The News Review:
- Tasmanian concerns over Federal welfare policies
- Tasmanian forestry grants under fire
- Brumby sticks his head in the sand on water
- Dangerous doctor worked in Tasmania
Tasmanian concerns over Federal welfare policies
abc.net.au – Feb 28, 2008
The Federal Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin yesterday announced new welfare restrictions for some communities in Western Australia and plans to roll them out nationwide. “It is a power that we intend to give to child protection authorities for them to apply” she said. The Tasmanian Health Minister Lara Giddings says she supports early intervention programs but believes the move could increase pressures on vulnerable families. The Federal Minister is also facing a backlash from the Tasmanian indigenous community who have banned her from visiting Aboriginal land during this week’s visit. The Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre’s Michael Mansell says Ms Macklin is not welcome in the state because of what he describes as her racist policies. He says those include supporting the Northern Territory intervention and her opposition to compensation for the Stolen Generations. Mr Mansell says welfare quarantining takes money from Aboriginal parents NLY for things like their children skipping school.
Tasmanian forestry grants under fire
abc.net.au – Feb 29, 2008
The money was set aside as part of a federal-state deal that was designed to help the industry stop logging old growth forests. But the auditor-general has found that 18 grants worth $13 million were not assessed properly. In Hobart Felicity gilvie reports. FELICITY GILVIE: When the Howard government came good on its promised to put more of Tasmania’s old growth trees into reserves after the 2004 election the timber industry was compensated with financial grants.
Brumby sticks his head in the sand on water
The Age – Feb 28, 2008
D WE want to save the Murray provide Melbourne GeelongBallarat and Bendigo with a secure supply of potable water? And dowe want to make Tasmania financially viable and pay for all this byscrapping the $4 billion desalination plant at Wonthaggi and thenorth-south pipeline from the Goulburn Valley? Given the benefitsall round the answer should be yes. The only question should be is— can it be done?In December I wrote about a proposal by a Melbourne engineerGeoff Croker to pipe water from Tasmania to Victoria which couldsupplement Melbourne Geelong and Ballarat’s urban water suppliesobviating the need for a desalination plant and the Goulburn Valleypipeline. I also quoted correspondence between Croker and his partnersfrom Tasmanian Water Minister David Llewellyn who expressedinterest in the project and said his Government had a policycovering the export of surplus water in return for a payment ofroyalties by the end user. The response from the VictorianGovernment has been silence except for announcing that the desalplant would go ahead (after saying it wouldn’t during the laststate election). The Government has refused to look at thealternatives even though on paper the water produced would costabout a sixth of the desalinated water and the electricityconsumed would belch additional greenhouse gases into theenvironment equal to putting another 240000 cars on Melbourne’sroads… (It would only take two years to build a pipeline across BassStrait compared with six years to build the desal plant. This doesnot take into account the possibility of a rearguard action byenvironmentalists against the desal plant and civil disobedience byfarmers who are violently opposed to the pipeline. )Last week Tasmanian Treasurer Michael Aird “all but ruled out”selling water to the mainland according to The Mercury. TheHobart paper also said that four companies had approached theGovernment to ship water to the mainland including Bass Pipelineswhich could build a small pipeline to the mainland for about $500million by 2010. With this debate going on across Bass Strait serious questionshave to be asked as to why the Brumby Government is going to suchlengths to close down the debate in Victoria. And why isn’t thepposition — which has been briefed on one of the pipelineoptions — screaming blue murder about the wilful determinationof the Government to put Victoria into hock for the unforeseeablefuture to a foreign company to get a desal plant? Isn’t thereanybody in State Parliament with the gumption to ask questionsabout the fascination of the major parties with public privatepartnerships especially when there are cheaper more effective andless environmentally damaging alternatives available?But in the spirit of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s 2020 Summitlet’s look at the big picture. According to Tas Hydro measuredrun-off into rivers and out to sea once it has been used togenerate electricity is at least three times the usable flow of theMurray-Darling basin.
Dangerous doctor worked in Tasmania
abc.net.au – Feb 28, 2008
Doctor Roman Hasil has since been suspended from working in Queensland and New South Wales. The New Zealand Health Commissioner this week found Dr Hasil had been working under the influence of alcohol during six bungled sterilisation operations. The Medical Council of Tasmania has now confirmed that Dr Hasil worked at the Royal Hobart Hospital in 1997 and 1998 after being released from prison in Singapore. The Council says Dr Hasil did not reveal that he had been behind bars when he applied for work.