August 2004 No wonder union membership is declining ... When oh when will those in the ALP separate their representative responsibilities from the fate of their personal political parties? ... JASON LOVELL Dear Rodney ... Nicola Roxon responds to Rodney Croome ... As a party of reform, Labor has to prioritise where to start when it comes to undoing the damage of the Howard years. Labor's priorities are on removing discrimination that affects the everyday lives of same-sex couples and giving them equivalent status to heterosexual de facto couples ... NICOLA ROXON An exercise in futility if ever there was one ... ... The principal aim is the conversion of native forests into plantations. There is only the accountant's view animals will survive. On a world scale the Tasmanian Devil inhabits this tiny corner alone. It's demise coincided with the RFA ... MARK TEMBY Ridiculous conflations of corellation with causation ... LETTERS (by the score) We are family ... Geoff Law, the trees and me At the end of the day Law delivered politics and Rolley delivered PR. One can mix, shake and stir PR and politics, one can endlessly combine the two, strange smells may fill the laboratory of the alchemist, and the odours may impact on his conscious and cause him to have visions and revelations, but the facts will not pop up in any of his pots ... ATLANT BIERI Stop the spraying ... While there are numerous points that can be raised and argued with respect to aerial spraying of plantations, the main point to remember is that a significant environmental problem is occurring resulting in impacts to aquatic life and potentially other aspects of the catchment and its inhabitants. No amount of arguing is going to solve the problem. The issue needs to be investigated and action taken as a matter of urgency. In the interests of public and ecological health cease aerial spraying until a proper investigation can be completed ... ALISON BLEANEY, MARCUS SCAMMELL, MARINE FARMERS Green wedge ... and WWF Q&A Hamiltonâs article poses serious and pressing questions as to the independence and underlying motivation of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), and what many feel is an excessively close relationship with the Howard government ... NEIL CREMASCO ... and ANDREW ... links The Pale Shadow of Machiavelli ... and the Governor Book ... There is considerable speculation that he was not simply the victim of his own ego. Certainly a dark cynic would see the hand of Machiavelli - tho' that association may be insulting to that clever, dark prince - in the demise of Richard Butler and Lady Butler ... HAG The crumbling facade ... ... the rise and fall of Richard Butler reveals much about the so called New Tasmania under Paul Lennon, it's unwillingness to embrace change and its contempt for outsiders ... WARREN PERSO PLUS: Letters The incumbent may not have been top of the pops as a Governor but it takes two to tango and the lack of acceptance of Butler lies with many parties, not just the incumbent ... What many fail to see is that we have failed. We have failed to embrace the opportunity of a high profile person as Governor, we have failed to express our hospitality, one expected by tourists, and most importantly we have shown again the failure of Tasmania to modernize ... And, It's time for the appointment to face the scrutiny of the peopleâs house and the Governorâs appointment to be confirmed by a three quarters majority of the lower house ... phill PARSONS It seems the Butler got the silver ... Letters by the thousand ... LETTERS Is Richard Butler a great Tasmanian ...? ... from the resignation press conference by Premier Paul Lennon, you would think so ... LINDSAY TUFFIN The Butler quits The poor bloke has even made the world pages of The Times today. Why is it that Tassie only makes the international press for tree-lopping and controversial governors? ... CRIKEY While billions are being spent trying to impose democracy on the Middle East, Tassie is busily rolling it back Worse for ordinary people is the ruling by Justice Underwood that the loser pays rule should apply to tribunals as it does to courts, despite tribunals being intended to provide justice without ruinous legal expenses ... LETTERS WWF ... and the vanishing robin ... If it wants to discover the extent of the forestry problem in Tasmania, beyond an obvious scarred landscape and the seemingly endless lines of logtucks clogging Tasmania's main and rural roads, it should go into the diminishing surviving forests and look for Tasmania's four robin species... They are all vanishing, to such an alarming extent that a researcher is conducting a survey to establish just how many are left, and how they can be saved ... ... DON KNOWLER It was 30 years ago today ... It is hard to imagine a greater contrast between George W Bushâs simplistic and na•ve neo-conservatism that divides the world into good versus evil, and Nixonâs finely calibrated sense of global architecture ... GREG BARNS Vive la Republique, vive la Tasmanie. Where is my knitting? Who is this committee of one from the University? Unable to look outward, unable to use the opportunity that Richard Butler presents, the belted earls of quaintness are attempting to retain their feigned status within a colonial anachronism, kept as a form of legitimizing government when Australia became a nation, whilst the golden opportunity to promote Tasmania