Paradise regained?
Saturday January 1, 2005
Penny Green finds Nicholas Shakespeare's investigation
into settlers In Tasmania produces an interesting result
In Tasmania
.......Tasmania is an enigmatic place and Shakespeare captures
it with an appreciative eye - coastal, remote and deeply
beautiful, with still largely unexplored ancient rainforests,
perfect bays, mountains, lakes and pure white, glistening
beaches. But in many ways Tasmania is as much about extinction
and loss as it is about unique wilderness and physical beauty.
Its remoteness gives cover to a dark history and a careless
and corrupt present that is only alluded to in
the book. The near genocide of the Tasmanian Aborigines,
the forced extinction of the thylacine or Tasmanian tiger,
followed by the criminal destruction
of unique old-growth forests by logging companies,
a dramatic decline in the islander occupation of mutton-birding
and the perpetual haemorrhage of Tasmania's young people
to pastures more alluring - all mark a
persistent inability by those governing Tasmania to value
its environment. The logging issue is the most
important. For more than 30 years
Tasmania has been squandering its greatest asset - the exotic
old-growth forests of eucalyptus, myrtle, sassafrass, leatherwood
and celery-top pine. The destruction of these rainforests
through clear-felling and napalm in the interests of corporate
profit is an obscenity. The wealth has not trickled
down into the state's economy and Tasmania remains the poorest
of Australia's eight states and territories, its rate of
unemployment the highest.......
THE
GUARDIAN - (UK) |
TREE NEWS (UK)
A Tale of Tasmania: green paradise or clear-cut destruction?
The magazine is published, it may be available locally.
http://www.treenews.org.uk/latest/index.php |
|
TASMANIA, THE PREMIER
LOG TRUCK STATE OF AUSTRALIA
Because of the culture of cover up of Tasmanian forest
practices, log truck accidents are increasingly rarely reported
and statistics are very hard to get hold of. The word "accident"
is not used by the industry, code words or numbers are used
instead. Log trucks are notorious for tipping over and drivers
are pushed to the limit to meet industry demands and oppression.
|
Log truck row rolls on
By ROHAN WADE - 22 December 2004
LOG trucks should be limited to 80km/h during the Christmas
period in the interests of road safety, the Greens said
yesterday. ........ The Transport Workers Union and the
State Government also rejected the call, saying it was merely
a thinly disguised attack on the forestry industry. Greens
Bass MHA Kim Booth said Infrastructure Minister Bryan Green
was ignoring advice of an engineer, Wolfgang Wissman, who
recommended log trucks have their load heights reduced from
4.3m to 3.8m to reduce weight and have a maximum speed of
80km/h to reduce rollover risk. .......... Mr Booth said
North Forest Products was preparing to adopt Mr Wissman's
recommendations of its own accord before it was bought by
Gunns
Ltd........
HOBART
MERCURY...
==================
Log truck dispute rolls on
24 December 2004
The Tasmanian Government has rejected claims it is ignoring
a dangerous log truck problem in the state. Greens infrastructure
spokesman Kim Booth says he recently obtained the minutes
of a forestry transport sector safety meeting last year.
He says the minutes reveal serious log truck instability
issues and air bag suspension failure are causing log trucks
to overturn........
ABC
ONLINE...
• SEE
SOME OF THE PROBLEMS WITH DRIVING IN TASMANIA...
• SEE
SOME MORE OF THE PROBLEMS WITH DRIVING IN TASMANIA...
• TAS
GREENS... Truck Safety Blind Spot For Minister Green.
All Care And No Responsibility Attitude Continues
The Tasmanian Greens today further pursued Minister Green
over his inaction on addressing Heavy Vehicle safety, questioning
the minister, whether Coronial inquiries into recent fatalities
involving log trucks rolling or tipping, would be informed
of the findings of independent engineer Wolfgang Wissman
into the likelihood of such events, and if not, why not?
