all things tasmanian

Solid quarter for Zinifex

2006-04-27T21:27:00.000-07:00

MiningNews.net + Solid quarter for Zinifex

MAJOR zinc and lead producer Zinifex is cashing in on the base metals boom with production from its operations "comfortably" ahead of the previous year despite a planned rebuild of the roaster at its Hobart refinery.

Early days at the Century operation

During the March quarter, Zinifex produced 379,462 tonnes of lead and zinc, up from 371,086t in the corresponding quarter but down on the previous quarter's result of 406,384t.

"The March quarter was broadly in line with our expectations from an operational perspective but notable for the large uplift in zinc prices that occurred," Zinifex said.

"Total metal and concentrate produced in the quarter exceeded the same quarter last year despite a planned rebuild of the Hobart roaster, which was largely responsible for the 10% shortfall against the December quarter."

Zinifex is cashing in on surging commodity prices, with zinc averaging $A3050 per tonne during the March quarter and lead consolidating at an average of $1685/t.

At Zinifex's mainstay Century mine in Queensland, zinc-in-concentrate production was 13% higher than the corresponding period last year, which was affected by a SAG mill motor failure.

Like many of its counterparts, climatic conditions played its part with zinc and lead concentrate sales lagging behind production following a number of weather-related shipping delays, and a late wet season hampering pit operations at Century during the quarter.

Elsewhere, Zinifex said the ramp up to increase zinc production to 260,000t per annum at its Budel refinery in the Netherlands is nearing completion, with commissioning scheduled for the June quarter and production expected to reach full capacity in the first half of the next financial year.

However, the company said market electricity prices remain high with little prospect of relief in the foreseeable future.

Shares in the company hit a 52-week low of $2.63 in May before gaining ground to hit a 52-week high of $11.68 last week. The stock shed 41c (3.8%) during morning trade to $10.40.

Click here to read the rest of today's news stories.

Jinchuan backs Allegiance in $US1.3 billion deal

2006-04-20T21:17:00.000-07:00

MiningNews.net + Jinchuan backs Allegiance in $US1.3 billion deal

CHINA'S largest nickel producer Jinchuan Group has thrown its support behind Allegiance Mining and its Avebury project in Tasmania, signing a $US1.3 billion ($A1.76 billion) off-take agreement for all the concentrates produced from the current resource.

"Jinchuan have offered a very favourable off-take agreement and it gets us on the way, but it is restricted by definition to a certain area and we believe the potential area for mineralisation is much greater," Allegiance chairman Tony Howland-Rose told MiningNews.net.

"One of the foundation stones is having an off-take contract so people know what you're doing is real and there is somebody there willing to buy it, should you produce it."

Production estimates from the current resources are pegged at 70,000 tonnes of contained nickel metal-in-concentrate, and Jinchuan has also been provided with first rights to enter into negotiations for securing additional concentrates sourced from new resources.

"They [Jinchuan] also have expertise which I think is a really important thing at this time because … Australia in particular is very short of skills in various areas and Jinchuan is very eager to assist us should we not be able to get Australian expertise," Howland-Rose said.

"They're nickel experts, which is very relevant."

In addition, Jinchuan will provide the budding nickel producer with a $5 million subordinated loan and will make available technical support in the form of metallurgical experts.

Howland-Rose said the company was reviewing earlier production estimates – originally flagged at an initial 5700t per annum start-up before ramping up production to more than 10,000t – adding if the figures come out right "it maybe a bit higher than that".

"Our drilling has been reasonably successful … and we do believe there is significantly more nickel to be had, not only along the line there but in the region, so I think there is good cause to think a little bigger than we have been," he said.

In addition, Howland-Rose said it could be time for a re-rating of the small company.

"I think the thing that will give us a re-rating is the off-take contract because obviously Jinchuan doesn't muck around, they're quite professional in what they do and they've been familiar with our deposit since the earliest days."

The $A77 million project is expected to come online early next year. On initial reserves, the project has a net present value of $26 million and in internal rate of return of 17%, but the company's business plan envisages a NPV of $94 million with an IRR of 29%.

The business plan involves the rapid expansion of resources and reserves at Avebury this year during the construction phase. Allegiance used a nickel price and cobalt price of $US12,000t in the study and an exchange rate of 0.735.

Shares in Allegiance hit a 52-week low of 10.5c in May before gaining ground to hit a 52-week high of 43c this week. The stock climbed 7.5c (25.9%) during morning trade to 36.5c.

Click here to read the rest of today's news stories.

Australia on the Map � Tasmanian program launched - - Tasmanian Government Media Releases

2006-04-03T22:26:00.000-07:00

Australia on the Map � Tasmanian program launched - - Tasmanian Government Media Releases

A program of 27 activities highlighting Tasmania’s role in the nation’s rich maritime history was launched in Hobart today.

The events – including community festivals and ship visits - are part of the Australia on the Map project aimed at enhancing knowledge and understanding of Australia’s maritime heritage, beginning in 1606 with the voyages of Janszoon and Torres.

It focuses on the many mariners who, whether by accident or design, charted the country’s coasts and put “Australia on the Map”.

Tasmanian program patron Sir Guy Green said that familiar names such as Tasman, Van Diemen, Du Fresne and D’Entrecasteaux show that Tasmania has always been aware of the diversity of its history.

“The Tasmanian program looks at this history, and considers not only the comings and goings of the Europeans, but a range of other themes,” Sir Guy said.

“These include the Tasmanian Aboriginal people, the difficulties and dangers of 17th and 18th century navigation and the geography of the many islands of Tasmania.”

The Maritime Museum of Tasmania, the State Library, the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, the Archives Office of Tasmania and the University of Tasmania are participating in the Tasmanian program.

There is a schools program, 10 new exhibitions and displays around the state, and a number of talks and presentations.

Community projects include this weekend’s (7 - 9 April) France to Freycinet goes Dutch festival. It will focus on the East Coast and include kite flying, drama, music and trips to Maria Island.

In November, Dunalley will host a community event to mark Abel Tasman’s only Tasmanian anchorage in 1642.

Two new maps are being produced including a new chart of 979 of Tasmania’s islands and rocks to be available in July from Tasmap.

Another map of great interest is Tasmania during the Ice Age showing the land bridge from the mainland to Tasmania when the Aboriginal people lived in a harsh and icy world. Produced by the Aboriginal Heritage Office, the map will be available in October followed by a new website and educational resource.

A highlight of the national program is the voyage of the Duyfken, which will make a year-long voyage to various coastal towns and cities of historic interest in all states.

The Duyfken is a replica of the Dutch ship which came to Australia in 1606, the first recorded time when Australian Aborigines met with people from the outside world. It was also the first recorded time when a part of Australia’s coastline was mapped.

The replica Duyfken was made using traditional materials, such as flax and hemp, and traditional construction methods including fire to bend the planks of the hull. Its visit to Tasmania in November and December this year will be of great interest to local boat builders and enthusiasts.

Australia on the Map media enquiries: Angela Bourke 6233 5741 0418 361 929

This initiative is part of the State Government’s commitment to progressing Tasmania Together Goal 21 – Value, protect and conserve our natural and cultural heritage.

The Mountain Festival

2006-04-03T00:17:00.000-07:00

The Mountain Festival

The Mountain Festival is a community festival centered around Mt. Wellington in the South East of Tasmania. More...

We're still working on our program but in the mean time, please get in touch for details.

Publican trains apprentice beer-drinking pig. 03/04/2006. ABC News Online

2006-04-03T00:12:00.000-07:00

" I am amazed that the animal rights lobby hasn't got onto this ...

.. force feeding alcohol onto an animal for entertainment value is not very humane " says zygomaturus

Publican trains apprentice beer-drinking pig. 03/04/2006. ABC News Online

The Pub In the Paddock at Pyengana in north-east Tasmania has a new tourist drawcard.

The pub is world-famous for its beer-drinking pig named Priscilla, who can scull a watered-down stubby in seven seconds.

Priscilla is getting old, so a mischievous successor, Priscilla Babe, is being trained as a replacement.

Tourists from all over the world travel to Pyengana just to buy Priscilla a beer.

Owner Anne Free says it is crucial that she has a successor to keep her memory alive.

"I had a woman from Texas recently and she was so excited, she said, 'is this the pub with the beer drinking pig?'," she said.

"I said 'yes', she said ... 'I saw her on TV back home'."

Ms Free says training a pig to drink beer is not easy.

"Most pigs will drink beer, but you do have to train them to drink out of a bottle," she said.

"It did take her a while to get the taste, she sort of played with the bottle and still does play with the bottle, she's not the expert [that] Priscilla is."

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Lawyer highlights high Tas asbestos-related illness rate. 03/04/2006. ABC News Online

2006-04-03T00:10:00.000-07:00

Lawyer highlights high Tas asbestos-related illness rate. 03/04/2006. ABC News Online

A Melbourne lawyer believes Tasmania's rates of asbestos-related illnesses are some of the highest in Australia.

Margaret Kent has been handling compensation cases for Tasmanians affected by asbestos for nine years.

Many cases are directly related to the Goliath Cement Factory in Railton, in the state's north, which was the third biggest producer of asbestos products in Australia.

Ms Kent says she alone takes on up to 20 new mesothelioma cases a year.

"They're going up significantly from a few years ago, there are a lot more people being diagnosed and coming forward with asbestos-related illnesses. Proportionate to the population it's a significant problem," she said.

Respiratory specialist Dr Jim Markos says about 5 per cent of lung cancer cases in Tasmania are caused by asbestos.

Age no barrier to competitive wood chopping. 03/04/2006. ABC News Online

2006-04-03T00:09:00.000-07:00

Age no barrier to competitive wood chopping. 03/04/2006. ABC News Online

Competitive wood chopping might be considered a young bloke's game but an 84-year-old Tasmanian has shown age is no barrier.

Retired tree feller and former wood chop title holder Henry Munday was a crowd favourite at the Hamilton Show north of Hobart at the weekend.

While he took almost five minutes longer than his competitors in the wood chop, he got there in the end, with the help of an old mate.

"That's an old plum axe, one of the old American plums, it's like me, it's pretty old," he said.

"But it's not a big axe, I don't use real big axes.

"I'm not strong enough now like those other big fellas out there to use big heavy axes so I use the lighter one.

"I can get knocked up with one of them without using a big heavy one."

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A LACK of aged care facilities is forcing elderly West Coasters to leave families and friends and abandon the area.

2006-04-03T00:07:00.000-07:00

The Advocate Newspaper - Online Edition

"People are being forced off the West Coast because there's nowhere for them to go," West Coast mayor Darryl Gerrity said yesterday.

"There are probably hundreds of ex-West Coasters who are not close to relatives and families.

"They are isolated, they love the West Coast and if they had the opportunity to stay they would."

Cr Gerrity said he hoped a development plan for Strahan would set aside land for an aged care facility.

He said the council would then need to find a provider who wanted to set up on the West Coast.

Failing that, it might have to consider developing facilities itself.

"It is a cruel situation.

"We've been trying for some years to attract an interest from commercial operators.

"They have said there's not enough demand, but we could probably fill 15 units (immediately).

"These people are entitled, they have paid rates and taxes and contributed to West Coast growth.

"Now in their sunset years they deserve to be looked after.

"If no-one else is going to do it, it falls back to the council to address the issue as best we can."

Cr Gerrity said some residents had to leave when they became too frail to care for themselves.

Others living in "historic homes" were finding it impossible to keep up with escalating rates and maintenance needs, he said.

Full story available in today's edition of The Advocate.

Forest ad plea was `to all parties'

2006-04-03T00:04:00.000-07:00

examiner.com.au : Forest ad plea was `to all parties'

¤ Greens advocacy denied
The Wilderness Society says it is confident that it would be vindicated by any investigation of advertising during last month's State election.

Society campaign coordinator Geoff Law said yesterday that the logging industry was wrong to claim Wilderness Society television advertisements screened during the State election campaign last month advocated voting for the Greens and were political.

Logging industry representatives want the society's tax-deductible status reviewed by the Federal Government, saying the advertisements went beyond environmental advocacy to political advocacy.

Mr Law said the logging industry was trying to stifle debate.

"We ran the advertisements about old- growth logging with the intention of getting positive policies from all political parties," he said.

"We stand by what we put in those television ads. The industry has tried this on before and in every case the Wilderness Society has been vindicated."

He said loggers were moving into previously untouched old-growth forests in the Upper Florentine and Styx valleys.

The Forest Industries Association of Tasmania could not be contacted yesterday.

Industry condemns 'misleading' forestry claims. 01/04/2006. ABC News Online

2006-03-31T18:58:00.000-08:00

Industry condemns 'misleading' forestry claims. 01/04/2006. ABC News Online

The Tasmanian timber industry has hit back at the Wilderness Society's claims logging activity in southern Tasmania's Florentine Valley is destroying high conservation value forest.

Timber Communities Australia has accused the Wilderness Society and the Greens of misleading the public.

The Wilderness Society says Prime Minister John Howard has broken a promise to protect 18,700 hectares of old-growth forest in the Styx and Florentine valleys.

Spokesman Geoff Law says the logging industry is getting $250 million through the Community Forest Agreement.

"With these millions and millions of dollars being poured down the throat of the Tasmanian logging industry, why is it that we are still losing key areas of old-growth forest?" he said.

Timber Communities Australia says the areas are not that significant.

It says a 1989 report compiled by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature affirms logging on the World Heritage boundary would not diminish the area's values.
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Danes to get huge hit of princess's home turf [25mar06]

2006-03-27T16:27:00.000-08:00

The Mercury: Danes to get huge hit of princess's home turf [25mar06]

A PANORAMIC oil painting of the view from northern Bruny Island will wrap around an entire room of Frederiksborg Castle in Denmark next month.

The 30m oil painting by Monash University fine arts lecturer Ann Holt will be part of the Australian Visit exhibition in Copenhagen, to be opened by Princess Mary and featuring a portrait of her.

Ms Holt's impressive artwork is expected to be of great interest to Danes, as it includes the D'Entrecasteaux Channel area where Mary grew up.

"I now get to share these heart-felt paintings - of a very beautiful, special, quiet place - in a castle on the other side of the world," Ms Holt said.

"For me the really exciting thing is that I get to show my interpretation of the Tasmanian landscape to an international audience."

Ms Holt, of Melbourne, completed Circumnavigating the Island as part of her Master of Fine Arts at Monash. She spends a great deal of time living and painting on Bruny Island.

