Will the NDIS actually get support at the ballot box? Richard Farmer suspects it will end up being a political suicide note. Plus other views noted along the way.
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TASMANIAN FORESTS
Don’t blame the greenies: the real reason for timber decline
Australia’s native forest industry simply cannot compete in the global marketplace. Handing over more taxpayer-funded assistance will not solve the problem, writes ANU associate professorAndrew Macintosh.
READ MOREFraming forestry and Howard’s WMD claims
Crikey readers have their say on the biggest issues of the day.
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How your taxes bailed out insolvent timber giant Gunns
Gunns might have been trading insolvent when it took $23 million from the federal government for its non-existent pulp mill, writes Tasmanian economist and analyst John Lawrence at Tasmanian Times.
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The waste in Tasmania’s forests: most timber left to rot
Most of the trees felled in Tasmania’s forests end up as waste and woodchips. Andrew Macintosh and Richard Denniss crunch the numbers in a new Australia Institute infographic.
READ MORETas forests deal unpacked: the story behind the numbers
A deal to end the Tasmanian forest wars will soon go before state Parliament. Tasmanian-based accountant and former economist John Lawrence crunches the numbers and poses some pertinent questions.
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Tasmanian forest deal: is this peace in our time?
A deal has just been struck to end Tasmania’s 40-year war over forests. Tasmanian-based freelance journalist Bruce Montgomery asks if the armistice will hold.
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Data crunch: how many (con) jobs are there in Tassie forestry?
The war over Tasmania’s forests is painted as jobs vs trees. But how many jobs are there really in the state’s forestry sector? Andrew Macintosh from the ANU and Richard Denniss from The Australia Institute investigate.
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Tasmania’s forestry sector akin to ‘work for the dole’
Tasmania’s ailing and highly subsidised forestry industry should finally be subject to market principles, write Andrew Macintosh and Richard Denniss.
READ MORETassie forest negotiators stuck between Stockholm and Abilene
Tasmanian forest negotiators must be inflicted with Stockholm syndrome. A new interim agreement to end the 30-year war doesn’t get very far, reports Bruce Montgomery in Hobart.
READ MOREIn Tassie politics, it’s hard to see the sense from the trees
Tasmanian Premier Lara Giddings seeks to offer some insights today into the island’s future in her annual State of the State address. The forests remain top of the agenda, writes Bruce Montgomery.
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Minister: Gunns quit logging ‘because the market forced it to’
Stephen Mayne is wrong. Gunns does not have “a strong environmental story to tell”. It has been the author of an epic Tasmanian tragedy, a tale that has reduced good people to tears, writes Greens MP Cassy O’Connor.
READ MOREGunns’ pulp mill: in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king
Gunns Ltd’s pulp mill has paralysed and poisoned Tasmania’s public life and private life, even divided towns and families, writes Lindsay Tuffin, of Tasmanian Times.
READ MOREStance on Tasmanian forests putting $millions at risk
The deal to save Tasmanian forests has seen the logging and mining industry remain determined that these forests are not converted into national parks and “locked up” — and the Prime Minister Julia Gillard seems to agree, writes Crikey naturalist Lionel Elmore.
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Peace in the Tassie forests, but govt regulator is a basket case
The $276 million rescue package to buy peace in Tasmania’s forests came after the state’s Auditor-General indicated Forestry Tasmania was staggering towards insolvency and would need an equity to survive, writes John Lawrence.
READ MOREPeace deal? Tasmanian forest wars descend into high farce
Land use in Tasmania is being determined by vested interests and pressure groups that do not actually own or manage any of the resource, writes Bruce Montgomery, former Tasmanian correspondent of The Australian
READ MORETassie’s forests should not be plundered by politics
Both major parties in Tasmania are equally hopeless on environmental issues, says John Biggs. It’s up to minor parties and independents to save it from complete destruction.
READ MORECrikey Policy Comparison Pt 1: Broadband, schools, forests
Is Federal Labor the Liberal Party by another name? Is Kevin Rudd actually John Howard? And come election day, will there be sufficient difference in the policies of both parties to offer voters a choice? Here’s your chance to play spot the policy difference.
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