Greens Opposition Infrastructure spokesperson Kim Booth
MHA also questioned the Minister as to whether Transport
Inspectors were attending the scene of all heavy vehicle
roll overs, or only those involving injuries or fatalities,
and further moved a motion calling on the Minister to provide
a copy Mr Wissman’s report into Heavy Vehicle stability
to all drivers, contractors and industry stakeholders. “The
Minister, Bryan Green, refuses to provide to the parliament
answers to serious questions regarding heavy vehicle safety,
and nor will he address concerns that heavy vehicle incidents
have almost doubled from this time last year,” Mr Booth
said. “There are also outstanding concerns over whether
transport inspectors are now only inspecting accidents scenes
which involve serious injury or fatalities rather than all
accidents involving heavy vehicles.”...... |
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FORESTS VANDAL, ELECTION LIAR & WOODCHIP
BARON, GOES LEGAL
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The McLibel
Trial is the infamous British court
case between McDonalds and a postman &
gardener from London (Helen Steel and Dave
Morris). It ran for two and a half years
and became the longest ever English trial.
The Judge delivered his verdict in June
1997 which was devastating for McDonalds.
As a result of the court case, the Anti-McDonald's
campaign mushroomed, the press coverage
increased exponentially and the legal controversy
continues.
MORE at the Melbourne Age - 17 Dec 04 |
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| GUNNS NOT THE
ONLY BULLY IN TOWN |
Travel pioneer sour on fall in business
By ELLEN WHINNETT - Chief Reporter
17 December 2004
A PIONEERING tourism operator says he has been virtually
forced out of business because he criticised the Government's
marketing strategy. Simon Houghton says he is paying
a heavy price for accusing Tourism
Tasmania of favouring big operators such as Federal
Hotels. He said his Hawley
House boutique vineyard and accommodation business
on Tasmania's North-West Coast was performing "abysmally"
and he believed he had been cut adrift because he
was outspoken......
HOBART
MERCURY... |
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| AUSTRALIAN
APATHY AND HOW SOME TASMANIANS ARE BOUGHT |
Is this the end
of dissent in Australia?
December 16, 2004
Gunns' action in suing activists could have sinister
ramifications, warns Martin Flanagan.
Earlier this year, I wrote an article in which I
urged Australians to become concerned about what
is going on in Tasmania's old-growth forests (" The
sorry state of Tasmania", on this page
on March 15). I likened the present period in the
island's history to the one, only a few decades
ago, when the cause of hydro-industrialisation united
the interests of big business, the unions and the
Labor and Liberal parties under the mantra of supplying
employment, to the extent that dams were continuing
to be built long after there was serious community
concern about whether such dams were actually required.
........ No doubt there are people in the hierarchy
of Gunns
with a genuine interest in football. But, again,
I cannot think of a quicker path to broad public
acceptance in Tasmania than by becoming associated
with bringing AFL football to the island. ........
Once again, I am urging Australians to become more
interested in what is happening in Tasmania. In
Shakespearean terms, Tasmania is the play within
the play; it always has been. Tasmania is now a
corporate state. It has a supine government and
an opposition that is an opposition in name alone.
Its Labor Premier, Paul Lennon, demonstrated during
the recent federal election campaign that his loyalty
to the logging industry outweighed his commitment
to a national Labor victory. If Tasmanians opposed
to Gunns are silenced, all who challenge the rich
and powerful in this country are vulnerable.
MELBOURNE
AGE...
| GUNNS
SUES GRASS ROOTS ENVIRONMENTALISTS |
Ugly scenes at city demo
16 December 2004
GRANT Maddock has become the face of the anti-Gunns
protest after he symbolically held up a log truck
in central Hobart......
HOBART
MERCURY...