Circumnavigating the Island, comprising 30 seperate panels, has previously been featured in the 10 Days on the Island festival and on ABC's Arts Show.

It shows the mouth of the River Derwent, Storm Bay and the D'Entrecasteaux Channel.

Ms Holt said she tried to capture Tasmania's multi-layered landscape.

"I've been going there for 10 years; I've done a lot of plain air painting of all the different views and I've got a very intimate engagement with that landscape," she said.

"Tasmania is incredibly beautiful but very dangerous and dark at times. It has all these incredible moods and it has this sense of power that a lot of landscapes have lost through over-urbanisation."

She will be in Copenhagen for the exhibition opening in the Danish Museum of National History in Frederiksborg Castle on April 7.

The exhibition runs until July 31.

John Howard's sphincter

2006-03-26T22:50:00.000-08:00

Although I'm going beyond Tassie's borders and into the realm of off-shore issues I thought I must make these observations.

Who said this recently?

“My government co-operated fully with the Volcker oil-for-food inquiry”.

Yep -- it was our PM

Now let's re-run the video-clip that captured John Howard's words -- and this time, watch the body language. There's the white-knuckle grip on the lectern, and thanks to the camera's oblique angle, we get to see a very nervous pelvic squirm. If the sphincterometer had been connected, it would have gone off-scale.

Think global : Nature

2006-03-20T17:08:00.000-08:00

Think global : Nature

location based services

'Virtual globe' software is transforming our ability to visualize and hypothesize in three dimensions. Educators take note.

Millions of people across the world are zooming in from space, flying across continents, and swooping over mountains and through cities, thanks to Google Earth, NASA's World Wind and other free virtual globes.

The ability to model the Earth in exquisite three-dimensional detail was previously only approached on the desktops of professional users of geographical information systems (GIS). But even they were unable to publish high-resolution globes on the Internet, because of the sheer volume of the data — a globe with a resolution of one metre would take years to download using even a fast Internet connection. Virtual globes overcome this problem with elegant engineering, using a tiling structure that sends progressively higher-resolution data as one zooms in. This and other tricks drastically reduce the size of file transfers, and allow visualization with almost zero latency on a decent broadband connection.

Scientists are already experimenting with these tools to showcase their research to the public in visually appealing ways and to speed responses to natural disasters (see pages 776 and 787). Ultimately, such accurate digital representations promise to anchor and unify much digital information about the Earth, while also helping to integrate the efforts of researchers from many disciplines.

Scientists are already experimenting with these tools to showcase their research to the public and to speed responses to natural disasters.
Rita Colwell, a microbiologist and former head of the National Science Foundation, has described GIS as the "ultimate, original, multidisciplinary language". Her own research is a shining example. Realizing that cholera epidemics spread inland from the coast, she correlated them with seasonal plankton blooms, discovering on the way that the Vibrio cholerae bacteria that cause cholera associate with gravid copepods, helping to break open their egg sacs by secreting chitinases. She went on to use remote sensing for a global predictive system for epidemics. As she has said, a major need is "to appreciate the complex reactions that characterize ecosystems — it is too complex for any one discipline".

By making it child's play to share and view multiple large data sets, virtual globes lower the barrier to entry for scientists with little GIS experience. Visualization itself can lead to new insights. Having tasted such visualizations, many researchers will be tempted to go beyond them to exploit the full capacities of GIS science to analyse vast arrays of disparate data in their spatial context.

The opportunities and power of GIS are expanding rapidly because of converging technological trends. The quality of spatial and remote-sensing data is sharply increasing in many fields, as are data-mining techniques, which can help lead to new hypotheses. Mobile global positioning system (GPS) devices are raising the prospect of collecting location-specific information quickly and cheaply, making it possible for large networks of intelligent devices to map and monitor a release of toxic gas, for example, and predict its spread.

To meet such spatial opportunities, researchers and students will need training in spatial sciences. The risks of using computational packages as 'black boxes' are well known, and are even greater, if anything, with GIS. As GIS experts have noted: "The production of visually appealing, even statistically sound, results that do not reveal anything useful about either pattern or process is perhaps the greatest danger facing newcomers to this powerful technology" (Nature Rev. Microbiol. 1, 231–237; 2003). It is therefore encouraging to note that last week the US National Academy of Sciences called for the introduction of "spatial thinking", including GIS, into school curricula, and for government research agencies to launch research into the nature of the cognitive processes involved in such thinking.

Many outstanding minds, including Einstein, Faraday, Kekulé and Heisenberg, have attributed their key insights to the ability to think spatially. Let's hope that the upcoming generation of three-dimensional gamers and Google Earthers will yield even more spatially adept prodigies ready to confront global challenges.

Google Maps API Basic Tutorial

2006-03-20T17:07:00.000-08:00

Google Maps API Basic Tutorial: "This tutorial is intended to help you create your own interactive maps using the Google API. Do take a look at the Google documentation first.
There are two ways to use this tutorial:
Read it and try to understand the principles involved.
Use the example files as templates. Paste the code into your own web page and change the API key and data. Read the 'potential pitfalls' sections, and try to avoid them.
Using the Google Map API is not easy if you don't have much Javascript experience.
If you find the Google documentation too difficult to understand, it's not because it's badly written it's just that the subject is not easy.
I've put together some of the concepts that are explained in the Google documentation to achieve some of the basic mapping applications that might be useful.
The tutorial covers some of the standard types of operations that you may like to perform. Each of the operations is covered twice, once using 'conventional' programming techniques and once using a slightly more elegant approach that makes use of the object-oriented language features.
If you're a programming newbie, or more familiar with non-object-oriented programming languages, then I suggest that you just follow the conventional programming sections.
If you're familiar with object-oriented programming, then why not try the object-oriented approach.
Conventional programming
Part 1 Markers with info windows
Part 2 Adding a clickable sidebar
Part 3 Loading the data from an XML file
Part 4 Getting directions
Part 5 Onload functions and external controls
Part 6 Images and Links in info windows
Part 7 Loading polyline data from an XML file
Part 8 Maps in articles

Object-oriented approach
Part 1 Markers with info windows
Part 2 Adding a clickable sidebar"

Google Code: Google Earth KML Tutorial

2006-03-20T17:05:00.000-08:00

Google Code: Google Earth KML Tutorial

The Google Earth KML Document details everything you need to know to create and share information with the Google Earth client. If, however, you would like to jump right in and see some real examples of what you can do with KML, then this tutorial is for you.

All of the examples you will see here (and many more) are in the KML Tutorial file. Download that file to see what each of the following examples looks like in Google Earth.

Tip: If you want to see what the code looks like for any feature, you can simply click on the feature, right-click and select copy, and paste the content of the clipboard unto any text editor

Table of Contents:
1 Basic KML Documents
1.1 Placemarks
1.2 Descriptive HTML in placemarks
1.3 Ground Overlays
1.4 Paths
1.5 Polygons
2 Advanced KML Documents
2.1 Custom Styles
2.2 Screen Overlays
2.3 Network Links
3 CGI Scripting for KML
3.1 Generating a Random Placemark
4 View-Based Refresh Queries
4.1 Tracking a Point Directly Under Your View
5 KML Server Requirements
1 Basic KML Documents
The simplest kind of KML documents are those that can be authored directly inside the client. That is, you don't need to edit or create any KML in a text editor. Placemarks, ground overlays, paths and polygons can all be authored directly in the Google Earth client.
1.1 Placemarks
Open the Google Earth Tutorial KML file and expand the Placemarks subfolder. There, you will see three different types of placemark: simple, floating, and tethered. The KML code for the tethered placemark looks like this:

Tethered to the ground by a customizable tail
Tethethed placemark

-122.0856375356631
37.42240551227282
305.8880792294568
46.72425699662645
49.06133439171233

0

1
relativeToGround
-122.0856204541786,37.42244015321688,50

Google Earth Community: Google Earth Community

2006-03-20T17:04:00.000-08:00

Google Earth Community: Google Earth Community

Newbury Adds Location-Tracking Development Tools | March 20, 2006

2006-03-20T17:01:00.000-08:00

InformationWeek Wireless Networking Newbury Adds Location-Tracking Development Tools March 20, 2006

Newbury Networks today announced an enterprise asset-tracking solution and a software development platform for emerging types of applications that incorporate location-based data from wireless networks.

Newbury’s Presence Platform integrates with WLAN infrastructure and includes a software development kit that allows users to define areas in a WLAN such as meeting rooms and offices and also allows users to set contextual guidelines for the type of content that can be accessed in these locations, according to Chuck Conley, vice president of marketing at Boston-based Newbury.

The platform works in conjunction with Active Asset, a new realtime tracking solution that uses Newbury’s Wi-Fi tags and WLAN management software to monitor the movements of items and people within an enterprise, Conley said.

Organizations that are deploying WLAN want to leverage their investments by adding customized services, Conley said. “Demand is strong for location and asset tracking, and pushing information to a device based on that information is becoming more of a need because wireless networks are becoming more ubiquitous,” he said.

Newbury’s core strength is the accuracy of its proprietary location-tracking algorithm, said Patrick Guerin, senior security analyst at Key Management Systems, a Colorado Springs, Colo.-based security solution provider.

“They have the best calibration out there and that’s important if you need to track assets with a high level of granularity,” he said.

Newbury, which has a partnership with Cisco Systems, San Jose, Calif., that allows its sensor software to run on Cisco’s Aironet 1100 and 1220 access points, expects to announce another significant deal with a major infrastructure player by mid-year, Conley said. Newbury also will be forging new alliances with other vendors to import its location technology to network ecosystems, he added.

Newbury plans to release the Presence Platform and Active Asset within the next two months. Active Asset will be priced starting at $12,995. Pricing for the Presence Platform wasn’t disclosed.

Greens loss means a pulp mill for Gunns - Business - Business - smh.com.au

2006-03-20T16:57:00.000-08:00

Greens loss means a pulp mill for Gunns - Business - Business - smh.com.au

SHARES in woodchipper Gunns have been boosted by the end of fears that Tasmania would face a hung parliament or minority government.
Gunns yesterday rose 8c to $3.15, continuing price increases that started in the middle of last week when the market seemed to confirm expectations that the Lennon Government would be safely re-elected.
The Labor Party retained government, winning 14 of the 25 seats in the Tasmanian lower house, despite suffering a 2.3 per cent swing against it.
By contrast, the Tasmanian Greens, which had been tipped to be heading for a power-sharing role with Labor, took a battering. Following a fierce campaign where there were warnings that they would bring economic disaster on the state, the Greens now look likely to lose a seat and thus party status.
Despite the share price increase, Gunns remains the sixth worst-performing company in the benchmark ASX 200 index over the past 14 months.
With both major parties endorsing Gunns' proposed $1.4 billion pulp mill, the possibility of a hung parliament or more power to the Greens had emerged as a real threat to the company.
The group had threatened to take the mill to China if voters elected a minority government, providing Mr Lennon with handy ammunition to warn against voting for the Greens, which had been having an impact in the polls.
The mill is regarded as critical for the company's health, with analysts expecting its woodchip business to struggle until next year and timber products taking a hit due to a weaker housing market and manufacturers moving offshore. Gunns is now expected to go ahead with the pulp mill with Mr Lennon's government returned to office.

GREENS UNFAZED BY EMRS POLL

2006-03-12T00:51:00.000-08:00

faze Audio pronunciation of "fazed" ( P ) Pronunciation Key (fz)
tr.v. fazed, faz·ing, faz·es

To disrupt the composure of; disconcert. See Synonyms at embarrass.

[Middle English fesen, to drive away, frighten, from Old English fsian.]

fazed

adj : caused to show discomposure; "refused to be fazed by the objections" [syn: bothered, daunted]

Tasmanian Greens ...Media Release
Will Continue Strong, Positive, Grassroots Campaign Into The Last Week
The Tasmanian Greens today are unfazed by the Examiner’s EMRS Poll, saying that their feedback is they have recovered from the dip during the second week of the election campaign, around the time of the poll, and are now experiencing a swing towards them.

Greens Opposition Leader Peg Putt MHA noted that the poll shows a high likelihood of five Green seats, and said the Greens would spend the last week on a strong, positive campaign around Tasmania.

‘’The Greens are campaigning strongly with our positive vision around Tasmania, and we are unfazed by the EMRS Poll as our feedback is that we are now experiencing a groundswell of support after a small dip during the second week of the campaign,’’ Ms Putt said.

‘’Many people are telling us that they will be voting Green for the first time.’’

‘’We believe we are on track for Paul O’ Halloran to win a seat in Braddon, and whilst we have always acknowledged that a second seat in Denison is a big ask, Cassy O’ Connor is getting a great reception and we just need as many as possible to include her on their ballot paper.’’

Greens lose support to Labor: poll. 12/03/2006. ABC News Online

2006-03-11T21:55:00.000-08:00

Greens lose support to Labor: poll. 12/03/2006. ABC News Online

The latest Tasmanian election opinion poll predicts Labor is close to taking majority government.

The poll by the Examiner newspaper has Labor winning 11 seats, the Liberals seven and the Greens four, with three seats too close to call.

The poll has also found support for the Greens has dropped by 4 per cent

It says the swing has gone to

$8 MILLION FOR CLEAN GREEN AND CLEVER PRIMARY INDUSTRY

2006-03-11T21:48:00.000-08:00

Tasmanian Greens ...Media Release

Biosecurity, Data logging and Small Vineyards Championed along with Quality Assurance
The Tasmanian Greens today launched their Agricultural policy and an $8 million agricultural package which sets Tasmania up to create a sustainable and secure future for all primary industry into the 21st Century. A $3 million flagship data logging project to map soils, micro-climates and current crop regimes to provide an accurate picture of Tasmania’s current situation and identify existing and emerging crop opportunities by matching specific location capability with specific production opportunities heads up the package.

Greens Opposition spokesperson for primary Industry Kim Booth MHA said that the Greens package for Tasmanian agriculture also includes $1.5 million to develop an integrated quarantine and biosecurity framework as well as funding to restablish and promote Tasmania’s HGP Free Blue Label beef programme and a special 3 point industry development package to assist small vineyards in the state.

“The Greens vision is to see Tasmania’s clean, green primary industries develop as the bedrock for a Food and Nutrition industry that will ensure career paths are developed in primary industries for young Tasmanians as well as enabling producers to make a decent living whilst staying on the land.” Mr Booth said.

