The News Review:
- Hobart Australia: Chilling out in laid-back Tasmania
- Will the real Rudd please stand up?
- Victorian concerns about pulp mill
- JCKEYS HAVE RIGHTS AT WRK T
- Pulp mill company ‘given special treatment’
- Logging activisits want extension to Hartz National Park
Hobart Australia: Chilling out in laid-back Tasmania
International Herald Tribune – Jul 30, 2007
A fleece-clad couple sip lattes and a spiky-haired musician carrying a guitar case greets a friend. A cyclist in spandex pedals by so slowly that his wheels barely move. Just above the port strong westerly winds buffet the 4166-foot-high Mount Wellington bringing icy air from one of ” the world's longest uninterrupted stretches of ocean. At its peak stunted eucalyptus trees take on spectral shapes and the views seem to stretch toward Antarctica.
Will the real Rudd please stand up?
The Age – Jul 30, 2007
Each time I have written back and pointed out that the view Ihave expressed is shared for example by my elderly parents andparents-in-law people from working class and farm backgrounds. If they’re not Tasmanian I don’t know who is. My point is that I don’t accept his implication that mine is the”mainland” view any more than his is the exclusively “Tasmanian”view. Plenty of Tasmanians share my views — they just don’tfit the political stereotypes used by the Tasmanian Government todescribe the debate… The other is the integrity of the processwhereby the proposal has been pushed through. In one incidentSupreme Court judge Chris Wright who was in charge of one branchof the process alleged Lennon tried to improperly influencehim. I would argue that Tasmania is a corporate state by which I meanits Government is directly responsive to the state’s majorcorporation the timber company Gunns. By corporate state I do notmean totalitarian state. Corporate states co-exist with consumerismand consumer demands including in news. The corporate politicianpar excellence Silvio Berlusconi was simultaneously primeminister of Italy and that country’s biggest television mogul. nthe subject of dissent and democratic activity generallyBerlusconi said “If it’s not on television don’t worry about it.
Victorian concerns about pulp mill
ABC nline – ABC nline – Jul 30, 2007
“Australia’s a long way away and it’s marketed as one destination” Mr Blake said. So there is a ‘Product Australia’ that’s marketed in the international tourism space and Victoria Western Australia Queensland Tasmania’s all part of that same ship. The Tasmanian Government says it’s ridiculous for Restaurant and Catering Victoria to demand assurances that Tasmanian or Victorian produce won’t be contaminated by the proposed Tamar Valley pulp mill. Tasmania’s Treasurer Michael Aird says the comment is akin to the group demanding similar assurances from other states or countries with polluting industries such as coal. Mr Aird says the pulp mill will be subject to the strictest environmental controls. Tags: food-and-beverage hospitality timber tas vicSearch for news.
JCKEYS HAVE RIGHTS AT WRK T
Tasmanian Greens – Jul 30, 2007
The Tasmanian Jockeys Association has been fighting for workers compensation for years for it’s members and has announced that until the issue is resolved that they will no longer ride in Tasmania. Greens Shadow Racing spokesperson Kim Booth MHA said that there is no excuse for Tasmania to be the only state in Australia that excludes jockeys from the Workers Compensation laws and accused the Lennon Labor government of dragging its feet over fixing this problem. Mr Booth has been campaigning to reverse the exclusion of jockeys from the State’s Workers Compensation provisions over the last two years at least. “I commend the Tasmanian Jockeys Association for the courageous stand that they have taken in refusing to ride and call on the Lennon Labor government to immediately ensure that they are granted workers compensation by legislative measures” Mr Booth said… The Tasmanian Jockeys Association has been fighting for workers compensation for years for it’s members and has announced that until the issue is resolved that they will no longer ride in Tasmania. Greens Shadow Racing spokesperson Kim Booth MHA said that there is no excuse for Tasmania to be the only state in Australia that excludes jockeys from the Workers Compensation laws and accused the Lennon Labor government of dragging its feet over fixing this problem. Mr Booth has been campaigning to reverse the exclusion of jockeys from the State’s Workers Compensation provisions over the last two years at least. “I commend the Tasmanian Jockeys Association for the courageous stand that they have taken in refusing to ride and call on the Lennon Labor government to immediately ensure that they are granted workers compensation by legislative measures” Mr Booth said. “I am calling on the Lennon government to fix this unfair and unsound situation immediately and I pledge to call on the State Parliament to address the workers compensation situation facing jockeys should Labor remain sitting on their hands however that will not resolve the matter of this weekend’s racing meet.
Pulp mill company ‘given special treatment’
NEWS.com.au – Jul 30, 2007
"I got a letter from Mr Gay writing on behalf of Gunns requesting a private meeting with me to discuss aspects of the assessment process before I’d even really started the job" Mr Wright told ABC’s Four Corners program airing tonight. "Now obviously it occurred to me that that was quite inappropriate and I declined to have that meeting with him. " The RPDC was conducting a rigorous assessment of the mill in northern Tasmania when Gunns withdrew it from the process on March 14 citing no definitive approval and delays costing it $10 million a month. Premier Paul Lennon swiftly reacted saying he would not accept it was the end of the project that would bring huge economic benefits to the state and parliament was recalled within 24 hours. He introduced a pulp mill assessment bill which has passed through both houses of parliament giving politicians the final say in a vote at the end of August. Mr Wright said the premier had asked him to speed up the RPDC approvals process without public consultations to meet the deadline set down by Gunns something he said was geared to suit the proponent. "It was obviously a special treatment for Gunns" Mr Wright said.
Logging activisits want extension to Hartz National Park
ABC nline – ABC nline – Jul 30, 2007
“The current logging area is 80 hectares its a massive area its old growth forest and it’s just another wilderness area in southern Tasmania which is consigned to destruction for the current Tasmania forestry industry and we’re calling for urging protection. ” But Forestry Tasmania’s acting district manager Donald Riddill says the area is not classified as old growth forest. “This particular bit of forest is mainly mature forest or regrowth forest” he said. He says Forestry Tasmania is moving to establish an exclusion zone in the area to prevent further protests. Tags: forestry activism-and-lobbying timber tasSearch for news.