==================
600 protest over writs from Gunns
By CHRIS JOHNSON , Thursday, 16 December 2004
High-profile Tasmanians yesterday condemned the decision
by Gunns
Ltd this week to serve writs on 20 environmental
campaigners and seek damages totalling more than $6
million. ........... Mr Flanagan said that where freedom
of expression was denied, and freedom of association
was punishable, freedom died. "Who gets the next
writs? Who is next to have their lives destroyed because
they cared enough about this beautiful island home
to say something, to do something?" he asked.
"This is how the rich and powerful defend their
interests in numerous Third World countries, because
ordinary people cannot afford to fight in court."
Senator Brown earlier described the Gunns move as
the biggest legal attack on the popular environment
movement in Australian history. "This is an attack
not just on our forests but on democracy and freedom
of speech," he said.......
LAUNCESTON
EXAMINER...
==================
Shake, rattle and rights
SEVEN hundred sets of keys jangled in anger yesterday
as protesters used non-verbal means to send a message
to timber giant Gunns. ........ "The
right to protest peacefully is a universal right,"
he told the crowd. "To quote Voltaire, I may
not agree with what you are saying but I will defend
to the death your right to say it." Mr Flanagan
said "fear was abroad in Tasmania" and the
writ put the state "on the path to tyranny".
"This is how the rich and powerful protect their
interests in third world countries," he said.
"It is a fundamental assault on our liberty."
He called on those in the park to jangle their keys
"so they can hear them in the Gunns boardroom
in Launceston and in their barristers' chambers in
Melbourne." "I've asked you to be silent
for one minute for what those bastards want to do
to our democracy," he said.
HOBART
MERCURY...
==================
Team of heavies on case
16 December 2004
GUNNS Ltd has retained some of Australia most eminent
industrial lawyers to prosecute its case against 20
green protesters and environmental groups......
HOBART
MERCURY...
==================
Road rage: Gunns writ sparks rally and direct action,
suit sends Gunns soaring
........He said the price of $4.56 yesterday morning
was a record high for the company. Lucaston resident
Lew Geraghty said she faced the prospect of losing
the house she had lived in for 20 years. Mrs Geraghty
took part in blockades at Lucaston, and said she had
no financial means to defend herself in court. "I'm
a parent and a wife, I have four children and a grandchild
," she said. "My husband works and I spend
my day driving my kids to sport. "I'm just an
everyday person trying to protect the area I live
in."
HOBART
MERCURY...
==================
Gunns sues
15 December 2004
TIMBER giant Gunns
Ltd is suing a group of environmentalists, protesters
and Green MPs for $6.3 million. The company has lodged
a writ alleging a group of 20 individuals and groups
damaged its business. Green MPs Bob Brown and Peg
Putt and a number of members of the Wilderness Society
are among those named in the writ, lodged in the Supreme
Court of Victoria. The company is claiming damages
for financial loss allegedly suffered as a result
of protest actions.
Examples cited include:
* The Styx Valley tree-sit campaign last year.
* A protest and "lock-on" at the Triabunna
woodchip mill.
* A letter-writing campaign which saw more than 7000
people write to Japanese woodchip customers urging
them not to buy Gunns
woodchips.
* A media campaign urging four major banks to end
their association with Gunns.
* A lobbying campaign to have Gunns removed as a finalist
from the Banksia
Environmental Awards.
* A claim by the group Doctors for Forests that the
Burnie woodchip pile could harbour legionella. ..........
Premier Paul Lennon would not comment, nor would Liberal
leader Rene Hidding. But Denison Labor MHR Duncan
Kerr said the writ was a "grievous wound on democracy".
"It is an extraordinary step in Australia for
a major corporation to claim millions in damages from
politicians, community groups and individuals protesting
against current forestry practices," he said.
