I wonder if Mr Lennon knows what responsibility means?

being accountable?

..and trustworthy (keeping promises)

Meet deadlines?

Answer for what we have done?

Not shifting the blame

He may not know.  I wonder who could tell him?

Jim Bacon, our dear departed leader made no errors, made no mistakes, made no promises he couldn’t keep and every project he looked upon prospered. Always a man of his word Bacon could do no earthly wrong.

Let the record be purged if somewhere in his 52 years Bacon did display a few human qualities in Tasmania’s golden age.

This is the New Tasmania!  We determine our own myths, uncluttered by the truth of the past.

Mr Premier for someone to think otherwise about your mate other than above means an immediate case against them under your new sedition laws.
 
Move quick - they will not be able to talk about it for years, if ever. Jim will not forgive you if you fail in this quest.

If only Rene had taken up smoking.

The issue was not about stifling criticism of the former Premier.

Read the Mercury story carefully and put your political bias aside.

It was the last question time of the year. The question by Mr Whitley seemed to be an orchestrated effort to get an emotional response from the Premier in order for the Liberals to capitalise on it.

It was interesting to see news footage of the Liberal bench trying to hide their delight at the Premier’s hurt.

Mr Lennon is human, Mr Bacon was a friend whom he felt close to.

The question seemed designed to aim for the heart. It was not politics. 

With this post it is important for me to add I am not a Labor supporter.

But none of us are wiser by our own entrenchment which leads to an inability to see a truth when it is there.

Is this the same Jim who was Norm Gallagher’s BLF representative in Tasmania. The union that was deregistered and was on a par with the notorious Painters and Dockers?

The same Jim who presided over the sale of government assets, such as the Transport building, without a tender process?

The same Jim who mouthed obscenities across the Parliamentary chamber to the then Opposition leader?

The same Jim who assiduously avoided public contact during the Southwood proposal?

The same Jim who came from the Trades and Labour Council with a power block from the bastard child of the BLF, the CFMEU?

Golden indeed! The gold seems somewhat tarnished.

Hag is missing the point, because the objection was not to the Opposition’s failure to sanctify Jim Bacon but to the Opposition’s use of his sanctified legacy as an emotional blackmail tool. 

Indeed the question asked by Whitely was implicitly praising Bacon and criticising Lennon et al for falling short of the standard Bacon set. 

This said, parts of the road in question are still as bad as they have been for at least the past 25 years, and if that’s what it takes to embarrass the government into doing more about it, then so be it.

Hurt feelings are one issue, people being killed unnecessarily is another.

And I tend to agree that getting pushed around by Hidding and Whitely’s basic-level troll tactics suggests a thin skin. 

It would have been interesting to see how an independent speaker called this one.

Such feigned abhorrence. The government claims the high moral ground and avoids a question on a non core promise. A bit of a win-win there.

Remember Jim? He was the Tasmanaian BLF delegate under Norm Gallagher. The BLF was deregistered in the days of the notorious Painters and Dockers. Norm was under scrutiny until his untimely death.

Jim headed a government that sold many public assets, such as the Transport building, without a formal tender process. Accountability was never a buzz word.

Jim assiduously avoided the people during the Southwood proposal and debate. Media management was always a buzz phrase.

Jim arose from the Trades and Labour Council with the BLF’s bastard child, the CFMEU, holding him on high.

Do not confuse gold with copper pyrites.

The nimbus of sanctity now surrounding the name of Jim Bacon would probably embarrass Jim himself.

“The Emperor” after all, came from a union ultimately deregistered for corrupt behaviour, where he served a boss, Norm Gallagher, who ended up in the slammer for same. The practice of the BLF executive in those days was to sell-out the interests of its members to the bosses, a policy much like that of Tasmanian politicians.

Bob Cheek, whose memoir shows a good deal of charity toward some of his political foes, is quite unqualified in his detestation of Bacon as a thoroughly nasty operator.

It should be remembered that Lennon’s fury at an opponent’s invocation of the Great Man’s name is the same response he has produces on countless occasions where a reasoned answer has been requested.

For many, the fact that Jim apparently counted Lennon as his best friend is enough in itself to kill any sentimental delusions stone dead.

John Hayward
Weegena