“Our policy reflects the realities of a global market which demands verifiable, authentic certification of produce and this includes not only things like the chemical residue levels in food but also the growing conditions and environmental sustainability of production methods.”

“There’s no reason why Tasmania can’t be a world leader in this area.”

“Our 3 point small vineyards development package ensures that we consolidate our global market share whilst ensuring the industry gets the assistance and security of funding that will allow it to strategically plan and grow.”

“To this end we would readopt the State Cellar Door Rebate Scheme (SCDRS) and provide part funding for an Industry Development Officer as well as guaranteeing surety of funding within the DED and making a dedicated wine industry liaison officer available within that department.”

“Our policy also highlights the development of a Clean, Green Agricultural Unit within DPIWE as we are dedicated to enhancing of Tasmania’s brand Clean and Green brand whilst assisting producers into the ‘clever’ phase of marketing and production.”

“Our $200 million a year red meat industry gets it’s authentic label back with proper promotion as well as on ground inspectors to ensure retailers and exporters are selling world class product.”

“”There is also $500 000 for an expert team in vegetable marketing to identify pathways through the current crisis as well as pursue national and international markets for our producers.”

“And an initiative which I think would be a great boost to our primary producers is our $75, 000 a year International Sustainable Agriculture Scholarship which based on the Churchill fellowship scheme would see young Tasmanians selected to study internationally with a built in component of structured knowledge sharing within Tasmania on their return.”

“This package keeps the faith with our traditional industries whilst laying a pathway for careers in the sunrise agricultural industries and I am very proud to launch it today.

$8 MILLION FOR CLEAN GREEN AND CLEVER PRIMARY INDUSTRY

2006-03-11T21:46:00.000-08:00

Bream Creek Show

2006-03-08T16:00:00.000-08:00

Bream Creek Show

Rides, Ringside Entertainment, Merry Go Round, Produce, Craft, Cooking, Photography and Art Displays, Wood Chopping, Parachute Jumping, Wool Displays and Competition, Food and Local Craft Demonstrations

Admission ADULTS $6.00 CHILDREN $3.00
Bring your friends and enjoy the show!
Follow the signs from Copping

Harvest Cycle - Home

2006-03-08T15:59:00.000-08:00

Harvest Cycle - Home

Harvest Cycle is not just a cycling event - it's a complete cycling and harvest experience like no other, for you, your family and your friends!

The combination of cycling and a productive countryside is well known to major cycling events such as the Tour de France, the Giro Italia and the Tour Down Under. Who hasn’t seen images of cyclists toiling along country roads past beautiful vineyards and fields of flowers?

Harvest Cycle celebrates the twin joys of the sport of cycling and the cycle of the harvests.

Harvest Cycle 2006 is a 3-day cycling competition open to cyclists of all ages and abilities, celebrating cycling and the cycle of Tasmania’s harvest bounty. Harvest Cycle 2006 builds on the very successful inaugural Harvest Cycle 2005, held in the Coal Valley in April 2005. Harvest Cycle 2006 will reach out to include Hobart’s fabulous Mount Wellington as the final and ultimate challenge.

Photos of Harvest Cycle 2005 are available here.

Harvest Cycle will fast become one of Australia’s iconic cycling events, with cyclists tantalised by the prospect of challenging but friendly racing amongst a backdrop of beautiful countryside, spectacular views, fantastic races routes, and gourmet food and wine. The races have been designed to bring riders, their supporters and spectators to the Coal Valley, one of Tasmania’s premier wine and fine food regions.

Harvest Cycle 2006 will comprise 5 races over a 3-day weekend. Riders will race in categories according to experience and ability. The higher categories will race longer distances. Some riders may choose to do only some of the races, depending on their experience. Expectations are for around 150 entries across 5 categories in 2006, ranging from recreational riders to elite racers.

Prizes will be awarded in each category according to accumulated points and according to accumulated time.

Pride will be awarded automatically to those who meet the challenge.

© Clive Roper

© Peter Whyte

Participants' comments from 2005
Well organised, intense and close racing - a great challenge. I was very impressed with the organisation of this weekend. This meant that all participants could just focus on the racing and what great racing it was. The crit was a real spectacle and I think the crowds enjoyed it as much as the cyclists. What a great mix of festival atmosphere, fine food and wine and great racing over achievable courses. I'll definitely be back. You did an absolutely excellent job managing the 'Harvest Cycle' events. I only entered 2 events because family commitments would only allow this. The events I was in went like clockwork and were great fun to ride. I didn't attend the extra functions or prize giving but had very good reports about them. Well done!!
The organisers need a huge pat on the back. I've organised events before and know that there are always problems/hitches, but as far as this event is concerned from the competitors and spectators perspective, it went off very smoothly. The publicity advertising the event and the information regarding each race were both superb. A mammoth task executed brilliantly with poise and good humour. Well done. There could be no complaints at all about the marshalling or anything to do with the running of the races – brilliant…it is always comforting to know someone who can cope is there looking after things. The website is excellent. The promotion material and sponsorship stuff was excellent. The races worked out well. The courses were varied and gave everyone who could climb a chance. I absolutely loved the crit course - I would do that every week!
.. the races were organised really well…everything seemed to go smoothly…we had a great time and could find no fault with anything… did a fantastic job. Fantastic organisation, wonderfully friendly competitors, most fascinating racing, especially being stage racing…looking forward to Harvest Cycle 2006! Great courses, well-planned, well-organised, great camaraderie...a fantastic weekend of cycling in a wonderful setting…

Have been involved in organising cycling events since the early sixties and observed the organisation of many top events I have competed in. the organisation of Harvest would be equal to the best. Most impressed. I haven't done anything as hard for 30 years, but very rewarding. It makes me feel like I've reinvented my youth. I went into the event with the aim to finish and I surprised myself by being competitive to the end (well almost). As a first season rider and new-comer to the sport, I had a very enjoyable 3 days of riding. The event was very well organised and safely run, the camaraderie between riders and the physical challenges made for a great long weekend - can't wait for next years event!

Extremely well organised, great experience, conviviality, friendship, challenging, competitive, fantastic scenery. An event that captured the imagination of cyclists, wine producers and the town of Richmond. These all describe the inaugural Harvest Cycle. One of the best sporting events I've participated in, in my life. Well done.

Credits: Site construction Ian Woodward. Logo and photos Peter Whyte Photographics. Site hosting sponsor Pitt & Sherry.

All photos copyright © Peter Whyte unless otherwise credited.

Bream Creek Show

2006-03-08T15:58:00.000-08:00

Bream Creek Show: "BREAM CREEK SHOW SOCIETY INC.

HALL OF INDUSTRIES

JUDGING INFORMATION TO ASSIST EXHIBITORS

COOKERY

BREAD; No cracks or bumps, golden brown colour. Moist, tender, soft velvet texture with no taste of yeast.

LARGE and SMALL CAKES: Level or slightly rounded top, should be even and unbroken. Even golden-brown colour. No spotting. Outside should be smooth. Straight sides with no overhang. Even, fine crumb with no tunnelling. Easily cut and not crumbly, velvety texture.

SHORTBREAD: Bright appearance. Pale smooth outer surface, no crustiness. Texture fine and crisp, and even pale colour throughout.

BISCUITS: Should be small and even in size, not too thick, firm and crisp. Smooth and not broken.

SCONES: Should be well risen, with even sides and smooth top and evenly browned top and bottom. Tender crust, no flour spots or excess flour on base. Uniform in size and shape.

MERINGUES: Should be glossy, smooth and well puffed. Neither should weep or be sticky and sugary. The interior should be dry, fine and tender. Outside smooth and not broken.

LAMINGTONS: Uniform in shape and size. Icing should lightly cover-not penetrate. Coconut should be fine and clean.

PASTRY: Should be golden brown and even, all pastry should be tender and not leathery, edges should be even and unbroken. Shortcrust should be crumbly and not hard. Choux cases should be medium size and dry inside. A fatty taste is unacceptable.

SAUSAGE ROLLS: Evenly browned underneath. Base should not be undercooked and soggy. There should be sufficient meat in the roll.

SPONGE CAKES: Should be light golden brown, well risen and have good volume with no cracking or shrinking, and straight sides.

FRUIT CAKES: "