"It is a very dangerous precedent." Mr Kerr
said if citizens did not have the capacity to campaign
against practices that were lawful but offensive to
many in the community, the asbestos industry would
probably still be in operation and restrictions on
tobacco advertising and smoking would never have been
implemented. ......... Tasmania's leading writer Richard
Flanagan said the Gunns
writ was "an appalling abuse of power by the
most powerful in Tasmania". "If Gunns'
tactic was to succeed there would effectively be no
right to dissent and free speech would exist in name
only," Flanagan said. "In Tasmania we have
a state government that uses the political process
to intimidate any who question, and we now have Gunns
using the legal process to attempt the same end. "Tasmanians
ought be frightened because Gunns'
greed seems to know no limits: they want not only
our forests, but now our very silence. "It is
time decent Tasmanians stood up against this culture
of fear and intimidation."
HOBART
MERCURY...
==================
What Crikey said
1. Lawyers, Gunns and money
Political Editor Christian Kerr writes:
Readers know yours truly
is no shrubhugger - but you have to ask if the chairman
of tree-loppers Gunns Limited, John Gay, is as thick
as the tallest tree in what Iron Mark still pathetically
refers to as the "mighty Tasmanian forests".
Politically, he must be about the most naive corporate
chief going around.
By launching a $6.3 million Supreme Court action against
the Who's Who of environmental activists he has broken
one of the of major tenets of political warfare -
don't give the opposition oxygen.
Gay, a corporate cowboy worth
about $70 million, just doesn't get it.
The Greens, politically, gain their support largely
on pandering to public emotion. To be really successful
they need a cause celebre around which to gather a
broader vote then their hard-core supporters can provide.
Premier Paul Lennon has already served up a major
issue in putting a pulp mill back on the agenda, but
now John Gay has trumped that.
Gay might be right to an extent. There is not be much
sympathy in Tassie for militant environmentalists
- but here is also not much sympathy for corporate
thugs. He has now given the Greens an opportunity
to play David to Gunns' bullying Goliath.
As Crikey has repeatedly said in the past, when it
comes to politics in Tasmania the Hare Clark electoral
system means that a candidate only needs sixteen percent
of the vote to get elected in State parliament. Over
the past 20 years the Greens have only managed to
get this type of support when they have had a rallying
call to pull middle of the road voters over to their
side; for instance, a major damn or pulp mill proposal.
Just have a look who are named in the writ here.
There are 20 defendants including the Wilderness Society,
its State campaign coordinator Geoff Law and national
campaign director Alec Marr; Doctors for Native Forests;
Huon Valley Environment Centre and 13 individual campaigners,
along with state Greens leader Peg Putt and Senator
Bob Brown - who has already fired off a salvo in response,
as the ABC reports here.
Gay has not only given the greenies a dream campaign
issue. He has also managed to unite a motley crew
who often fight amongst themselves as much as anyone
else. Good one! He obviously hasn't heard of divide
and conquer.
And the $6.3 million? Even if Gay is successful in
all of his claims - and just on reading the early
press reports some look so ridiculous they should
be laughed straight out of court - that sort of money
might easily be raised from a nation-wide call to
the faithful.
This is all about John Gay's ego and his hatred of
the Greens. He wants to teach them a lesson. The irony
is that he is the one who needs to learn from the
history of environmental politics and to understand
that he has probably given the shrubhuggers their
biggest electoral leg-up in a decade.
CRIKEY...
==================
Mock funeral over Gunns writs
By David Crawshaw - December 15, 2004
ENVIRONMENTAL activists today mourned the death of
free speech as they protested against what they said
were moves by Tasmanian forestry giant Gunns
Ltd to silence its critics. About 30 people held
a mock funeral outside the Australian Stock Exchange
(ASX) in Sydney after Gunns
this week served writs in the Victorian Supreme Court
on 20 people and groups, claiming their campaign against
logging had harmed its business......
THE
AUSTRALIAN...
