By Philippa Duncan, The Mercury

THE State Government has buckled under intense political pressure and axed plans to dump Government Business Enterprise hearings this year. The move would have allowed state-owned corporations such as Hydro Tasmania, Forestry Tasmania and the TT-Line to dodge political scrutiny this year.
But yesterday, less than 24 hours after the Government announced the GBE hearings were off, they were on again.
On Tuesday Premier Paul Lennon revealed there would be no GBE hearings this year because of the state election.
This drew howls of outrage from opposition MHAs and independent MLCs who said the Government was in “cover-up” mode and had something to hide. Yesterday, three independent MLCs, Paul Harriss, Jim Wilkinson and Sue Smith, threatened moves in the Upper House to force the Government to hold the annual hearings.  Tasmanian Greens leader Peg Putt plotted other methods to probe the controversial corporations. And the State Opposition said the Government wanted to avoid scrutiny of the Hydro, which just asked for a $300 million equity injection.

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