BREAM CREEK SHOW SOCIETY INC

2006-03-08T15:56:00.000-08:00

BREAM CREEK SHOW SOCIETY INC
105th Annual Show — 18 March 2006
Hall of Industries Schedule
www.breamcreekshow.com.au
1. Show open to all; exceptions specified.
2. Entry form to be completed and mailed to Entries Secretary
no later than 11 March 2006. Section and class of each
entry to be listed individually with name, address, telephone
of exhibitor. Exhibits to be delivered to show pavilion
between 3 and 6 pm on Friday 17 March or no later than
9 am on show day. NO EXCEPTIONS!!
3. Entries prior to 11 March free of charge. Entries after 11
March 50 cents each item.
4. A label will be supplied for each exhibit and must be
attached. Unused labels must be returned to the stewards
prior to 8:45 am.
5. No single item to be entered in 2 classes, unless specified in
schedule.
6. No more than 2 items per person to be entered in each class.
7. First prize $5, second prize $2, third prize $1, except where
otherwise stated. Section prizes awarded on a highest points
basis: 9 points 1st, 6 points 2nd, 3 points 3rd and 1 point for
every other entry.
8. The judges may award prizes of less value than those fixed
by the committee, or may withhold them altogether if they
do not consider the exhibit worthy.
9. Any protest entered must be lodged before 3:45 pm with
Secretary and must be accompanied by one-third value of
prize and if deemed frivolous will be forfeited.
SECTION A - COOKERY
Section sponsored by DUNALLEY BAKERY. Memorial
Trophy for Inexpensive Fruitcake – Class 32 sponsored by
MESDAMES SPAULDING, SPAULDING AND DUGGAN.
Decorated cake – Class 30 sponsored by CORYULE CAKE
DECORATING.
Rules & Regulations
1. All items must be exhibitor’s own work.
2. All entries to be on white paper/plastic plates, small if
possible.
3. One Person’s Exhibit (see general rule 15): entrants must
indicate section and class on entry form.
4. Classes 30 and 31 are judged on appearance only.
COOKERY - Class
1. Loaf white bread.
2. Loaf wholemeal bread.
3. Bread-machine Loaf (white).
4. Plain scones (4).
5. Sweet sultana scones (4).
6. Shortbread (4).
7. Raspberry shortbread (4).
8. Plate meringues (4).
9. Muesli slice (4 pieces).
10. Anzacs (4).
11. Kiss biscuits (4, iced and jam filled).
12. Rock cakes (4).
13. Lamington cakes (4).
10. The decision of the judges shall in all cases be final.
11. The stamped entry form must be produced as proof of
identification before exhibits may be collected between 4 -
4:30 pm. Goods disposed of after 5 pm. No responsibility
taken. Section Trophies must be collected from the Chief
Steward.
12. All exhibitors must pay at the gate.
13. An exhibitor winning the same section for 5 consecutive
years will qualify for a special trophy (commenced
Bicentennial Show 1988).
14. JM DUNBABIN TROPHY for Highest Overall Aggregate
points.
15. ONE PERSON’S EXHIBIT sponsored by MR S WILSON
for a collection, one from each of the following sections: A,
E and F / Cookery, Home Industries and Flowers. Section
and class to be marked on the Entry Form.
16. All postal entries to the Entries Secretary (see above).
17. All exhibits sent by bus to: Entries Secretary c/o Copping
Roadhouse, Copping.
Please make all cheques / money orders payable to the Bream
Creek Show Society.
FAMILY MEMBERSHIP $20 — INCLUDES 2 ADULTS AND 4
CHILDREN AND ACCESS TO MEMBERS CAR PARK.
14. Cream puffs (4 unfilled)
15. Sausage rolls (4) (puff pastry).
16. Apple pie (puff pastry).
17. Old fashioned sponge cake.
18. Victoria cake (with 4 oz butter and raspberry jam filling).
19. Chocolate cake (iced).
20. Orange cake (in oblong tin and iced).
21. Sultana cake (un-iced).
22. Sponge sandwich, without butter, cream filling (un-iced).
23. Chocolate sponge, cream, filled and iced.
24. Banana cake.
25. Boiled fruitcake.
26. Plum pudding.
27. Carrot cake.
28. Marshmallow meringue (unfilled).
29. Cheesecake.
30. Decorated cake (Coryule Cake Decorating).
31. Novelty cake.
32. Inexpensive fruit cake, made from the following recipe:
6 oz butter, 2 teaspoons vinegar, ½ teaspoon almond essence,
1 teaspoon vanilla essence, 10 oz flour, 1egg, 1 cup sugar, ½
lb fruit, 1 cup milk with 1 teaspoon soda dissolved in it.
Cream butter and sugar, add egg, vinegar and fruit, then flour
and milk alternatively. Bake moderate oven 1½ hours.
33. Collection of cakes: plain, sultana and chocolate sponge.
To be one person exhibit only.
First prize $10, second prize $5, third prize $2.50.
Geoff Uebergang
President
Ph: 6253 5603
Fax: 6265 3495
Mob: 0427 876 877
Maria Woolley
Entries Secretary
406 Kellevie Road
KELLEVIE 7176
Ph: 6253 5183
Fax: 6253 5187
SECTION B - HANDCRAFTS
Section sponsored by SORELL DEPARTMENT STORE for
Knitting, ELIZABETH SEWING CENTRE for Crocheting and
POSSUM PATCH for Needlework.
Rules & Regulations
1. All items must be exhibitor’s own work.
2. Where possible label must be attached securely on articles.
3. An exhibit, which has won a prize at a previous Bream
Creek Show, may not be entered again.
KNITTING - Class (Machine-made bands allowed).
1. Adult hand knitted article (8 ply and over).
2. Lady’s hand-knitted jumper (8 ply).
3. Child’s hand-knitted jumper or cardigan (8 ply).
4. Baby’s hand-knitted jumper or cardigan (3 - 4 Ply).
5. Baby’s hand-knitted layette.
6. Baby’s hand-knitted vest (3 – 4 ply).
7. Baby’s hand-knitted bootees.
8. Hand-knitted matinee jacket.
9. Baby’s hand-knitted dress.
10. Knitted toy.
11. Doll dressed in knitwear.
12. Open class - any other knitted article.
CROCHET - Class
13. Lady’s jacket or top - knitted bands allowed.
14. Rug.
15. Baby’s dress.
16. Tea cosy.
17. Baby’s three-piece set.
SECTION C - ART AND CRAFT
Art section sponsored by YAXLEY ESTATE.
Craft section sponsored by POTTERS CROFT.
Rules & Regulations
1. All items must be your own work, and no more than 3 years
old.
2. An exhibit, which has won a prize at a previous Bream
Creek Show, may not be entered again.
ART - Class
1. Water colour painting.
2. Oil painting.
3. Acrylic painting - landscape.
4. Acrylic painting - any other subject.
5. Still life – any media.
6. Drawing - any media.
SECTION D - PHOTOGRAPHY
Section sponsored by BANGOR LANDCARE. Encouragement
Award sponsored by IAN & JENI COOK of DUNALLEY POST
OFFICE. Best overall photo sponsored by DEVIL’S KITCHEN
CAFÉ.
Rules & Regulations
1. All items must be your own work and no more than 3 years
old.
2. An exhibit, which has won a prize at a previous Bream
Creek Show, may not be entered again.
3. Maximum of 2 entries per person per class.
4. Each entry to be 1 colour or black/white photograph
mounted on A5 black cardboard (148mm x 210mm) except
classes 14, 15, 16 “collection of 4” which must be mounted
on A3 black cardboard (297mm x 420mm).
PHOTOGRAPHY—Class
1. Animals - domestic.
2. Wildlife - no manmade objects in photo.
SECTION E - HOME INDUSTRIES
Section sponsored by A & P GRAY, FULHAM.
Rules & Regulations
1. All items to be your own work, and no more than 3 years old.
2. Class number label to be on jar and on cover.
3. All entries to be named.
4. One Person’s Exhibit (see general rule 15) entrants must
indicate section and class on entry form.
18. Baby’s jacket (3 - 4 ply).
19. Cotton tray cloth, table centre or place mat.
20. Coat hanger in nylon ribbon.
21. Crocheted toy.
22. Doll dressed in crochet.
23. Novelty article.
24. Open class — any other crocheted article.
NEEDLEWORK - Class
25. Adult blouse, dress or shirt - any material, machine made.
26. Child’s dress (up to 8 years) cotton/similar, machine made.
27. Machine-made apron.
28. Any other machine-made article.
29. Article of machine patchwork.
30. Article of hand patchwork.
31. Hand and machine made patchwork.
32. Hand embroidered article.
33. Article in cross-stitch.
34. Smocked article.
35. Soft toy - any material.
36. Material made doll and dressed.
37. Novelty article using approx 1 metre of fabric.
38. Wool tapestry.
39. Article of hand appliqué.
40. Long stitch tapestry.
41. Novelty coat hanger.
42. Teddy bear.
43. Open class for stretch fabrics.
44. Open class - any other article.
7. Charcoal sketch.
8. Open class - any other media or subject.
CRAFT - Class
9. Scrapbooking – 1 twin page.
10. Doll sculpting - needle/clay.
11. Hand or wheel potteries.
12. Article in wood.
13. Article in metal.
14. Article in folk art.
15. Quilling.
16. Basketry - woven from natural fibre.
17. Article in latch-hook.
18. Punch needle rug hooking.
19. Useful article made from recycled materials.
20. Greeting Cards – collection of 3.
21. Open class - any other article.
3. Birds.
4. Seascape.
5. Landscape.
6. Scenic.
7. Rural.
8. Flora.
9. Historical.
10. Portrait - adult.
11. Portrait - child.
12. Portrait - black/white.
13. Humorous.
14. Collection of 4 with an Australian theme.
15. Collection of 4 with a marine theme.
16. Collection of 4 with a floral theme.
17. Panoramic – open (standard size 200mm x 150mm).
18. Digital – printed at home.
19. Open class.
HOME INDUSTRIES - Class
1. Collection of jams (4 varieties).
2. Fruit jelly.
3. Plum jam.
4. Marmalade.
5. Apricot jam.
6. Raspberry jam.
7. Strawberry jam.
8. Blackberry jam.
9. Cherry jam.
10. Any other jam – to be named on the jar..
11. Preserved fruit in syrup (bottle) must be Tasmanian grown.
12. Coconut ice.
13. Rum balls.
14. Any other home made sweets.
15. Chocolate sauce.
16. Raspberry sauce.
17. Bottle of tomato sauce.
SECTION F - FLOWERS
Section sponsored by THE BIGNELL FAMILY.
Rules & Regulations
1. Flowers must be grown by exhibitor, except in Floral Art.
2. Cut flowers must have own foliage and will be judged on
quality and freshness of bloom.
3. Arrangement to be 1 ½ times height of vase.
4. To use appropriate size containers, in proportion, to create
balance and harmony; no jars or bottles.
5. Floral aids can be used to support arrangement, in Floral
Art.
6. One Person’s Exhibit (see general rule 15): entrants must
indicate section and class on entry form.
CUT FLOWERS - Class
1. Container of fuchsias.
2. Container of hydrangeas.
3. Container of easter daisies.
4. Container of gladioli.
5. Container of dahlias.
6. Container of flowers, any other, one variety.
SECTION G - FRUIT
Section sponsored by GUM NUT FRUIT & VEGETABLES .
Rules & Regulations
1. All items to be grown by exhibitor.
2. All fruit to be judged on commercial value with stalks
attached.
3. There must be the correct number of items on plate per
class.
FRUIT - Class
1. Collection of apples (3 varieties, 3 of each).
2. Golden Delicious (3).
3. Red Delicious (3).
4. Jonathans (3).
5. Cox’s Orange Pippin (3).
6. Granny Smiths (3).
SECTION H - VEGETABLES
Section sponsored by MRS D JACOBSON & DAUGHTERS
as a memorial to MRS GWEN JACOBSON.
DW KINGSTON MEMORIAL Heaviest Pumpkin
Competition.
Rules & Regulations
1. All items must be grown by exhibitor.
2. In classes 1 and 2 exotic vegetables to be named.
VEGETABLES - Class
1. Collection of vegetables.
2. Newcomer’s vegetable collection. To be in cardboard box
approx. 45cm x 35cm x 20cm deep.
3. ½ case potatoes (white skin).
4. ½ case potatoes (coloured skin).
5. Largest potato.
6. Carrots - baby variety (4).
7. Carrots - long variety (4).
8. Carrots - short variety (4).
9. Largest carrot.
10. Brown onions (4).
11. White onions (4).
12. Largest onion.
18. Jar of tomato relish.
19. Bottle of chilli sauce.
20. Any other variety of relish or sauce.
21. Jar of pickles.
22. Pesto or tapenades.
23. Any variety of pickled vegetable.
24. 6 brown hen eggs – in egg carton.
25. 6 white hen eggs – in egg carton.
26. Any other variety of 6 eggs – in egg carton.
27. Jar of salad dressing/oils.
7. Container of Australian natives.
8. Container of geraniums/pelargoniums.
9. Container of herbs.
10. Best overall flowers – chosen from Classes 1 – 9 winners.
FLORAL ART - Class
11. Miniature arrangement (min 7.5cm, max 13.0 cm).
12. Christmas arrangement.
13. Arranged container of foliage.
14. Arranged container of flowers (under 30cm high).
15. Arrangement of flowers, fruit and foliage – proportion in
the order stated.
16. Mantle arrangement (frontal effect).
17. Arrangement in unusual container.
18. Creative design using 1 flower and container (foliage
allowed, but no accessories ie stones).
19. Creative design using 3 flowers and container (foliage
allowed, but no accessories).
20. Basket of flowers (no berries, but foliage allowed).
21. Dried arrangement (natural colouring).
22. Posy.
7. Fuji (3).
8. Matsu (3).
9. Democrats (3).
10. Apples, any other variety (to be named) (3).
11. Largest apple.
12. Collection of pears (3 varieties, 3 of each).
13. Packhams (3).
14. Pears, any other variety (to be named) (3).
15. Passionfruit (3).
16. Nuts (dried - to be named) (5).
17. Lemons (3).
18. Punnet of berries.
19. Plums (any variety) (3).
20. Any other stone fruit (3).
21. Any other fruit (3).
13. Parsnips (4).
14. Zucchini (2).
15. Marrow.
16. Pumpkin - yellow.
17. Pumpkin - grey.
18. Pumpkin - green.
19. Pumpkin heaviest (DW Kingston Memorial Challenge).
20. Pumpkin heaviest (grown by 10 – 16 year old).
21. Tomatoes - bush (4).
22. Tomatoes - stake (4).
23. Cherry tomatoes (punnet).
24. Beetroot - round (4).
25. Sweet corn (4).
26. Lettuce.
27. Cauliflower.
28. Cabbage.
29. Silverbeet (4 stalks).
30. Runner beans (250g).
31. Rhubarb (4 stalks).
32. Freakiest vegetable.
33. Any other variety of vegetable.
SECTION I - WINE & BEVERAGES
Section sponsored by SORELL WINE CELLARS.
Rules & Regulations
1. All entries must be made by the exhibitor.
2. Permanent labels to show only type of fruit or vegetable
from which it is made, and vintage.
3. Syrups in Class 8 must be mixed to drinking consistency
and must be named.
4. All entries to be named.
WINE - Class
1. White grape.
SECTION J - JUNIOR EXHIBITS (up to 12 years)
Infant Section sponsored by MICHAEL & JELIENA
WALKER.
Primary Section sponsored by SORELL AMCAL CHEMIST.
One Person’s Exhibit: MRS D CASIMATY for a collection of
3 items from Art/Craft, Photography and Cookery.
Encouragement award for Cookery: MRS VC WOOLLEY
MEMORIAL TROPHY.
Rules & Regulations
1. Entry free. Prize money first $3, second $2, third $1.
2. All entries must be exhibitor’s own work.
3. All section rules as for adults.
INFANT EXHIBITS (aged 6 years and under).
Classes
1. Drawing.
2. Painting.
3. Bunch of flowers.
4. Open class eg collage, french knitting, lego.
PRIMARY EXHIBITS (aged 7 years to 12 years).
COOKERY - Class
5. Chocolate cake.
6. Anzacs (4).
7. Pizza.
8. Decorated biscuits (4).
SECTION K - INTERMEDIATE SECTION (aged 13 to 18
years).
Section sponsored by BELBINS BUS SERVICES.
One Person’s Exhibit: NORTH BARKER ECO SYSTEM
SERVICES for a collection of 3 items from Art/Craft,
Photography and Cookery.
Cookery Encouragement award: CORYULE CAKE
DECORATING.
Rules & Regulations
1. Entry free. Prize money first $3, second $2, third $1.
2. All entries to be exhibitor’s own work.
3. All section rules as for adults.
COOKERY - Class
1. Chocolate cake.
2. Pizza.
3. Decorated biscuits (4).
4. Anzacs (4).
HOME INDUSTRIES - Class
5. Home made sweets.
6. Jar of jam.
HANDCRAFT - Class
7. Soft toy.
8. Machine-made article.
2. Red grape.
3. Fruit/Vegetable wine - fruit other than grapes.
4. Miscellaneous - liqueurs.
5. Home brewed beer.
6. Stout.
7. Apple cider.
8. Non-alcoholic beverage.
9. Open – any other beverage.
HANDCRAFT - Class
9. Knitted article.
10. Soft toy.
11. Article of appliqué/stitchery/beadwork.
12. Novelty Article.
ART & CRAFT - Class
13. Painting – open class.
14. Drawing - open class.
15. Article made from recycled materials.
16. Papier mache.
17. Article in clay.
18. Drawing in crayon - open.
19. Article in metal/wood.
20. Original lego construction.
21. An animal from a vegetable (no man-made accessories).
PHOTOGRAPHY - Class
22. Colour or black/white print - people.
23. Colour or black/white print - places.
24. Colour or black/white print - animals.
25. Colour or black/white print - open.
HOME INDUSTRIES - Class
26. Home made sweets.
27. Jar of jam.
28. Best presented 6 eggs in a basket.
FLOWERS - Class
29. Decorated pot plant.
30. Bunch of flowers.
9. Article of appliqué/stitchery/beadwork.
10. Novelty article.
ART AND CRAFT - Class
11. Painting of a rural scene/landscape.
12. Painting - open.
13. Drawing of a person.
14. Drawing - open.
15. Article made from clay, metal or wood.
16. Papier mache.
17. Handmade jewellery.
18. Article made from recycled materials.
19. Scrapbooking – 1 twin page.
PHOTOGRAPHY - Class
20. Colour or black/white - people.
21. Colour or black/white - places.
22. Colour or black/white - animals.
23. Colour or black/white - open.
FLOWERS - Class
24. Decorated pot plant.
25. Bunch of flowers.

Bream Creek Show

2006-03-08T15:55:00.000-08:00

GROWING GIANT PUMPKINS

Growing giant pumpkins in Australia and throughout the World is becoming something of a craze. Giant pumpkins are very similar to grow as the smaller varieties of pumpkins but they grow a lot larger than any normal variety.

Big pumpkins have long been a highlight of the Bream Creek Show but the pumpkin world was revolutionised in the 1970s when a Canadian dairy farmer, Howard Dill, bred the Atlantic Giant. Before that, the biggest pumpkins were only a fraction of the size of the monsters of today and his pumpkin is credited with launching an international cult following – with a strong contingent turning up at Bream Creek year after year.

During the late eighties the show’s pumpkin competition became serious and the pumpkins were of such size that it took several strong men to lift them on to a ute to get them to the showgrounds. Local farmer Derek Kingston’s 90 kg pumpkin set the challenge for the years that followed and the record stands at 170kg.

We have a way to go yet though. At the Great Pumpkin Commonwealth annual weigh-off in 2002, Al Eaton, of Canada, claimed a new world record with a 657-kg monster.

So the challenge continues – are you up for it?

At the Bream Creek Show we welcome new competitors – the more stakeholders and the closer the competition the better! So, we’ll even help. Follow these instructions and you could be the proud winner of the Bream Creek Show’s legendary giant pumkin competition, possibly even a world record holder (aim high as they say!).

Giant pumkin people around the world have developed their own growing methods, and most likely the winning formulae are a secret. You may develop your own secret methods over time but for your first go, here are the basics (derived from a variety of sources and methods).