==================
Timber giant sues Brown
December 14, 2004
TASMANIAN timber industry giant Gunns
is suing Australian Greens leader Bob Brown and several
environmental groups over "ongoing damaging campaigns
and activities" against the company. Gunns
executive chairman John Gay said in a statement that
writs had been served on a number of groups and individuals
to protect the interests of its employees, contractors
and shareholders. Mr Gay said the civil action was
over allegations made about risks to health and safety
of Gunns
employees and contractors, unauthorised entry to private
property and damage to Gunns
equipment. "Gunns
Limited and the majority of Tasmanians are sick
and tired of the misleading information being peddled
about our industry and our state," he said. Comment
was being sought from Senator Brown.
THE
AUSTRALIAN...
==================
Brown slams timber giant suit
December 14, 2004
AUSTRALIAN Greens leader Bob Brown reacted angrily
today to a multi-million dollar damages action launched
against him and other environmental campaigners by
Tasmanian timber giant Gunns,
calling it a "broadscale attack" on the
right to protest. Gunns
has served writs on 20 individuals and groups, including
Tasmanian Greens leader Peg Putt, the Wilderness Society
and Doctors
for Forests, citing their "ongoing damaging
campaigns and activities" against the company.
The writs, which environment groups say seek a total
of $6.3 million in damages, were lodged yesterday
in the Victorian Supreme Court. Senator Brown said
he would not be cowed by the wealth and "power
of destruction" of Gunns
chief executive John Gay and Robin Gray, a Gunns
board member and former Tasmanian premier. "This
is a broadscale attack on our Australian right to
protest for the nation's heritage," he said.
"It is a US-style writ to hector the strongholds
of the popular environment movement into silence and
submission as Gunns'
chainsaws and poison destroys the Tasmanian forests
and their wildlife at the greatest rate in history......
NEWS.COM.AU...
==================
Timber giant sues Bob Brown
December 14, 2004
Tasmanian forestry giant Gunns
Ltd has launched a multi-million dollar damages
claim against environmentalists including Australian
Greens leader Bob Brown, arguing their protests hurt
the interests of its employees and shareholders. The
timber company lodged a 216-page writ in the Victorian
Supreme Court yesterday seeking compensation from
20 individuals and groups it said conspired to unlawfully
interfere with its business at logging sites and through
"corporate vilification". The writs total
$6.36 million in damages. ,The Wilderness Society
and its staff face a total compensation claim of $3.5
million after being accused of organising the campaign
against Gunns. Individually, Senator Brown ($305,000),
Tasmanian Greens leader Peg Putt ($95,000) and Wilderness
Society national campaigns director Alec Marr ($280,000)
are accused of "publicly denigrating, vilifying
and criticising" Gunns,
and encouraging others to boycott or protest against
it. ........ The writ was lodged four months after
Gunns
was the target of public outrage after a helicopter
accidentally dousing a north-east Tasmanian farm with
the potentially carcinogenic herbicide atrazine while
spraying a forestry plantation.......
THE
MELBOURNE AGE...
• GUNNS
SPRAYING CONTAMINATED DRINKING WATER...
• GUNNS
ELECTION LIES...
• POLITICIANS
GUNNS & MONEY... (19 June 2001)
• THE
BOOK OF GAYGUN...
• GUNNS,
PROFITS, MATES and the NATIONAL TRUST...
• GREEN
LEFT... Royal commissioner
William Carter confirmed that Robin Gray, the then
Liberal premier of Tasmania, had acted “deceitfully
and dishonestly” and had been "misleading
and deceptively evasive." (Robin
Gray is a current director of Gunns
Ltd.)
• FORESTS
UNDER THE GUNNS... (22 July 2001)
• THE
HUBRIS THAT BROUGHT AN ISLAND DYNASTY UNDONE...
(Melboune Age, August 4 2002)
• GUNNS
Ltd, THE FIRST FINALIST TO BE KICKED OUT OF AWARDS
IN 15 YEARS...
• ABC
- 4 CORNERS LORDS, OF THE FORESTS...
• CHANNEL
9 TV / SUNDAY SHOW - TASMANIA FIRE SALE...
• CHANNEL
9 TRANSCRIPT - JOHN GAY: "Well, there's too
many of them [wombats and ring-tailed possums] and
we need to keep them at a reasonable level."