in Sydney is perverted into a media circus over a storm in a particularly pleasant little teacup ... Having succeeded in making the office of Governor political the conservatives have set in train the inevitability of the office changing forever, not to Tasmaniaâs benefit, for those who have kept it as their social fiefdom appear unable rise above the games of curious appearances ... phill PARSONS Feedback & reflux I accept garfish can be inspirational. After all, it inspired you Aggie ... ninj The test of credibility ... She believes that oysters are perfect for bioassay of said chemicals. I find it difficult to understand how she can prove this assertion. If the chemicals are below detectable levels how can she prove they have an effect? Werenât the oysters tested at the time of the deaths ö what was found? PETER VOLKER PLUS: Letters Radio National's EARTHBEAT WWF analysis Latham and Howard exchange vows at the alter of bigotry ... It was a soul destroying scene: Labor's justice spokesperson, Nicola Roxon, enjoying a standing ovation from a crowd of hard-right fundamentalist Christians, being mobbed by an adoring phalanx of homophobes as she walked from the stage, shaking hands with and smiling to anti-gay activists ... I've witnessed many evil things in my career as a gay activist. I've seen angry crowds bay for gay blood, I've seen indoctrinated children spew hate. But I've never seen a Labor spokesperson play up to an anti-gay crowd, declare herself on their side and betray the trust and hope of LGBT people ... RODNEY CROOME WWF (2) ...The gloomy prospect As head of NAFI, an umbrella organisation for the state-based timber industry lobby groups, part of Carnellâs job is to track the public standing of the timber industry across the country. Carnellâs assessment of public opinion trends was gloomy ... BOB BURTON WWF (1) ... Out of proportion The (WWF) blueprint tacitly acknowledges that many environmental issues hitting the headlines in Tasmania have either no substance or have been blown out of proportion ... That may be heresy, blasphemy and anathema for many in this forum, but it is certainly how I perceive a large proportion of the environmental debate in Tasmania ... LUIS APIOLAZA Down home and Prodigal angst ... And since when did either party when in govt. shunt something your way, fellow under-employeds? Money goes to racecourses, sports venues, roads and woodchippers in this state (I think Eslake should've included food, wine, small scale tourism in his list - they're all creative) Anyway, join the club, I'm an inpat who never received an interview either on returning to Tas with incredible expertise that no-one wants, Now I'm doing a PhD and expect to get work in 3 years time outside of Tas, not here! THREE FRUSTRATED JOBS SEEKERS PLUS: Letters Ten years ago ... In his response Minister Robin Gray expressed concern ... LESLEY NICKLASON, Suncoast News, Senator Robert Bell ... PLUS: Letters Down home (3) Itâs all about keeping the faith. A mate of mine (a graduate) despises Tassie as he canât find himself a job either. He loves to declare his disdain for this place, particularly its job market and postulates with some frequency how a move to Melbourne would make him a much happier Tasmanian. I however, keep the faith. I keep the faith that I will convince some bastard to employ me, permanently (not casually) here in the best state in Australia ... GEOFF ROLLINS PLUS: Letters Panda suitors ... the World Wildlife Fund blueprint The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) document ãA Blueprint for the Forest Industry and Vegetation Management in Tasmaniaä has been dropped into Tasmania from on high, and no oneâs happier than the big political parties and their financial backers in the woodchip industry ... NEIL CREMASCO PLUS: Conservationists launch joint policy ahead of election WWF accused of pandering to Government Read it for yourself ... LINKS Down home (2) The Prodigal Son wishes to return home ... FRUSTRATED AND DISGRUNTLED (1) Down home (1) Coming back to Tasmania ... MOSES ITEN The Guide to the State of Tasmania or How the GST saved our Bacon How great was the much lauded Tasmanian Labor triumvirate of Jim Bacon, Paul Lennon and David Crean and for what will history remember them? MARK TEMBY On Participatory Democracy In the same way that a finch on a summer's day with no natural enemy will sing to its heart's content - but in the presence of a goshawk will mute its appreciation of life - so too a full-throated and confident disquiet represents an optimistic democracy ... GWYNN MacCARRICK What more could you ask for Roaming around the eateries of Hobart and delivering an occasional salivation report is ... AGATHA ARTICHOKE Enemy at the gates I note that Herr has not advised us of the legislation that Mr Butler has infringed by modernizing the office and employing a professional executive assistant skilled in the management of the role of the figurehead of a state of a federation ... phill PARSONS At least under Jim there was a charming personality ... ... that forced you to drop your guard. I think he had the ability to make a weak team look better than it really was ... LETTERS ... Jim Williamson, R.D. Roos, Michael Daly, Gordon Craven, Andrew Davison, Amelia Stockhouse etc, etc, etc The horror of foxes Over the years I have visited many places on the mainland to learn about foxes. Be assured, these