Ignore the eulogies. Jim Bacon’s legacy is a state ravaged by logging and inappropriate development, writes Richard Flanagan.
Among the many bewildering responses to former Tasmanian premier Jim Bacon's passing, few came more bizarre than that of Albert Langer and his colleagues ("Vale comrade Jim Bacon", on this page on July 2) presenting Bacon as ever "on the side of the oppressed against the oppressors". Unfortunately, history tells a less uplifting tale.
Under Bacon, Tasmania was given away to the rich at the expense of the poor. Typical was how millionaire Greg Farrell's Federal Hotels group became the leading tourism operator in the state, bankrolled by its monopoly on pokie machines. In Victoria and NSW, gaming machine licences are tendered for and millions of dollars paid to state governments, whereas in Tasmania a 15-year monopoly on gaming machines, estimated by Citigroup to be worth at least $130 million, was inexplicably given by the Bacon government to Federal Hotels for nothing.
An even more disturbing example is the extraordinary rise under Bacon of millionaire John Gay's Gunns Ltd into a billion-dollar monopoly that is now the largest hardwood woodchip exporter in the world.
Too often misrepresented as an environmental story, this a dark tale of corporate greed and government connivance. In spite of the overwhelming majority of Tasmanians wanting the clearfelling of old-growth forests to end, Bacon remained unwavering in his support of old-growth logging and Gunns, the Tasmanian ALP's biggest financial donor.
Under Bacon, clearfelling of globally unique native forest accelerated; and no reform was made of an industry described in evidence to a Senate committee by senior forester Bill Manning as corrupted in its management and prey to a culture of cronyism, bullying and intimidation. Under Bacon, forests disappeared, rivers began drying up, thousands of protected native animals were killed with 1080, and Gunns shares increased in value by more than 700 per cent.
Then there is Bacon's record on democracy. In 1997 Bacon drove the deal with the Liberals under which Tasmania's highly democratic electoral system was fundamentally altered to reduce minority representation, which had resulted in the Greens twice having the balance of power. The result was an enfeebled parliament.
etc, etc
The full link:
The selling-out of Tasmania, THE AGE
RAPID RESPONSE EMAIL: What do you think?
If you bounce,
tuffinlindsay@hotmail.com
Thursday, July 22, 2004