• CHANNEL
9 TV / SUNDAY SHOW - NAME YOUR POISON...
• THE
RAPE OF TASMANIA at the BULLETIN...
• GUNNS
SEARCH at ECO PORTAL... 345 matching documents
• GUNNS
DIRECTORS at the Australian Stock Exchange... |
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Exodus hope for devils
Matthew Denholm - December 9, 2004
TASMANIAN devils may be captured early next year and
transported to the mainland in a Noah's Ark operation
to save the species from a mysterious and unstoppable
disease that has already wiped out half the native
population. Researchers, who are racing against time
to find a cause or cure for the highly contagious
facial tumours that kill within five months, held
talks with a leading zoo body about the operation
to save the devils from joining the Tasmanian tiger
in extinction. The disease has spread to the 65 per
cent of the state where 85 per cent of the devils
roam, reducing the population of the carnivorous marsupial
from 150,000 to 75,000. ........ Infected devils,
always adults, die from starvation, because they cannot
swallow, or from organ failure. The theories behind
the cause range from chemicals used to spray plantation
forests, to rabbit-killing 1080 poison and even power
cables.
THE
AUSTRALIAN...
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Greener gas figures
more than hot air?
By Orietta Guerrera - December 7, 2004
Reduced land clearing has eased greenhouse emissions, but
those from energy, transport and agriculture continue to
soar. ....... Greens leader Bob Brown accused the Government
of skewing the figures. He said Senator Campbell was masking
the fact that emissions from the energy sector would increase
by nearly 50 per cent by the end of the decade. "The
Government's permission for greenhouse gas emissions from
the coal and gas-fired industries to increase at an unprecedented
rate is covered by the non-government policy achievement
of reduced land clearing," Senator Brown said. He
called on the Government to include figures showing the
pollution produced from the burning of Tasmania's old-growth
forests. Greenpeace energy campaigner Catherine
Fitzpatrick also disputed the figures. She said Senator
Campbell's "spin" on the issue took the Government's
"cheating and lying on climate
change to a new level".......
THE
MELBOURNE AGE...
Greenhouse gas 'increasing rapidly'
December 6, 2004
THE Federal Government was skewing Australia's greenhouse
gas emission figures, masking the rapidly increasing emissions
from coal-fired power stations, Greens leader Bob Brown
said today. ...... Senator Brown also cast doubt on the
accuracy of the Government's greenhouse output figures,
saying the burning of Tasmanian
native forests was not accounted for in the figures......
NEWS.COM.AU...
• TASMANIAN
FOREST BURNING & LAND CLEARING CONTRIBUTION TO GLOBAL
WARMING... (5 March 2004) |
| PREPARE TO
BE POISONED |
Town set for insecticide, Greens
say
By CLAIRE KONKES - 6 December 2004
GEEVESTON residents have been told Forestry
Tasmania plans to spray the same insecticide linked
to massive oyster deaths on Tasmania's East Coast,
the Greens said yesterday. Greens environment spokesman
Nick McKim said residents on New Rd were told the
insecticide Dominex would be aerially sprayed by Forestry
Tasmania in the coming weeks. He said aerially spraying
the pesticide threatened public drinking water and
major aquaculture operations in the Huon area. .......
The Australian Medical Association has called for
a ban on aerial spraying, which the Greens support,
yet Forestry
Tasmania continues to act as a law unto itself
and ignore the threat to human health and vital industry
sectors such as aquaculture.".......
HOBART
MERCURY...