beautiful animals are Îfood-hooversâ, their omnivorous habits enabling them to reach unbelievable densities. Without doubt, Tasmania has the potential to hold 300,000 foxes, making cats a mere sideshow ... NICK MOONEY Mr Lennon has some explaining to do (2) Investigative journalists working for the Australian Financial Review and the ABC do not seem to have had much luck in getting any answers except stalling tactics and silence from Forestry Tasmania and the Labor Government. I would like to see Minister Bryan Green smirk his way around this one while Paul Lennon contemplates exactly who to threaten ... EDDIE STORACE Mr Lennon has some explaining to do (1) The government had absolutely no justification for its (workers' comp) changes in the year 2000 ... What Mr Lennon said on 23rd November 2000 clearly did not correlate with the figures which have now been provided by Trowbridge Deloittes. If Mr Lennon knew about those figures in 2000 then he has some explaining to do. Mr Lennon should now come clean with the Tasmanian people. Did he know about the decrease in the Risk Premium from 1994 to June 2000 when he made the speech in November 2000? If he didnât know, why didnât he know? Why does he still continue to refuse to release the actuarial report which was given to him by Bendzulla Actuarial during 2000. Does that report contain the same information that is now contained in the Trowbridge Deloitte report? BRIAN HILLIARD Is this what the 'New Tasmania' has to offer The sledge-hammer-method, following the motto 'attack is the best defence,' instead of debating with a sense of proportion and integrity, seems now to have entered on stage openly and thus attack seems to have become indeed the only defence there is. I hope still, to be proven wrong in this regard. But so far, I must say, the latest example of public bullying by the Premier of the State of Tasmania, Mr. Lennon would, in my home country, lead to the immediate disappearance from the public arena for such a politician. It is so completely out of proportion and makes an international observer simply wonder: what's next? DAGMAR NORDBERG The Lennon attack ... what it means ... Of course, the Bacon/Lennon intolerance of dissent stands within a long tradition of godfatherist state ALP politics ... PETE HAY Just plain silly ... Little as this Government wants to know it, there are far too many Tasmanians for whom the "new" Tasmania means nothing more than a further push into poverty, less likelihood of finding a decent house to rent (or of ever owning their own home), less chance of getting their dental and medical needs seen to, less hope of access to decent aged care or help with mental health issues and less chance of meeting the needs of our young people ... YULIA ONSMAN The real New Tasmania ... The sorry situation is change has to be forced when the almighty dollar is the common denominator. What is hard for people like Amelia and Kev to deal with is that changing the way in which we do almost everything entails making a lot of noise but it is equally important as those who do their bit quietly in the lavatory with the equivalent of sand paper for bog roll and a brick in the cistern (a poor man's half flush) ... EDDIE STORACE Lennon v Flanagan - Round 1 ... Our stateâs political system is supposedly based on the model of liberal democracy, the last time I checked, dissent is not just permitted, but should be encouraged in order for the greater good to arise through public debate. But Mr Lennon and his party are not interested in the greater good of the majority of the public. As long as those with the big money are satisfied, so is the Tasmanian Labor government · MIKE KIDD The good mate Mr. Bacon may have been "a good mate" to his friends, for all I know, but that does not absolve him from history's desultory interrogation. The frenzy of eulogising in the local press was more appropriate to a despot than a democratically-elected leader. We all expected Mr. Lennon to be fulsome in his praise of an old mate, but to hear E.G. Whitlam's comments suggest that he was either having a senior moment or, more likely, was characteristically tongue-in-cheek ... DAVID HALSE ROGERS, LETTERS Dissent surviving (1) The shuffling line of public dental patients waiting outrageously long periods for the most basic dental care can now speak of their anger at Laborâs 20 million dollars of corporate welfare for the racing industry at the last state budget, not to mention the millions in taxpayer equity lost by Forestry Tasmania, as it hands over our forests to the woodchip cartels ... NEIL CREMASCO Dissent surviving (2) Bacon allowed dissenting opinions, such as Flanagan's, to be expressed ... KEVIN BONHAM Is it the black and white replacement religion zealous dogma ..? ... call me a cynic, call me misguided, foolish, dead-wrong or an idiot, call me a sadistic chicken molester for all I care ö but never, never call me a Green. I have more of a conscience than that ... AMELIA STOCKHOUSE Hang him, Paul It must be unprecedented ... at least in recent Australian history. The Premier of a State effectively invites its most famous award-winning writer - a Rhodes Scholar with an enviable world reputation, the best ambassador a State could have - to leave ... LINDSAY TUFFIN The Emperor's New Clothes Bacon's legacy was to hand Tasmania's economy and future direction over to a handful of big businesses with too