The Tasmanian government is too close to forestry interests to recognise ecological vandalism. Case in point some friends hired a car with 11km on the clock at Hobart airport. Next day on return from Lake Pedder we marvelled at the magnificant tall trees in the Upper Florentine. No need to leave the bitumen as they were right by the roadside; I say 'were' because those 400 year old trees are now stumps. What kind of State trashes the very thing people come to see?

The result is that now everybody questions the Bartlett government's motives. The suspicion with the Tarkine road is that it is to gain access to old growth timber, not a tourist drive. The suspicion with the proposed silicon smelter is that it will pay 10% of what households pay for energy. The suspicion with the pulp mill is that it will 'inadvertently' spew organochlorines into Bass Strait with just a 'tssk tssk' from the State government. Back in 2006 no coal fired electricity went in to the State grid; now it is 25% thanks to the Basslink cable which was supposed to mainly export electricity, not mainly import it. If these things are necessary then the government should argue the case beforehand, not do it behind our backs then lie about it.

Has any one ever before, used so many words to say...NIMBY.

When will onlineopinion stop republishing such poorly researched and biased articles from Tasmanian Times?
To claim that the Tasmanian Treasurer’s overseas trip to meet investors willing to create jobs was secretive is farcical given that the Treasurer released details of his trip to the Media.

On 15 September at http://www.media.tas.gov.au/release.php?id=27823 Mr Aird announced a seven-day European jobs mission aimed at securing two major investment projects for Tasmania.
Far from hiding the fact that during the trip he would be talking up the pulp mill he told the media and the Tasmanian public that while in Europe, he would meet potential financiers of the Gunns pulp mill proposal and clearly stated “I will be outlining the State Government’s strong commitment to the pulp mill project and I will be making it clear we want the jobs and investment it would bring.”

What state government would not want to talk up a project that is the result of a year-long international search in 2003 to upgrade the 1990’s CSIRO environmental guidelines to latest technology and world’s best practice? Why wouldn’t the Treasurer want to talk up a project that will add $6.7 billion to the State product and add thousands of jobs throughout the economy?
Why not boast openly about the fact the Australian Chief Scientist even increased the environmental goal posts to be able to state that the mill will have a neutral environmental impact.
Given such a misleading article, the treasurer is right to advise the world that the pulp mill that will not use old growth forest and will have no impact on wilderness.

The author also claims a lack of openness and transparency and points to the Pulp Mill Assessment Act, an act that was scrutinised, amended and then voted upon by both Houses of parliament, in a debate that was open to the public, fully reported by the media and recorded in Hansard.

Democracy is alive and well in Tasmania except for the minority that oppose the Parliament’s approval of this modern value adding factory and write such misleading articles.

Here we have it all again.

Peter Henning whining that Labor and the coalition got together to stop the greens from shamelessly undermining the approval process to endlessly draw out the investigations (all at the expense of Gunns) to bleed Gunns dry and rob Tasmania of the greatest investment in decades.

Henning and his ilk may prefer that the population remain rural and low income, but it appears that the majority of Tasmanians don't.

So Peter please stop posting again and again on the same issue, unless you have something new to contribute.