• TASMANIAN
AQUA COCKTAIL - more than H2O
• HERE
IS SOME SAFE DRINKING WATER
|
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| FIXING THINGS
TASSIE STYLE |
History up in smoke
By SIMON BEVILACQUA - 5 December 2004
THE historian who first raised
concerns about the logging of
Recherche Bay has had
his study burnt to the ground. His ivy-covered
backyard study at Hastings near Dover in southern
Tasmania contained decades of research, including
irreplaceable convict records. Only scorched pages
remained of the historic records. The fire has been
classified as malicious by police. It
happened only six days after an article in the Sunday
Tasmanian told of arson threats against those who
opposed the logging of the Recherche Bay historic
site. Former school principal Bruce Poulson
lost personal photographs and about 1000 books. He
also lost a colonial chest of convict-era records,
which he had salvaged before they ended up on a tip.
....... Six days before the blaze, Swedish researcher
Dagmar Nordberg said she had been told about threats
of arson against those who wanted to save the Recherche
Bay historic site from logging. Ms Nordberg, who is
doing a University of Tasmania PhD study on the history
of the area which was the landing site of French explorers
in 1792 and 1793, told The Sunday Tasmanian about
tensions between pro-loggers and those who wanted
to save the historic site........
SUNDAY
TASMANIAN...
• Recherche
Bay...
• Tasmania's
Recherche Bay attracts international attention...
• ABC
CATALYST on Recherche Bay (with BRUCE POULSON)...
• It's
not a God-given right to do what you want...
======================
Gunns takes axe to miller
By NICK CLARK - December 6, 2004
TIMBER giant Gunns
Ltd has stopped buying
product from pine sawmiller Auspine since a public
row between the companies over old-growth logging
in the heat of the election campaign. Gunns'
catalogues until recently featured the Auspine logo,
but now have switched to Auspine's Scottsdale rival
Frenchpine. The pine contract is believed to have
cost Auspine more than $2.5 million a year. Differences
between Gunns
executive chairman John Gay and Auspine chief operations
officer Andrew Jakab surfaced in September when Mr
Jakab called for resource security for the softwood
industry. He also said old-growth logging was finite.
"Exporting woodchip and exporting logs is the
least productive use of the plantation resource and
amounts to the exporting of jobs," he said. Mr
Gay responded on September 19 saying that Auspine
was jeopardising its future in Tasmania with its outspoken
comments. .......
HOBART
MERCURY...
• WHAT
AUSPINE SAID TO THE ABC...
======================
Gunns accused of bullying
7 December 2004
THE Tasmanian Greens have accused timber giant Gunns
Limited of acting like a schoolyard bully in
its dealings with sawmiller Auspine. ....... Greens
leader Peg Putt said Mr Gay was trying to silence
Auspine and other opposition. "Gunns
is acting like a schoolyard bully by attempting to
cut the throat of Auspine in the Tasmanian marketplace
because they dared to speak up about the lack of resource
security for their pine plantation sector," she
said. Ms Putt said Premier Paul Lennon refused to
distance himself from Mr Gay's comments. "This
style of bullying behaviour is not a pretty reflection
on Tasmania, particularly as the Premier would not
distance himself from John Gay's comments that Auspine
was jeopardising its future,"......
HOBART
MERCURY... |
|
The rise of Mary's kingdom
December 5, 2004 - by Andrew Darby
As pretty as the princess who has helped restore its
fortunes, Tasmania is no longer the butt of mainland humour.
But amid rising real estate prices and renewed hope, some
things still divide, writes Andrew Darby.
This is the island that for years was left off Australian
maps, made the butt of horror jokes, and deemed a perennial
economic basket case. It was the place people left, and
then apologised for coming from. ......... Today, Tasmania's
natural environment is a winning economic card. The state's
population drain has been reversed. Hobart house values
have increased faster than those of any other capital city.
The arts are prospering. During its bicentenary of European
settlement, locals believe that Tasmania is undergoing a
transformation. ......... Young has an intimate view of
Tasmania's forests. Wooden boat builders need old rainforest
timbers. A relatively small amount will employ many people
and produce things of lasting beauty. South-west of Franklin
are some of the richest old-growth forests in the country,
the valleys of the upper Huon, Weld and Picton rivers. These
valleys are being clear-felled, and much of their timber
is trucked past the boat workshops on the way to woodchip
mills. Young despairs at the shortsightedness of converting
mixed native forests into a monoculture of eucalypts.