much influence, too much power and too little concern for ordinary Tasmanians ... Under Bacon, forests disappeared, rivers began drying up, hundreds of thousands of protected native animals were killed with 1080, drinking water catchments poisoned, and Gunns shares increased in value over 700% ... RICHARD FLANAGAN The dangerous cocktail The volunteer firefighter who attended was also exposed and actually touched and sniffed the chemical cocktail to determine that it was not flammable fuel. He has been rewarded with the anonymous suggestion that a breach in his farm dam caused the oyster contamination ... JASON LOVELL Misuse and abuse ... Tassie's other destiny Bill is correct, just a little understated. The regulatory supervision regime is toothless in the face of a government mesmerized by the idea of jobs, jobs, jobs. Where are they, after 7 years of the 20 year RFA ... they have failed to eventuate in the forest industries ... When is this forest-based jobs cargo due, the cultists are edgy with an election coming up ... Any social and economic benefits that were promised must have gone into a Gay circle leaving the community bearing the cost; roads, water yield, biodiversity loss, tourism experience degraded, community divided, jobs exported, profit outflow. Government faces a looming crisis similar to hospital or school closures ... phill PARSONS The selling-out of Tasmania ... Bacon's legacy was to hand Tasmania's economy and future direction over to a handful of big businesses with too much influence, too much power and too little concern for ordinary Tasmanians ... RICHARD FLANAGAN Butler: the criticism is misconceived... get the debate off the man and onto the position ... Richard Butler is a man with experience, understanding and an ability to communicate both ... Bacon may have been able to cope with the liberalising zeal and harness the very real standing our Governor has into a benefit for the state. Unfortunately our new Premier has reacted in a manner which has condemned an international mover and shaker into a Dame Edna opening fetes ... JAMES CROTTY Such desperate slur tactics ... The Government handover of $200 to 300 million of taxpayer dollars to four wealthy individuals in this context cannot be defended by name calling ... If the Government disputes De Vries' and Owenâs analyses it should do so with the figures of its own, or renegotiate this disgraceful deal and, in the process, end the (unmonitored, unevaluated) system of industry self-regulation of patron care, set a socially and economically responsible cap based on social research, not Federalâs posturing, and get the best possible market price for these to invest in sorely needed health services ... JAMES BOYCE Plus: Letters Hag's been scooped ... Hag regrets ... HAG Dear Crikey ... Did John De Vries declare himself the partner of well known anti-gambling activist Liz De Vries and former TasCoss head in his column in the totally unreliable TasmanianTimes rag. This outfit's lifes (sic) work is to attack anything the Tasmanian government does ... Lastly, I notice that great sacred cow the "Precautionary Principle" being given its usual run around the yard. Simplistic invocations of this principle are so unhelpful to public debate ... The definition that Dr Apiolaza has given, that "we should stop doing anything that carries a risk attached" is clearly not an acceptable definition and his rebuttal of the principle on that basis is meaningless ... Oysters, like a canary in a mine, are great filters of their environment ... There certainly is "fear, uncertainty and doubt" when I drink a glass of Tasmanian water, which I am sure are feelings shared by many others in the community, whether they be residents or visitors ... LETTERS A Bill of Rights ... debate: Bring it on The debate should it arise (and I hope it does) will have to run the gauntlet of many interest groups wishing to have their peace of mind cemented in ... EDDIE STORACE Dear Forestry Tasmania ... Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt ... Time, Paul, to apply the precautionary principle like a good lad and abstain from poisoning to mass extinction ... BRENDA ROSSER, LUIS APIOLAZA, phill PARSONS ... LETTERS Down on home To suggest as Conrad does that his hated Tasmania suddenly and inexplicably dropped dead to be replaced by an entirely new one that sprang from nowhere is to ignore the links between Old and New Tasmania, and the possibility that Tasmania, like every human concept, can be many things at once. Conrad's cardboard cut-out history presents the Tasmanian experience as a parody of itself. Worse, it elevates Tasmania to a ridiculous mystical status beyond human understanding and agency. By continuing to belittle Tasmania's past, Conrad has made any substantially different present unbelievable. As for the future, any future, that becomes inconceivable and unachievable ... RODNEY CROOME How much the mates' pokies deal is costing Tasmanian taxpayers ... if a market price had been sought for the public licence to operate the number of poker machines allowed under the current deed a price of $200 to $300 million could reasonably have been expected to have been achieved by the Government. As Federal Hotels is receiving the licence for free, $200 to $300 million is being transferred under the current Deed from the Government to Federal Hotels. ... JOHN De VRIES LAST MONTH HAVE YOUR SAY