Seeds

Okay so you can’t pop along to the supermarket, pick up a packet of pumpkin seeds and expect them to turn into a wopper. You need the right variety and good breeding. There are some who claim the size potential is all in the seed - we think it’s a bit of everything really and a lot of luck but anyway…

Good genetics may well give you a heads up on the competition, so it’d be great if the seed you buy is from a known pollination (as opposed to open pollinations – i.e. pot luck), even better if it comes from a family of big ‘uns (not necessarily record breakers). Some seed sellers will provide you with a family background with your seed (a bit like papers with a pedigree pup). You may also like to check if the seed have come from plants grown in conditions similar to those of your garden.

The true competition variety - is ‘Dill’s Atlantic Giant’. 'Prizewinner', 'Big Max', or 'Big Moon' also can produce winners. Just don't plan to dish any of these varieties up with a roast - they are not much on taste and texture. They are available in Australia via mail order or online at:

Eden Seeds: www.edenseeds.com.au Freecall: 1800 188 199 Tel: (07) 5533 1107 Fax: (07) 5533 1108

Diggers Club: www.diggers.com.au Tel: (03) 59871 877 Fax: (03) 59814298

Atlantic Seeds (Giant Pumkin Specialists): www.atlanticseeds.com.au Tel/Fax: 61 3 9786 0337 Mobile: 0409 259 195

If you want to source overseas suppliers try these:

The man himself, Howard Dill (pictured here). Find him at: www.howarddill.com

This man, Don Langevin. He appears to be something of an expert and definitely an enthusiast.

Find him at: www.giantpumpkin.com He has also written a book called, “How to Grow World Class Pumpkins” if you’re really keen. He’s the one who guarantees his pollination.

Seed prices range from approximately $4 to $20 for 6, depending on where you buy, quality and breeding.

Pumpkin seeds are a delicious healthy snack. But don’t eat your seeds, you won’t win and you might grow a giant in your belly which would be most uncomfortable.

When to Plant

Giant pumpkins are usually planted around the same time of the year that smaller pumpkins are planted in your area. They do not like frost, so care should be taken to avoid the last frost, if you must plant before frosts are finished for the year, protect the young plant. Here in Tasmania and in Southern Australia, the best time to plant is October/November.

The Patch

To prepare the soil for your pumpkin patch, care should be first taken to select the correct piece of land. It should be well drained, spacious and sunny but in a wind protected area. The ground should be turned as early as possible, with manure (cow is best) or some other type of food (i.e. pea straw or similar type legume) added to give the ground nourishment and compost.

Planting

You have a couple of options here:

1) Plant the seeds in small pots (1 seed per pot) filled with a good seed raising mixture. Place the pots in a warm, sunny spot until they grow to about 2 to 3 inches high, or are in the 3-leaf stage. Then plant them carefully into your patch, leaving plenty of space between each plant – about 25 feet. The transfer process requires delicate handling of you little plant and its fragile roots.

2) Your second option is to plant the seeds directly into the ground, again about 25 feet apart.

Watering & Feeding

The most important thing when planting a giant pumpkin seed is; DO NOT OVER WATER the ground or pot until the seed has germinated (sprouted). Too much water will rot the seed. Keep the soil damp but don’t drench it.

Once you have a strong vine, water it regularly (even daily in dry weather) but again, don’t over water, especially in humid conditions. Giant pumpkins can rot very easily.

As they have a fair bit of growth to do (3.5 to 5.5 kg per day for the big mummas!), your pumpkins need weekly feeding with liquid manure or liquid compost.

Growing

A giant pumpkin takes approximately 5 months to grow - about 70 to 90 days before any fruit appear on the vine and a further 60 days or so for the fruit to reach maturity.

It is recommended that only 1-3 fruit be left on any one pumpkin bush and only one per main vine. The more fruit the more competition for food. So as the first fruit appear, select the best shaped ones and remove the others. Then pinch off any that appear later.

To become an eye-popping behemoth, your pumpkin has to grow at a good steady rate. So, do everything you can to protect its leaves. They supply nutrients to the stem of the pumpkin. If you're growing in a windy location, construct a temporary wind break, or plant some corn around your pumpkin patch to keep the plants from being damaged.

Pumpkin leaves need lots of sun, but direct sunlight on the pumpkin itself will harden its outer skin, limiting its growth. If necessary, put a shade cloth over them.

A pumpkin is mature when the skin of the pumpkin hardens off and begins to look a bit rough. The colour sometimes fades when this occurs. A giant pumpkin will only last approximately 2 months once cut off the vine, and you should never cut a giant pumpkin off the vine until it is ready for competition unless you think rot or disease may kill the fruit early if left on the vine.

GOOD LUCK AND WE’LL SEE YOU AT THE BREAM CREEK SHOW!

Entry forms available from Maria Woolley – 62535183
And while you’re at it, why not whip up a batch of your best scones, take some awe inspiring photographs or paint a masterpiece for entry into our Hall of Industries. Getting involved is a prize in itself!

QUICKER COMMUTES FOR GREEN POLITICIANS

2006-03-03T19:06:00.000-08:00

South Arm & Franklin Electorate residents which includes Denison Green candidate Ms Cassy O'Connor must be jubilant about the Liberals promise of an upgrade to the South Arm road.

STATE LIBERAL TEAM TO EASE BOTTLENECKS AT MORNINGTON ROUNDABOUT AS PART OF THEIR $20 MILLION PLAN TO GET IT RIGHT FOR ALL TASMANIANS USING EASTERN SHORE ROADS

When your live 40 km from work --- and your voters --- you would have to be dedicated to the cause ( i.e self promotion)

POLITICIANS BEWARE ! -- feeding & supplying swill is illegal

2006-03-03T18:44:00.000-08:00

Was that a warning to all our State politicians (and aspiring candidates) from the Government's Chief Veterinarian when commenting on a North West farmer's conviction for feeding potentially toxic substances to his pigs? He reminded us that “the penalty for swill feeding or supplying swill can be a fine of up to $10,000 or a prison sentence of 12 months or both”.

http://www.media.tas.gov.au/release.php?id=17427

Green light for Antarctic trial flights. 01/03/2006. ABC News Online

2006-03-01T19:59:00.000-08:00

Green light for Antarctic trial flights. 01/03/2006. ABC News Online

Federal Environment Minister Ian Campbell says trial flights between Hobart and Antarctica should start later this year.

Work has begun on a runway to land long-range aircraft 60 kilometres inland from Casey Station.

Today in Canberra the Minister was shown one of two planes that has returned from the inaugural summer season, transporting scientists between Australia's Antarctic bases.

Senator Campbell says the air link puts Australia's Antarctic program on the brink of an exciting new era.

New marine protection areas draw wide-ranging criticism. 02/03/2006. ABC News Online

2006-03-01T19:58:00.000-08:00

New marine protection areas draw wide-ranging criticism. 02/03/2006. ABC News Online

There is further criticism of the Federal Government's legislation to create 14 new marine protected areas in waters off south-east Australia.

Already the fishing industry is worried about losing various fisheries.

The new Fisheries Minister, Eric Abetz, says there need to be changes.

The Australian Marine Conservation Society (AMCS) is also unhappy.

The society says a further report by the Federal Government's own South-East Scientific Research Panel has declared the proposed system of marine protected areas a failure.

AMCS director Kate Davey says the Government wants only 3 per cent of the continental shelf and upper slope classed as no-take protected areas.

"We need to hear from the marine scientists, and many marine scientists are saying that we need to protect 20 to 30 per cent of each habitat type - of all marine habitat types in fully protected areas," she said.

Fresh food industry 'strong', report finds. 02/03/2006. ABC News Online

2006-03-01T19:57:00.000-08:00

Fresh food industry 'strong', report finds. 02/03/2006. ABC News Online

Despite grower claims, a new report shows the vegetable industry is performing well and cheap imports are little threat.

There has been a grower-led campaign against imports, but research by the Bureau of Agriculture and Resource Economics says fresh food producers face little competition.

While suppliers of processed and packaged food have a tougher market, Karen Schneider from ABARE says in general, growers are dealing well with competition.

"The range of returns that vegetable growers are making is very similar to other parts of agriculture," she said.

"It is a strong industry now, there are areas of pressure, but overall it is a strong industry.

"There's always ongoing adjustment within agricultural industries and in other industries, so yes that will serve to strengthen the performance of the industry overall."

But there is concern that growers who supply food processors could try to sell their produce to the fresh vegetable market instead, and put their colleagues under pressure.

Mike Badcock from Ausveg says while some growers are doing well, many are just surviving.

"We've been hearing this for a long time, it is happening to a certain degree, there will be massive problems developing," he said.

"People are surviving, but they're not surviving, they're not having enough money in there to progress. Nothing stays the same, so we've got to look to the future and to our new opportunities."

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Suspected fox scats to undergo testing. 02/03/2006. ABC News Online

2006-03-01T19:56:00.000-08:00

Suspected fox scats to undergo testing. 02/03/2006. ABC News Online

Tests will be done on animal scats from the area that a suspected fox carcass in Tasmania's north-west was found.

The fox task force is searching for signs of activity around Lillico, west of Devonport, where the carcass was found late last year.

Six members of the fox task force are searching the area for scats, a den or any other sign of foxes.

They have found animal scats in the area that will be sent for testing.

But the manager of the fox task force Chris Parker says they could be from another small animal like a cat or quoll.

"They're very similar to cats, quolls in Tasmania as well, although there's not really a very high population of quolls in that area, so they really can be any type of animal," he said.

Test results on the carcass are expected this afternoon.

Toll pledge to sell off vessels � Bass Strait shipping shake-up looming

2006-02-28T18:28:00.000-08:00

examiner.com.au : Toll pledge to sell off vessels
� Bass Strait shipping shake-up looming

Bass Strait shipping services could be set for a shake-up, with the possible sale of Patrick's cargo vessels Searoad Mersey and Searoad Tamar.

In an attempt to appease the concerns of the competition regulator, transport giant Toll Holdings said this week it would sell Patrick's Bass Strait shipping and freight forwarding operations if it succeeded in its hostile takeover bid for Patrick.

The ACCC is seeking an injunction against Toll in the Federal Court to block the takeover, saying the merger would reduce competition in the transport market.

In a series of undertakings to the Federal Court, Toll also said it would preserve the joint venture structure of the Pacific National rail operator by introducing a new equity partner to the operation should it succeed in winning over Patrick's shareholders.

Toll and Patrick, which each have a 50 per cent share in Pacific National, are engaged in a bitter dispute over the future of the rail operator, with Patrick chief Chris Corrigan recently starting legal action to dissolve the joint venture, describing the Pacific National board as "dysfunctional".

Pacific National is yet to respond to a $120 million offer from the State and Federal Governments to secure the future of Tasmania's intermodal rail services.

Despite requesting a Government bail-out of its Tasmanian operation, Patrick said yesterday Pacific National would likely post an annual profit of $77.7 million.

But even on this, the joint-venture partners could not agree.

Toll expects the profit will be even higher at $97.8 million.

The company said in September last year it would shut down the service in the absence of a Government handout to upgrade infrastructure.

Patrick still wants to break up Pacific National, but Toll is resisting.

Hospitals top voter concern. 01/03/2006. ABC News Online

2006-02-28T15:13:00.000-08:00

Hospitals top voter concern. 01/03/2006. ABC News Online

The issue of hospitals has hit the top of the election agenda in Tasmania, with the Government fending off doctors' claims of pork-barrelling at the expense of patients.

Voter surveys also show it is the electorate's major concern.

Tasmania has some of Australia's longest surgery waiting times and the highest incidence of several diseases.

The Australian Medical Association (AMA) says the Government misdirects funds to hospitals in marginal northern seats at the expense of the major tertiary facility the Royal Hobart in the south.

It wants a study into the hospital's future released publicly, but the Government says it is incomplete.

It says the preliminary report supports its policies.

The AMA has called for a policy overhaul, possibly including a new Royal Hobart Hospital.

None of the parties will commit to that in the next term.

Talk about maximum exposure! [01mar06]

2006-02-28T15:12:00.000-08:00

The Mercury: Talk about maximum exposure! [01mar06]

UPMARKET Salamanca bar The Quarry is building a strong regular clientele and a reputation for its classy design, but the feature that has the town talking is the toilet.

The wall of the men's urinal is a one-way mirror to the courtyard outside, allowing the user to see the punters on the other side, but they cannot see in.

Quarry licensee Justin Parr said the idea came from a toilet in a Hong Kong bar.

"It's a bit of a laugh and it's also a design feature," he said.

"To a degree it's created a big talking point around the town and it's been very well received in a positive tongue-in-cheek way."

Some guys have reported feeling initial stage fright when they see people sitting on the other side of the glass, but the novelty usually overrides the anxiety.

And some women have also been surprised to learn that on the other side of the mirror they had been using to check their make-up was a man looking back at them.

But Mr Parr said the intention was simply to create fun, a talking point and an unusual feature.

"We're a talking point at the moment because we're a new venue and we'll enjoy that while it lasts," he said.

"The point of difference, we would argue, is our service, our menu, our drinks menu and our fitout -- and part of that fitout includes the toilet.

"There's been many surprised faces coming out of there."

The new venue, formerly Zum Cafe, opened just before last Christmas after six months of redevelopment.

Fox taskforce to be slashed [01mar06]

2006-02-28T15:10:00.000-08:00

The Mercury: Fox taskforce to be slashed [01mar06]

TASMANIA'S Fox Taskforce is due to be slashed to just four full-time employees in the coming months, despite fears that foxes might be breeding in the state.

Just a day after the taskforce revealed a young fox had been found as roadkill at Lillico on the state's North-West Coast, the State Government confirmed it planned reducing the taskforce by more than half next financial year.

The taskforce, which faces trying to determine whether a fox den and other young foxes are in the Lillico area, has just nine staff, seven of which are in the field.

Come July 1, there could be as few as three field staff left to deal with reported sightings and fox evidence statewide.

In 2002, when fox sightings were at fever pitch, the taskforce had 23 employees.

While admitting it was planned to reduce the taskforce, Primary Industries and Water Minister Steve Kons said the remaining staff would be supported by contractors as required.

He also did not rule out the possibility of changing the planned cutbacks.

"The issue of funding is always open to review at any stage to allow us to revisit funding and resource requirements as part of ensuring we do everything possible to eradicate foxes from the state," Mr Kons said.

He said the funding was designed so that expenditure was more in the early years and gradually reduced.