"People haven't been able to see ways of doing both,"
he says. ......... Before the federal election, the national
Tourism and Transport Forum joined the Australian Conservation
Foundation to warn that campaigning against old-growth logging
risked Tasmania's - and Australia's - image as a green destination.
The issue became a key policy for both major parties. An
extra impetus for change is also the remarkable reversal
of Tasmania's population drain. "Not every new arrival
is a greenie, but quite a lot of them are," says John
Young. "The only problem is most are nearly over the
hill." A few 30-something Tasmanians are returning
with new skills and young families. A scattering of determined
mainland families are doing the same. But these appear to
be the exceptions. ......... Certainly real estate is booming.
In three years, Tasmania's median house prices have doubled.
The latest Real Estate Institute of Australia figures show
Hobart rising at a greater pace than any other capital -
up 7.2 per cent compared with a 2.7 per cent slump in Melbourne.
The island's long coastline and extensive river valleys
mean it is not hard to find a view. Rod and Jill Matthews
remember being offered a rundown house in Franklin for $13,000
eight years ago. "We said, 'Why go down there?' And
the banks wouldn't even lend money to buy." Recently,
a four-bedroom house facing the highway was offered at $350,000.
The island's new-found prosperity has its challenges. ........
"Sometimes it takes someone from somewhere else to
point out to you how beautiful your place is," he says.
MELBOURNE
AGE...
BUT
Off the boil
By Danny Rose - 3 December 2004
HOBART house prices have finally gone into reverse -- falling
2.2 per cent in the September quarter, the biggest drop
in the nation......
HOBART
MERCURY... |
| HOW CAN TASMANIA
CARE FOR ITS FORESTS WHEN IT CAN'T EVEN CARE FOR ITS
CHILDREN? |
Tears for the little children
By ELLEN WHINNETT 25 November 2004
THE abuse of hundreds of children in state care was
so horrific it reduced Tasmanian Ombudsman Jan O'Grady
to tears yesterday......
HOBART
MERCURY...
Horror story spans 50 years
* Some boys were forced to clean out a cage full of
Tasmanian Devils, despite their terror of the animals
* Punishments including scrubbing the floor at Wybra
with a toothbrush.
* Boys who spoke out at mealtimes were handcuffed
and sometimes knocked to the floor.
* Girls and boys were subjected to sexual abuse, and
girls reported being hit with canes, broom handles,
fists and pieces of wood.
* Some girls were repeatedly raped over a prolonged
period.
* Children were "primed" before a visit
by welfare officers, and were dressed in their best
clothes and given clean bedsheets before the officer
arrived.
HOBART
MERCURY...
Evelyn recalls homes of hell
By MICHELLE PAINE 26 November 2004
EVELYN was made to clean up the blood as other young
women gave birth. When it was her turn, she was tied
up and called a sook when she asked for pain relief
after her 18-hour labour. ....... "When it was
my turn to be in the delivery room, I was doped up
and couldn't move my hands. I was tied up, my legs
were pushed up and they were forced open. "I
spent 18 hours like this. This was part of my punishment
for being pregnant." ........ Later she was sexually
abused by the rural Tasmanian family who employed
her. ....... "I think the State Government's
terrible for not having a commission of inquiry. There's
still abuse going on now," Evelyn said. "No
guts and no glory. They've got a cheek not to have
an inquiry. I lost a son because of this.".......
HOBART
MERCURY...
Paul Lennon Insensitive Prick
"I fail to understand how a full and open public
enquiry actually helps the victims by forcing them
to go back through the details of a very traumatic
experience" ....[Premier] Paul Lennon, (Mercury
24 Nov 04).
TasMailbag.com...
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