Something is strange in the state of Tasmania.
Something is out of joint ...
Whether it is the ripple effects of the indifference and pragmatism of power or something more sinister ... something is not right.
Something is wrong in a state where the Labor Premier reminds you of Margaret Thatcher ... where her famous bull-headed phrase - "the Lady's not for turning" - resonates as Jim Bacon shrugs off calls for some substantive response to whistleblower Bill Manning's accusations.
And uses the subtle technique of dismissive identification ... a reworking of Deputy Premier Paul Lennon's mantra against those opposing forest policies as "just a bunch of greenies" in doing so.
But "they" have long-ceased being just a bunch of greenies. "They" are a growing cross-section of the Tasmanian community from conservative local government stalwarts fearing the rape of forest-edged tourism icons to the ordinary Tasmanians wounded by the indifference of Big End of Town agribusiness.
They fear that something treasured by generations of Tasmanians is being trashed - beyond redemption.
People like Brenda Rosser - another in a growing list of ordinary Tasmanians whose voice has echoed painfully off the massive stone wall of big business and bureaucracy.
Brenda Rosser says of herself,
"My family's individual struggle and
victimisation is typical of what is happening
across the populated and high-rainfall areas of rural Australia.
In 1984 we moved to North West Tasmania and chose
a relatively isolated area to live - one that was
away from farms that used chemicals and where the
stands of native bush were extensive and beautiful.
"All that changed in the mid 1990s when the State and Federal Governments pushed the Regional Forest 'Agreement' and the Plantations 2020 Vision onto ordinary citizens. The native forest was largely destroyed as a result and it was replaced by a huge monoculture tree plantation using an exotic species of Eucalypts called 'Nitens'.
...
"In 1997 we woke stunned to hear a bulldozer clearing the native trees only 60 feet away from our house. The loss of the trees we had loved threw us into shock and grief. But there was more to come...
Brenda's story will be told later on this website. But it is another cry from the heart, one of an increasing number told on Tasmanian Times ... from acclaimed gardener Gay Klok to organic farmer Christopher Purcell to feisty Derwent Valley resident Annie Ashbolt.
These are cries from those excluded from the easy access to government, bureaucracy or media granted to the Big End of Town.
Those who are powerless against the none-too-subtle campaign of whispering vilification which erodes the reputation of any who would question or buck the system.
Where those charged with promoting the well-being of all citizens, of defending the poorer and the powerless, leap with all-too-obvious joy into bed with the Big End of town.
Where money talks - why should Tasmania be any different - and buys pages and pages of publicity ...
... As an inadequate official Opposition gets into line behind government policy...
Some who profess wisdom say that at the end of all things - that which remains - are love .... and paradox.
A senior apparatchik once said that all Premier Jim Bacon wants to be is loved ... that he has a deep longing to be liked - and he's non-plussed when it doesn't automatically happen.
Jim Bacon has been - like John Howard - extremely lucky; successfully gambling on a two-now-three-ferry strategy at a time travellers were looking for safe and secure holiday destinations.
An edgy, dangerous world has made Tasmania, paradoxically, a most attractive, safe and secure destination. Paradoxical because the tourists have sometimes to peer through the burn-off smoke.
Bacon has been described as something of a narcissist... unable to brook criticism, with a fierce, indomitable will honed in the warlord fires of Norm Gallagher's Builders Labourers Federation.
He is described by his fiercest supporters as visionary, inspiring, enormously hard-working, absolutely loyal, with a brilliant mind able to grasp and understand issues in the masterful manner of the Cabinet king, Bob Hawke.
But lacking Hawkey's capacity to absorb criticism. For, say his critics, thrust a spear at Jim Bacon and it will be burnt to a cinder by the dragon's fiery breath.
For this dragon does not respond well to critical assault. Beneath the urbane, sophisticated, worldly exterior beats a sensitive heart which at times turns inward on itself; which is prey to the vicious cut-'em-dead reponse to any perceived threat. Which, in the manner of the ultra-sensitive, notes any slight, remembers, and pays back. But what would you expect with that BLF background?
To oversee Tasmania's coming of age as a tourism destination may be Jim Bacon's biggest triumph - and biggest slice of luck.
But he is haunted by and hates the overhang of the Michael Field government. Field is perceived as being - despite his short term as Labor Premier - both a brilliant economic manager, saving the state from Robin Gray-spendthrift inspired depression; and because of the accord with the Greens, a reforming Premier.
And here lies paradox. In spite of the best economic statistics, the rosiest forecasts ... how is Jim Bacon both perceived, and to be remembered?
His Treasurer David Crean gets the accolades for economic management; his Attorney General Judy Jackson gets the guernsey as reformer.
Mao was the Great Helmsman ...
Jim Bacon is, The Great Log Truck Driver ...
Surely not ...?
*Last Wednesday (October 22) the Tasmanian Greens were successful in calling for a debate on their motion calling for a Commission of Inquiry (Royal Commission) into the conduct and administration of forestry in Tasmania.
The vote as to whether this Commission of Inquiry will happen will be held this Wednesday, 29th October.
TIME: Debate starts at 4:45pm sharp, the vote will be held at 5:30pm.
DATE: Wednesday 29 October 2003
VENUE: Parliament House, Hobart.
The state we're in ... what we wrote about a year ago
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Monday, October 27, 2003