The Government has spent $4.4 million on fox eradication, where an ongoing 1080 baiting program, now being done by an unknown number of contractors, has been its main focus targeting hotspot areas based mainly on where sightings were more commonly reported.

Former taskforce consultant Tim Bloomfield has criticised the lack of resources given to the eradication effort, warning that Tasmania needed to act immediately to prevent an ecological disaster where foxes establish, wiping out at least a dozen species.

DPIWE wildlife biologist Nick Mooney has also described the discovery of the juvenile fox carcass as "catastrophic".

Mr Kons said evidence still pointed to a small population of foxes and that eradication remained the aim.

He said while more testing was still to be done on the most recent find, there was no evidence beyond that that foxes were breeding in the state. * It is understood two other people came forward yesterday saying they had seen the Lillico fox dead on the side of the Bass Hwy just after Christmas -- when it was first seen by an interstate tourist who took six weeks to report the find -- but had not reported it.

Labor rejects new hospital [01mar06]

2006-02-28T15:08:00.000-08:00

The Mercury: Labor rejects new hospital [01mar06]

THE State Government says building a new Royal Hobart Hospital is too expensive -- but it refuses to release its review into a greenfield site.

Health and Human Services Minister David Llewellyn said yesterday the report would not be ready until mid-year -- but pre-empted it by saying a new centre would cost $500 million.

His comments came as medical groups said the Royal was being destroyed by politicians' fear of backlash in marginal electorates.

"It is a massive waste of money to propose a new site," Mr Llewellyn said.

"A report is being prepared but the consultation I have had already makes it clear the best plan is the one we are pursuing.

"We are not going to take the axe to health services in the North, the North-West or anywhere else in the state."

Also yesterday:

The Greens' plan for a new Royal envisaged building to begin in three to five years.

The Liberals didn't rule it out and called for the Government to release its study.

GPs said waiting times at Royal specialist clinics would get even worse with rising private health bills.
Mr Llewellyn said the Government had injected an extra $450 million.

But a national Productivity Commission report last month said Tasmania spent close to the least per capita on public hospitals.

Australian Medical Association science and public policy chair Haydn Walters called on the Government to release the Royal report for debate before the March 18 election.

"The Royal Hobart Hospital must not be allowed to fester for the next four years," Dr Walters said.

"If you spend more than you need to for purely political reasons, the end result will be a run-down hospital which cannot provide tertiary-level services for all Tasmania.

"If it's spread thinly, everything ultimately will fall over. There is no real advantage for people in the North-West.

"None of the political parties are taking this seriously enough -- they're all trying to cop out for votes in marginal constituencies."

A health department adviser told The Mercury to speak with AMA North-West representative, vascular surgeon Philip Lamont, at Latrobe.

Dr Lamont said the local AMA supported the Government's North-West hospital over two campuses and said the Royal had to face its dwindling status.

The Greens pledged to begin the process of finding and developing a new site in southern Tasmania, with $500,000 for planning and $100,000 for consultation.

"The Lennon Labor Government acknowledges the current site is too small, crowded and outdated," Greens health spokesman Tim Morris said.

"It has ruled out setting aside any money now or in the future for a new hospital. With health the burning issue at this poll, that's simply unacceptable."

Liberal Royal spokesman Will Hodgman said the Liberals would consider a new hospital but would look at all options and wanted to see government findings.

"We won't be making any rash promises ... but we won't rule it out either," Mr Hodgman said.

Northern suburbs GP Graeme Alexander said waiting lists for specialist clinics at the Royal were hidden.

"I've rung 12 GPs and we do everything we can not to send our patients there, so all the figures are flattering beyond belief," Dr Alexander said.

He said parochialism was being fostered by the Government.

"If the politics which runs throughout the health department was taken out, the medical profession could easily deliver quality health care for all Tasmanians at far less cost," Dr Alexander said.

He said the hospital was so past its use-by date doctors couldn't get onto a computer.

"I can email through patients' records but they can't read the email," Dr Alexander said.

Denmark's royals enjoy a skiing trip in Switzerland

2006-02-28T15:05:00.000-08:00

Denmark's royals enjoy a skiing trip in Switzerland

Denmark's Crown Prince Frederick and his wife Princess Mary enjoyed a skiing trip in Switzerland recently - showing the world they are still madly in love.

Having recently come out on top in Hello magazine's 'most romantic' poll, Frederik lived up to his prince charming reputation by carrying his wife's skis for her during the winter break.

The handsome royal made the gentlemanly gesture as he and Australia-born Mary set out for the slopes together.

He and the crown princess, who became parents last October with the arrival of Prince Christian, were enjoying some quality time together in the upmarket resort of Verbier.

The couple are keen sports enthusiasts, and the pretty brunette revealed to Britain's Hello magazine that when it comes to sports, 'there's always an underlying competitiveness' between them.

The former Tasmania girl added: 'Frederick is much better at skiing than me, but he's been doing it for a long time.'

Copyright 2006 BANG Media International

PLEDGE TO CREATE NEW RESERVES AND UPGRADE MANAGEMENT EFFORT

2006-02-26T21:59:00.000-08:00

Tasmanian Greens ...Media Release

Win Win For Environment and Economy
The Tasmanian Greens today launched their Protected Areas policy on the occasion of the celebration of the rescue of the NE peninsula of Recherche Bay, making a commitment to protect other places of outstanding natural and cultural values, saying the Recherche Bay example illustrates that conservation can be a win win solution which contributes to economic development in tourism whilst acquitting our obligations to safeguard our tremendous natural assets for the future.

Greens Opposition Leader, Peg Putt MHA, said the Greens would also put increased resources into on ground management of reserves, create new marine reserves, and refocus development in reserves towards interpretation facilities, nature education and eco-tourism and away from resorts.

“Tasmania’s extraordinary natural assets are highly regarded internationally and the Greens stand for the best possible protection of those wild places of high conservation and heritage values which are still unprotected and under threat,” Ms Putt said.

“We believe it is of the highest priority for this generation to create a management system which provides enduring protection in the interests of nature itself, and in the interests of all future generations.”

“While our reserves are created primarily for ecological reasons, they will, with sensitive management, also be an enduring economic asset.”

“A key threat to the integrity of our reserves and wilderness is attrition of natural values through creeping development, particularly under policies of government which allow private resort development inside rather than locating these in nearby towns and in areas adjacent to reserves.”

Key points of the Greens' Protected Areas, World Heritage and Wilderness Policy are:

þ Create new National Parks and reserves to protect the Tarkine, threatened forests fringing the World Heritage Area including the middle Weld, Styx, Great Western Tiers, also protect Blue Tier and north-east highlands, Weilangta, Leven Canyon and Black Bluff, and Ralphs Bay

þ Incorporate all areas with identified world heritage values within the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area

þ Prioritise reserves management towards protection of natural and cultural values

þ Focus development inside reserves around interpretation facilities, nature education, and eco-tourism, rather than resorts and large scale accommodation

þ Create new marine reserves utilising the Tasmanian Marine Protected Areas Strategy, to eventually secure representation of all marine bioregions

þ Increase funding and resources to reserves management and employ additional on ground staff, including rangers, including creation of a marine reserves management unit.

“As the example of Recherche Bay illustrates, we can do the right thing by protecting our superb wild places, forests and landscapes, keeping them secure for future generations, and this can be a win win outcome as regional tourism blossoms and local employment and economies benefit.”

“Tasmania’s extraordinary natural assets must be acknowledged as the fundamental resource which underpins our clean, green image and future economic direction,” Ms Putt concluded.

2006-02-26T21:58:00.000-08:00

Tasmanian Greens ...Media Release

Access To Employment, Education, Health
Tasmanian Greens lead candidate for Braddon, Paul O’Halloran has announced the Greens election initiative to invest $500 000 into funding a feasibility study into the introduction of light passenger rail services on the North West Coast.

“Today’s election commitment to invest $500 000 for a feasibility study into the development of light passenger rail on the north west coast is an example of practical solutions to overcome some of the access problems faced by many in the community, and which will also boost our economy,” Mr O’Halloran said.

“Should a light passenger rail service be considered feasible by the study, the Greens believe that such a development will allow people to get to the services they need, to attend the educational institution they choose, and to open up their ability to take up jobs.” promised Mr O’Halloran.

“Potentially the economic benefits for the North West Coast will be enormous.”

“Employers will be able to select from a wider pool of job applicants, allowing them to better match skills to employment needs. It will allow businesses to trade their wares to a wider coastal market, and hospitality and recreational sectors would also benefit from increased market size.”

“You could hop on the rail to visit nanna in hospital, you could take the job in the next town, and you could take the kids to the footy - this will enable people to participate more fully within their community.”

“The environment would also benefit from this initiative with lower greenhouse gas emissions combined with the lower number of vehicles on the roads will have a dramatic impact on road safety.”

“The household budget would also save from this initiative given that the oil prices are on an upwards trend, public transport also allows families to lower their fuel bills.”

“Community agency groups such as TasCoss have also identified the need for accessible and affordable public transport options around the state as an investment into breaking the poverty cycle and breaking down the barriers preventing people from participating fully in their communities,” Mr O’Halloran said.

Tas election about 'managing economic prosperity'. 20/02/2006. ABC News Online

2006-02-22T15:35:00.000-08:00

Tas election about 'managing economic prosperity'. 20/02/2006. ABC News Online

The ANZ's chief economist has told a gathering of business leaders in Hobart that this Tasmanian election campaign will be unlike any other in terms of the economy.

Saul Eslake says the state's economy has done remarkably well, due in part to good economic management.

He says that management began in the last year of the Rundle government and was then carried on by the Bacon and Lennon led Labor Governments.

He says this election should be about how to manage and sustain Tasmania's improved economic performance.

"The last four or five elections have been about how to manage adversity ... this election on the other hand ought to be about how to manage prosperity and how best to sustain the much improved economic performance," he said.

Meanwhile the Tasmanian Council of Social Service (TASCOSS) has released a list of election demands worth $115 million, calling on the parties to make written commitments to fund them.

The 16 demands involve affordable housing, electricity concessions and transport, through to appointing an employment minister.

Chief executive Mat Rowell says there are two Tasmanias - one benefiting from an improved economy and the other worse off now than eight years ago when Labor came to power.

"There's quite a large divide between those two groups, so we still have over 3,000 people on public housing waiting lists, we still have over 10,000 Tasmanians who've been out of work for over one year," he said.

"So we know that there's a range of Tasmanians who, despite the increased economic prosperity the state's experiencing are really struggling to make ends meet."

TASCOSS has given the political parties two weeks to respond to its demands.

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Cost of roadkill damage hits $1m [23feb06]

2006-02-22T15:29:00.000-08:00

The Mercury: Cost of roadkill damage hits $1m [23feb06]

SURGING numbers of collisions with animals on Tasmanian roads has seen the RACT faced with insurance claims of almost $1 million and rising.

The RACT's insurance wing has seen the number of claims due to "roadkill-type incidents" increase five-fold in the past six years, and now deals with 350 such claims in a year.

RACT insurance manager Peter Eaton said the claims related to damage caused by cars striking an animal, as well as damage caused when cars were damaged trying to avoid an animal on the road.

He said the RACT data showed 80 per cent of roadkill claims involved wallabies or kangaroos, followed by wombats, cats, cows and possums.

Mr Eaton said claims also included dogs, horses, deer, devils and sheep.

"Our data shows the number of claims has been increasing continuously each year for the past six years," he said.

Mr Eaton said most claims related to incidents occurring on the outskirts of cities, but other hotspots were New Norfolk, Bicheno, Coles Bay, Triabunna, Bothwell, Campbell Town, and Deloraine.

Mr Eaton said more than half the collisions occurred between 6pm and midnight, with 4am to 7am accounting for 10 per cent of such crashes.

The average cost of each claim was $2800, he said.

He said the RACT's advice was for motorists to slow down in known animal hotspots.

"Unfortunately, trying to avoid colliding with an animal on the road can actually lead to a worse incident, particularly if a motorist loses control of the vehicle and hits a guidepost or a tree, and the reality is something like that could be a fatal crash," Mr Eaton said.

"Our advice is for people to just slow down to give themselves a better chance of avoiding an animal on the road."

Last year, Tasmanian researchers found that three animals were hit by cars every 10km during a 15,000km study on the state's roads.

They estimated more than 113,000 animals were killed by traffic every year, although with the study not focusing on country roads the actual figure is thought to be much higher.

Calls to Tassie beckon for PBL

2006-02-22T15:27:00.000-08:00

The Mercury: Calls to Tassie beckon for PBL [23feb06]

A BIG boost for local employment is likely with giant entertainment, media and gambling corporation Publishing and Broadcasting Limited likely to shift its entire national telephone call centre business to Tasmania.

The move by PBL to centralise its diverse sales and booking agencies in Hobart comes on top of the $10 million investment in its new Betfair joint venture based at Technology Park in Hobart's north.

PBL business development director Anthony Klok confirmed yesterday that more than 300 call centre jobs in PBL's assorted business divisions may be relocated soon to Hobart.

"We are doing a study of ways we can consolidate different parts of our business," said Mr Klok, who comes from Tasmania.

" Hobart comes up very favourably on many counts, but mostly because we have an existing relationship there with the government."

Mr Klok said the entire call centre operations of PBL's Ticketek theatre, sports and entertainment ticket sales business, Australian Consolidated Press' magazines circulation and sales area, and even its casino and hotel bookings may be brought together in Hobart.

Ticketek operates the largest ticketing distribution network in Australia and New Zealand, selling more than 12 million tickets a year.

This move would add to the Asian Pacific base of the Betfair betting agency, half owned by PBL, in Glenorchy. It will employ about 40 to 50 operators taking phone bets.

Qantas already operates a national call centre in Technology Park, next door to Betfair's new headquarters.

In negotiations late last year to encourage the Tasmanian Government to pass the new controversial betting agency laws that have allowed Betfair to operate in Australia, PBL promised it would look at other investments in the state.

The main attraction for PBL, besides its good relations with the Lennon Government, is that call centre salaries are slightly lower and staff turnover much less than in Sydney or Melbourne.

Lennon's $30m icon

2006-02-22T15:23:00.000-08:00

The Mercury: Lennon's $30m icon [23feb06]

PREMIER Paul Lennon yesterday pledged to spend $30 million dollars to create a Hobart icon to rival the Sydney Opera House.

