What Crikey reckonsCrikey Sealed Section
10. Pork barrelling Tasmania Why the hell do these bludgers in Tasmania, who only comprise 2 per cent of the national population, deserve an additional $800 million subsidy from the Federal government just to stop their world record tree slaughtering. Why isn't someone hitting those cowboys at Gunns to contribute to a reduction in old growth logging? Afterall, the Gunns share price has surged from $1.50 to $14 over the past 5 years and it is now a $1.2 billion colossus which has enormous power in Tasmania and exercises it brutally through unions, employer groups, advertising, media connections and political donations. No stock in the top 100 has performed better over that period and the company will have revenues of about $600 million as it continues its reckless chainsaw massacre through what should be one of the great clean and green tourism meccas in the world. If Mark Latham and Paul Lennon are so worried about timber jobs why didn't they get stuck into Gunns for shedding hundreds of workers after buying the Boral and North Forest Products business to create their effective monopoly over the Tassie timber industry. There are long memories in Tasmanian Labor. It is not exactly a secret that former Labor Premier Michael Field and former state Green Christine Milne were not all that fond of one another... particularly as the 1989 Labor-Green Accord unravelled over the issue of ... you guessed it - forests. Michael Field headed up the Tasmanian Labor preference negotiations for this federal election, and led the ALP decision to preference Family First ahead of the Greens. Say the Greens: "It is important to note that he is not alone in this - Shayne Murphy, the Democrats and the Liberals also decided to preference Family First ahead of the Greens. As the Greens say: So far as Field and the ALP goes, it seems that the ALP would rather stop Christine Milne getting into the Senate and have a Latham Government consistently opposed by the religious right in the Senate, than have a progressive party to support more funding for public education, health services and key environmental objectives..."
It's all on: www.tasmaniantimes.com ... well, you're there already...!
And here's the direct link:
RAPID RESPONSE EMAIL: What do you think? Wednesday, October 6, 2004 |