging was adjacent to an extensive old sawmill and logging precinct which contains a remnant tramway to the Liffey River which should be placed on the Tasmanian Heritage Register, as well as extensive indigenous rock shelters.

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K&D brick factory to close

Matt Smith, Mercury.
30.01.12 10:21 am

However, he said K&D were no longer in the business of producing bricks. “K&D Bricks is the victim of continuing and ever-increasing environmental regulatory requirements,” Mr Geard said.

• Belinda McIntosh on TT, 18.01.12: Who is going to hold this company to account?

• Belinda McIntosh, in Comments: 7 years of pointing out environmental breaches, contacting every politician, DPIWE,  DPIPWE,  EPA, mayors,deputy mayors and anyone else who will listen.  Then to discover they have an unsafe workplace and will need $2,000,000 dollars to fix their environmental problems.  And now they are saying they are a “victim of environmental standards”..  Please ... Give me a break.  Anyone else out there battling away, never, never give up.

• Steve, in Comments: Interesting that there are still comments here blaming local residents for complaining. The real offender here is the Government for failing to properly monitor the brickworks.  It’s a very basic thing, if a business is required to keep all it’s plant and machinery up to a certain standard, it will. That means that out of each years profits, a little bit is put back into the business. If a business is not required to so do, they put it off until the next year, then the task’s a bit bigger so it gets put off again. Eventually the task is impossible so you shut the business down and hope for a government handout. Shaun describes the situation perfectly at #18. I don’t know whether the Government thinks they’re helping businesses by ignoring the issues or what. In actual fact they’re ensuring the long term demise of businesses.

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BookMark this into your day

Gabrielle Rish
30.01.12 3:57 am

BookMark is now a regular column with an emphasis on Tasmanian publications and literary events. This first BookMark column begins with a request for reader participation. The assignment is to nominate fiction or non-fiction books that you think best capture Tasmania (other than the phonebook). I offer a selection of possibles to get the thought processes going and look forward to readers’ alternative suggestions.

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Learning lessons from legalising prostitution in Victoria

Matthew Holloway. Pic:
30.01.12 3:42 am

“Old Man Beguiled by Courtesans,” by Lucas Cranach, oil on panel.

In Janice Raymond’s article ‘Prostitution on Demand’ she states; ‘Legislators often advance legalisation proposals because they think nothing else is successful in legally addressing prostitution. However, there is a legal alternative. Rather than sanctioning prostitution, states could address the demand by penalising the men who buy women for the sex of prostitution. Sweden has drafted legislation recognising that without male demand, there would be a much-decreased female supply. Thinking outside the repressive box of legalisation, Sweden has acknowledged that prostitution is a form of male violence against women and children, and the purchase of sexual services is criminalised.’

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