He said the money would be spent over the next two years restoring, preserving and redeveloping the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (TMAG).

In his first big ticket spending item for the 2006 election, Mr Lennon said the early colonial buildings that now form the hidden back entrance of the museum more than rival Port Arthur in historical importance.

The Premier said the museum was built on the site of the first settlement of Hobart in 1804, and included the very early 1808 Commissariat's building, the 1813 private secretary's cottage and the 1824 Bond Store.

"Very few people realise this is the most significant set of early colonial buildings not only in Tasmania but in Australia and they must be conserved and restored ," Mr Lennon said.

"It's time we looked to this site to become the icon site of Hobart and one of the state's, but we don't want that to happen until its colonial buildings and early Aboriginal history has been properly preserved."

As part of his announcement of a bold new vision for the museum and waterfront precinct, Mr Lennon also said it was inappropriate that Hobart's showpiece waterfront was little more than a public car parking space.

He promised the Dunn St carpark adjacent to the museum between Davey and Macquarie Sts would not be sold to developers and would remain public space.

But he did not commit to it becoming a park, leaving the option open for the area to be incorporated into the existing museum site with the addition of a startling new building fitting in with the overall vision for Hobart's waterfront precinct.

The entrance to the TMAG is likely to be shifted to the north side of the museum, leading into the colonial courtyard surrounded by its collection of nearly 200-year-old buildings.

Mr Lennon, acknowledging that elements of his museum and waterfront development had been announced in late 2003 by former premier Jim Bacon, also said the ugly 1966 TMAG annexe on the corner of Argyle and Davey Sts would be demolished.

"This is the most significant announcement for the development of cultural enrichment ever made in Tasmania's history," Mr Lennon said.

"We are determined to make this a site that Tasmanians can look on with pride, and which can make a greater economic contribution than it already does," Mr Lennon said.

The museum has about 300,000 visitors a year, with 45 per cent interstate and overseas tourists.

The Premier pointed out that the central museum building, built in 1863 by renowned colonial architect Henry Hunter, was also the first museum and art gallery purpose-built in Australia.

Mr Lennon said $15m would go towards restoring the colonial buildings on the TMAG site, so they could become a central focus.

Extensive archaeological digs -- which, amazingly, have never been undertaken before on the historic site -- will be conducted, sifting through up to five metres of dirt and rubble that covers the original land surface.

The Bond Store and 1901 Customs House face what was once the earliest shoreline of Hobart, while the Dunn St carpark is on land reclaimed from Hobart's earliest port.

The director of the Tasmanian Museum and Art gallery, Bill Bleathman, said that over the past three years there had come a new awareness of the historical importance of not just the museum's collection, but its heritage buildings.

Hobart Lord Mayor Rob Valentine welcomed the Government's announcement, especially the $15 million to properly preserve and restore the colonial buildings that once served the early port.

Radio Cassy PODCAST

2006-02-20T16:54:00.000-08:00

http://www.cassyoconnor.com/podcasts/RadioCassy_Episode01_19FEB2006.mp3

cassyoconnor.com

2006-02-20T16:51:00.000-08:00

A COASTAL POLICY WHICH PUTS COMMUNITY AND CONSERVATION FIRST

On the shores of beautiful Ralphs Bay near Hobart yesterday Nick McKim and I launched the Greens Coastal Protection Policy. Our plan for the careful management of one of the world’s most spectacular coastlines is something I’m very proud to be part of. At last, a vision for Tasmania’s coast which appreciates the fragile wonder that it is!

Download the Greens Coastal Protection Policy 2006 HERE

Read More • Have your say

Rosebery Exploration Welcomed - Bryan Green, MHA - Tasmanian Government Media Releases

2006-02-20T16:49:00.000-08:00

Rosebery Exploration Welcomed - Bryan Green, MHA - Tasmanian Government Media Releases

Resources Minister Bryan Green has welcomed plans by Zinifex to increase its exploration program around the Rosebery zinc mine.

“The $6.5 million Zinifex has committed to spend exploring near and north of its present mine adds to a flurry of activity in Tasmania, particularly on the West Coast.

“It’s true that improved metal prices have encouraged the increased levels of exploration.

“But the Government can also claim some credit for the resurgence through a sustained effort to highlight the State’s mining potential.

“We have provided competitive geo scientific information to the industry, promoted Tasmania’s prospectivity interstate and overseas, working with the Tasmanian Minerals Council and created the Centre of excellence in Ore Deposits at the University of Tasmania.”

“The value of mineral exploration in Tasmania has increased more than five fold in two years.”

Mr Green said Mineral Resources Tasmania data show exploration expenditure in Tasmania has gone from $5 million in 2002-2003 to $25.8 million in 2004-2005.

“That’s the second highest level of expenditure in over 15 years.

“The example offered by Zinifex can only help the mood of confidence on the West Coast, where Allegiance mine is preparing to start operating and Bluestone is planning to re-open the Renison mine as well as considering an operation at Mt Bishcoff.

“New exploration is important to maintain the mining sector’s contribution to the State and particularly regional economies.

“Mining contributes 40 per cent of Tasmania’s export income so the importance of finding new mines and extending the lives of existing ones can’t be overstated.”

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Further

New Burnie Shipping Service - Bryan Green, MHA - Tasmanian Government Media Releases

2006-02-20T16:48:00.001-08:00

New Burnie Shipping Service - Bryan Green, MHA - Tasmanian Government Media Releases

Infrastructure Minister Bryan Green says the rationalisation of Tasmania’s ports administration has helped secure a new export freight service.

Mr Green welcomed the announcement by MSC, Mediterranean Shipping Company Australia, that its weekly “Kiwi Service” would include a call at Burnie starting tomorrow.

“The forecast growth of export trade was the consideration that drove the decision to merge Tasmania’s four-ports system into the single Tasports which started operation from the beginning of this year.

“The Bureau of Transport and Regional Economics has estimated that the national freight task will double over the period 2000 to 2020.

“Largely because of our island status Tasmania’s ports are already handling ever-increasing volumes of freight and it is expected our freight task will exceed the national forecasts in the next 15 years.

“Certainly the move by MSC is a fantastic vote of confidence in the future of our State economy, which has been resurgent under this stable majority Labor Government.

“The company’s choice of Burnie as a terminal for general containerised cargo service also reinforces the Government’s belief and commitment to the continuation of our four operating ports.

“It is vital that our ports are able to negotiate from a strong base to maintain a competitive environment for Bass Strait trade.

“This new service being offered by Mediterranean can only encourage that outcome.”

The schedule for the Kiwi Service is:

· Sydney: Depart Monday AM

· Burnie: Arrives PM Tuesday and Departs AM Wednesday

· Melbourne: Arrive AM Thursday and Depart AM Friday

· Auckland: Arrive PM Tuesday and Depart AM Wednesday

· Tauranga: Arrive PM Wednesday and Depart AM Thursday

· Sydney: Arrive PM Sunday.

The Managing Director of MSC Australia, Kevin Clarke, said including Burnie in the rotation highlighted the importance of Tasmania in Australia’s overall export market.

“Not only do we provide a direct link between Tasmanian and New Zealand – we also connect Tasmania to the world through our global relay services,” Mr Clarke said.

Mr Green said the Kiwi Service would provide Tasmanian exporters with an important alternative to get their products to New Zealand along with markets anywhere in the world.

Gas Rollout To Benefit Public Housing Tenants - Lara Giddings, MHA - Tasmanian Government Media Releases

2006-02-20T16:48:00.000-08:00

Gas Rollout To Benefit Public Housing Tenants - Lara Giddings, MHA - Tasmanian Government Media Releases

Around 2,300 Housing Tasmania properties could be connected to Powerco’s natural gas network within the next 18 months.

Minister for Economic Development Lara Giddings said the Tasmanian Labor Government through Housing Tasmania and Powerco have agreed to the connection of public housing homes to natural gas at no cost to tenants.

“This is great news for thousands of Tasmanians on low incomes who by using natural gas can save around $100 or more each year in hot water costs alone.

“Around 4,300 of Housing Tasmania’s 11,500 properties are located in areas where natural gas is currently being rolled out by Powerco.

“Besides delivering real energy savings for Housing Tasmania tenants this decision will give Powerco another opportunity to demonstrate to the Tasmanian community the benefits of using clean and cheap natural gas.”

Ms Giddings said Housing Tasmania will write to all of their tenants with details of the natural gas rollout, and advise tenants what they need to do should they decide to connect to natural gas.

“Housing Tasmania will install natural gas hot water heaters to replace existing appliances as they reach the end of their life cycle.

“Based on current maintenance cycles, it is expected that around 650 new natural gas water heaters could be installed over the next 18 months.

“A further 450 public housing properties could be connected to the natural gas supply as they fall vacant between tenancies, and it’s expected up to 1,200 additional homes will be connected by tenants choosing to take up this great offer.

“The cost of connecting public housing homes to the natural gas supply will be shared between Housing Tasmania and Powerco, with 2,300 connections expected to cost Housing Tasmania around $700 000.”

Housing Tasmania will advertise for tenders for the supply and installation of natural gas water heaters in its homes on 25 February 2006.

Danes seek Tassie sister

2006-02-19T16:05:00.000-08:00

The Mercury: Danes seek Tassie sister [20feb06]

THE birth of Christian to Tasmania's own Princess Mary and Prince Frederik of Denmark seems to have sparked Danish interest in Hobart.

The mayor of the municipality of Viborg, Johannes Stensgaard, is proposing the establishment of a sister city relationship and a Danish city which rejected overtures from Hobart in 2004, Aarhus, seems may be willing to reconsider a formal relationship.

Little interest was displayed in a sister city relationship with Hobart by three Danish cities in mid-2004 despite massive publicity associated with the May 2004 Danish wedding of Princess Mary and Prince Frederik.

Hobart City Council sought feedback then from Copenhagen, Aarhus (which has a population of 285,000 and is Denmark's largest city) and the smaller Frederikshavn, which has a population of only 34,853.

Hobart Lord Mayor Rob Valentine said yesterday he could only assume the interest flowed from the publicity given to the royal couple and the birth of their son, Prince Christian.

Indirectly the council has received a report that Aarhus Mayor Louise Gade has a different position to her original view on the establishment of a formal relationship with Hobart.

A 12 member delegation from Viborg, including the mayor and deputy mayor will visit Hobart on March 2 and 3. Ald Valentine will meet them on March 2.

On December 23 last year Mr Stensgaard wrote to Ald Valentine to discuss the establishment of a sister city relationship with his city.

He said Hobart and Denmark had a royal connection (Princess Mary grew up in Taroona in the City of Hobart) and Viborg had a history of links with the Danish Royal family.

Mr Stensgaard said Viborg had many similarities with Hobart and was Denmark's second oldest city.

His trip to Australia was through his role as chairman of a European Union-sponsored e-learning development project -- teaching and communication via the internet, and he was with a delegation of about 20 people working in education in Viborg.

He said both cities could inspire each other in a large number of areas -- creating closer links between the respective residents, especially between young people, associations and businesses.

Parties highlight economy, health in first campaign day. 19/02/2006. ABC News Online

2006-02-18T15:58:00.000-08:00

Parties highlight economy, health in first campaign day. 19/02/2006. ABC News Online

Tasmanian Premier Paul Lennon has used the first day of election campaigning to highlight the strength of the state's economy.

Mr Lennon was in George Town yesterday to illustrate what he describes as a turnaround in the town's fortunes since Labor came to power.

He pointed to the State Government's decision to invest in the Spirit of Tasmania ferries as one reason why the number of tourists visiting George Town has increased.

Mr Lennon also focussed his emphasis on the importance of stable majority government.

"I'm concerned that if we don't have a majority government after an election on the 18th of March, that Tasmania will turn back and that confidence will fall away and investment will fall away and therefore unemployment will increase," he said.

Both the Greens and Liberals made health announcements yesterday in their first day of campaigning.

Liberal Leader Rene Hidding and the party's health spokeswoman, Sue Napier, launched the $3 million grants program as part of their "Health Solutions Plan" in Hobart yesterday.

The program would see $3 million made available to non-government organisations like Diabetes Australia to run preventative programs.

Ms Napier says the program is part of a broader "Health Solutions Plan" that encompasses many of the party's already announced health policies.

"There's a need for a comprehensive plan to tackle the issues that are impacting on ordinary Tasmanians every day," she said.

"It's about losing nurses and doctors who find it almost impossible to work in such a stressed and basically poorly managed and resourced system."

But State Health Minister David Llewellyn says the Liberals continue to attack health workers and have nothing new to offer.

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Mr Lennon has hit back at Liberal Party advertisements, which he says are part of a campaign against him and his family.

But Mr Hidding says that is not true.

"I would say to Paul Lennon stop raising your family - we're not, you shouldn't," he said.

Mr Lennon was also forced to respond to concerns about the state's workers compensation laws.

It seems that Mr Lennon is not phased by advertisements being run by lawyers and some unions who say workers compensation laws are unfair.

Mr Lennon does not want the ads withdrawn and says it is up to unions whether they support them.

"My door is open to them to discuss these matters out," he said.

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Overseas-trained doctors targeted in new cultural program. 19/02/2006. ABC News Online

2006-02-18T15:57:00.000-08:00

Overseas-trained doctors targeted in new cultural program. 19/02/2006. ABC News Online

Medical educators are attempting to break down the cultural barriers between overseas-trained doctors and their patients.

Tasmania has Australia's highest ratio of foreign-trained doctors, with 30 per cent of all public hospital doctors coming from overseas.

The state's Postgraduate Medical Institute (PMI) is holding a bridging course for foreign doctors this weekend to help them prepare for their registration exams.

Project manager Dr Geoff Couser says Australia is increasingly attracting doctors from regions other than the traditional recruitment bases such as the United Kingdom, India and Pakistan.

"Now we're seeing doctors coming from another range of areas such as the Middle East and also Africa and also eastern Asia, such as China," he said.

"So we're seeing a wide range of doctors coming from different systems and I think the public are starting to realise that these are doctors who are competent, who are trained and who are receiving ongoing training - just as all doctors are really."

Tungsten plan unveiled for King Island

2006-02-15T15:29:00.000-08:00

Tungsten plan unveiled for King Island

FAMOUS for its dairy products, King Island in Australia's Bass Strait is set to re-establish a place on the mining map with King Island Scheelite lodging a development proposal for its tungsten project with government departments.

KIS is looking to bring the project online early next year and has submitted a development proposal and environmental management plan with the King Island Council and Department of Primary Industries, Water and Environment.

The company is looking to start construction around mid-year and envisages a mining rate of around 600,000 tonnes or ore per annum over a mine life of ten years. KIS said there is the potential to extend the mine life to 20 years with an underground operation.

Resource estimates are being finalised by Australian Mining Consultants and are expected to be complete this quarter.

A pre-feasibility study completed in December 2004 indicated the project had a resource of 4.1Mt at 0.91% tungsten trioxide and estimated it would cost $15 million to develop.

MiningNews.net was unable to reach KIS chairman Ray Soper.

Tungsten is commonly used in light filaments, electrical and electronic contacts, and wire and rods.

Shares in KIS hit a 52-week low of 40c in May before gaining ground and hitting a 52-week high of $1.55 in October. The stock remained unchanged during morning trade at $1.40.

Click here to read the rest of today's news stories

Grant funds oyster breeding program. 15/02/2006. ABC News Online

2006-02-15T03:03:00.000-08:00

Grant funds oyster breeding program. 15/02/2006. ABC News Online

A Tasmanian company specialising in breeding stock for oysters has been awarded a Federal Government grant of almost $1 million.

Shellfish Culture is working to develop new types of oysters and mussels whose meat and taste are not subject to seasonal variations.

The quality of oysters and mussels deteriorates during the warmer months when the shellfish spawn.

Shellfish Culture has used chemicals to breed shellfish which are sterile and whose quality therefore does not change but the process has a low success rate.

General manager Richard Pugh says the grant will allow his company to concentrate on producing the sterile fish, called triploids naturally.

"Doesn't require any chemicals, it's a completely natural spawning process, but the best advantage is that it gives you 100 per cent triploiding," he said.

Can a blogger take a week off?

2006-02-15T02:51:00.000-08:00

7 days at Swansea on the East Coast of Tasmania, waking up to this view each day

Daily Postings --- were on slo mo -

but I did get NewsGator feeds happening on my Sony-Eric S700i thru GPRS courtesy of Opera Mini -- a great little java app -- no thanks to telstra ( my carrier) --

MAYDENA HAULER UNDERWAY AT LAST

2006-02-09T17:46:00.000-08:00

The Tasmanian Greens today welcomed the long awaited commencement of the Maydena Hauler, which will provide the Derwent Valley with a significant new tourism experience when completed, but pointed out that the State Government has still not provided a commitment to the Derwent Railway which is currently unable to run trains on the Derwent Valley line.

Greens Member for Lyons, Tim Morris MHA, said that Derwent Valley Railway is a vital part of regional tourism in the Valley, and would be an integral part of the rail theme, upon which the Maydena Hauler is based.

“While the Greens support the Hauler concept, I note that the price tag for the Maydena Hauler has gone from $6 million to $8 million but apparently not a cent is available for the Derwent Valley Railway Preservation Society to run trains,” Mr Morris said.

“I call on the State Labor Government to provide interim funding to the Derwent Valley Railway Preservation Society in order for them to maintain their existing programs at New Norfolk until the state-wide issue with Pacific National is resolved.”

“The commencement of the Hauler gives Derwent Valley residents some hope that the Government will recognise the importance of the Railway Line to tourism, and potentially freight, and come to its senses and provide some funding to ensure trains can start operating again.”

“The Greens recognise that a restored Derwent Valley railway to Maydena will complement the state investment into the Hauler project, and in our Alternative Budget we identified an additional $250 000 to go towards ensuring the railway’s viability.”

“The construction of the Hauler will provide an economic boost to the Valley with the arrival of contractors who need local accommodation and hopefully will employ a number of locals in the immediate and long-term,” Mr Morris said.

HEALTH MINISTER CLEARLY NOT IN CONTROL

2006-02-09T17:44:00.000-08:00

The Tasmanian Greens today described the resignation of Dr David Jackson, Clinical Director of the Alcohol and Drug Service as unnecessary, saying that it is an indictment on the Health Minister, David Llewellyn’s inability to provide proper oversight of his department, and have called for urgent talks to be held to persuade Dr Jackson to resume his position.

Greens Opposition Health and Human Services spokesperson Tim Morris MHA said that it is of critical importance that the serious problems at the Alcohol and Drug Service are resolved, and that the Minister must seek an urgent meeting with Dr Jackson to see whether he would be prepared to resume his position and under what circumstances.

Mr Morris also called for the Minister to pull the blatant political advertising currently running designed to convince Tasmanians that all is well in the public health system, a PR image now in tatters, and to instead redirect those funds where they are desperately needed such as the Alcohol and Drug Service.

“The loss of Dr Jackson is a disaster for the Alcohol and Drug Service and he will be difficult to replace, as are all good staff, so I am now calling on Minister Llewellyn to swallow his pride, meet with Dr Jackson as a matter of urgency and negotiate the terms under which Dr Jackson could be convinced to resume his position,” Mr Morris said.

“The shocking revelations about the state of our Drug and Alcohol service demonstrate that the Health adverts currently being shown on TV are blatantly misleading and should be pulled immediately, with the money redirected to the desperately needed public health services.”

“Just what are Minister Llewellyn’s priorities?”

“This disaster is of the Minister’s own making, as he has either not acted, or he has allowed himself to be shielded from concerns being raised with his office about the dire situation at the Alcohol and Drug Service.”

“ I met with Dr David Jackson last Wednesday morning, when he told me of the problems he was having in attempting to provide an adequate service and that he was due to meet with the Departmental Secretary, Mr Martyn Forrest the next day, so we know he was trying to get the situation addressed but obviously now feels that he can no longer be associated with a system which is failing its duty of care to vulnerable Tasmanians.”

“Minster Llewellyn had plenty of time last week to address the concerns of Dr Jackson, and if he was doing his job properly he would be having regular meetings with key people within his own department such as Dr Jackson, instead it appears he was too busy preparing media releases to convince a sceptical public that all is well in health.”

“Had the Minister’s door not been closed and if Dr Jackson was not banned from speaking out publicly, then he may still be at work, saving lives.”

“It should be David Llewellyn contemplating a job change, not David Jackson,” Mr Morris said.

Wool Industry Needs Market Share, Improved Profitability

2006-02-09T17:43:00.000-08:00

Primary Industries Minister Steve Kons says the State Government is determined to build on the value of Tasmania’s wool clip.

He said this week’s Tasmanian wool sale confirmed the world-wide reputation for the quality of the fleeces on offer.

“The Government is keen to support growth and international export opportunities with the aim of increasing the $70 million annual farm gate value of the industry.

“The adoption of ongoing technological improvements and techniques by all in the industry will be critical for the industry’s survival.”

Mr Kons said efforts were being made through DPIWE and the Tasmanian Institute of Agricultural Research working in partnership with Australian Wool Innovations Ltd and the Tasmanian wool industry over the past three years through the 8x5 Wool Profit Program.

“The 8x5 Wool Profit Program has set a goal of a profitable industry returning 8% on assets managed for wool production, to be achieved over a five-year period and has successfully concluded its first three years with strong approval from wool growers.”

Mr Kons said DPIWE and TIAR have agreed to continue the program for another three years and are negotiating with AWI regarding their level of support for ongoing projects.

He said it was proposed that the 8 x 5 program be expanded to be more inclusive of other farming operations including sheep meats, feed management and supply trials.

“In early April, DPIWE in conjunction with TFGA wool council, TAFE Tasmania and AWI will hold a workshop for shearers and producers.

“One of the latest developments in shearing practices, the upright shearing platform, will be on display.

“This is one of several prototypes soon to be available commercially.

“These types of technical improvements are designed to ensure occupational health and safety issues are pro-actively managed into the future.

“Other training initiatives the DPIWE has supported include the successful Working in Wool Program now entering its third year.

“The program showcases career opportunities in the wool industry to year 11 and 12 students.”

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Eddystone Point Lease Agreement

2006-02-09T17:27:00.000-08:00

A 40 year lease has been signed by the Tasmanian Government and the Aboriginal Land Council of Tasmania for land at Eddystone Point in Tasmania’s north east.

The leased area includes three houses but not the Eddystone Point lightstation. Public access to the lightstation will continue under the lease agreement.

The lease will ensure that the Aboriginal community is able to continue its close connection with this culturally rich area.

Minister for Parks and Heritage, Judy Jackson said the lease agreement recognises that the site is an area of significance to the Tasmanian Aboriginal community.

“This long-term lease agreement recognises the significance of this site and is an important step in the Government providing the Aboriginal community a further management role in national parks,” Ms Jackson said.

“Eddystone Point is within the Mt William National Park and the Parks and Wildlife Service will continue to work cooperatively with the Tasmanian Aboriginal community in managing both Eddystone Point and Mt William National Park.

“It is important that some catch-up maintenance be undertaken as a matter of priority to ensure that the historic integrity of the houses is retained and for health and safety reasons.

“I am therefore pleased to be able to confirm that the State Government will provide funding to ensure that maintenance work will be undertaken over an appropriate period of time. The timing of this work will be negotiated with the Aboriginal Land Council of Tasmania through an agreed schedule of works.”

This initiative is part of the State Government’s commitment to progressing Tasmania Together Goal 21 – Value, protect and conserve our natural and cultural heritage.

Almost four full years of Employment Growth

2006-02-09T17:26:00.000-08:00

Tasmania is on the verge of recording 4 full years of uninterrupted jobs growth.

Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) figures released today show that employment in Tasmania has increased in each of the 45 months to January 2006 (in trend terms).

Minister for Economic Development Lara Giddings said the figures show that over the past year employment in Tasmania grew by 4.4 per cent meaning 9,500 more Tasmanians are in jobs than in January 2005.

“These figures show the Lennon Labor Government is still on the job of creating jobs,” Ms Giddings said.

“All up, more than 31,000 jobs for Tasmanians have been created since the jobs resurgence began in January 1999.

“We now have 225,700 Tasmanians in jobs, and at 4.4 percent a jobs growth rate of nearly three times the rest of Australia, Ms Giddings said.

“Based on current trends we can expect that in just three short months Tasmania will record four full years of jobs growth.

Ms Giddings said Tasmania’s participation rate, which indicates how many people are now actively looking for work reached 61.8 per cent in January 2006.

“Tasmania’s participation rate is the highest it’s been since December 1990 which means more and more Tasmanians who had previously given up looking for work now feel confident enough to start looking for a job again, Ms Giddings said.

“While unemployment rose from 5.9 per cent to 6.7 per cent, this has been driven by the growth in Tasmania’s participation rate.

“According to ANZ Chief Economist Saul Eslake, if Tasmania's participation rate had remained at its January 2005 level, the trend unemployment rate last month would have been just 2.4%,” Ms Giddings said.

“This continued jobs growth is a great indicator that Tasmania’s economy continues to be strong and stable.

Ms Giddings said this latest good news on employment came on the heels of a swag of data showing the Tasmanian economy continues to be strong.

“Recent ABS data show the growth in Tasmania’s retail expenditure during December 2005 was the largest of any state or territory and that the nominal value of overseas merchandise exports from Tasmania grew by 11 per cent reaching $2.7 billion in the year to December 2005.

“And only yesterday ICT firm Etech announced it will expand its Hobart-based Global Support and Development Centre to provide 42 new full-time high-skill jobs over the next 18 months, as a result of a major contract with Apple Computer Corporation and assistance from the Tasmanian Government.

“Tasmania is able to create so many jobs because our businesses and our workforce are amongst the most innovative in the world.

“Our strong jobs growth is also due to the strong economic management of the Lennon Labor Government and the fact that having a stable majority government gives business the confidence to invest in Tasmania.” Ms Giddings said.

New Strategic Plan for Mental Health Services

2006-02-09T17:23:00.000-08:00

Deputy Premier David Llewellyn today officially launched a new Statewide blueprint to frame development of Tasmania’s mental health services for the next five years.

Mr Llewellyn said the Mental Health Services Strategic Plan 2006 – 2011 partners … towards recovery was an important milestone in the Government’s aim to make Tasmania the benchmark for mental health service development in Australia.

“The Government has committed an additional $100 million over four years for mental health, including $47 million for service expansion and reform to implement the findings of the Bridging the Gap review.

“The Strategic Plan will ensure that these additional resources are used effectively and efficiently to deliver more and better services for Tasmanians living with a mental illness.

“The plan will deliver a model of care that is centred on consumers, promotes their recovery, and is available to all Tasmanians wherever they live.

“There will also be an increase in support services provided by the non government sector and better coordination between Mental Health Services and other organisations such as housing, Centrelink, employment and training providers, emergency services, and other counselling services.

“Implementation of the plan over the next five years will put Tasmania at the forefront of Australian mental health services.

“For consumers it will mean:

Ø More and better services delivered where they are needed;

Ø A new partnership between government and the non-government sector to deliver client services;

Ø Integrated, cohesive services with no more gaps;

Ø Consumer-focused services aimed at recovery, not just treatment; and

Ø Individual service plans for all consumers, tailored to their individual needs.

“For mental health staff, the Strategic Plan means increased recognition and greater job satisfaction.

“It’s an exciting vision, and the task in front of us now is to put it into action.

“I am confident that if we continue to work together as partners … towards recovery will make a huge difference to the lives of Tasmanians living with a mental illness.”

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Unique Forest Tourism Development

2006-02-07T21:48:00.000-08:00

A unique tourism development tapping into Tasmania’s forest heritage will provide a spectacular window into Tasmania’s South West wilderness.

The Maydena Hauler – an $8 million development, will add a new component to the range of forest experiences available to Tasmanian tourists.

It’s expected to attract 75,000 visitors in its first year alone.

Premier Paul Lennon says the Hauler will be a world-class development in one of the world’s most scenically-spectacular areas.

“The Tahune Airwalk in the Southern Forests, the Scottsdale Forest Eco-Centre and the brilliant Dismal Swamp slide in the far North West are all major contributors to local tourism.

“When the Airwalk was opened in 2001, sceptics were lining up to predict its failure. In fact, half a million people have now enjoyed the experience.

“That provides clear evidence that there is a strong appetite for attractions such as this, providing visitors with a window into the forest experience.”

The Maydena Hauler development will take visitors on a spectacular four-wheel-drive guided journey to a funicular railway through rugged, steep alpine landscape to an “Eagles eyrie” look-out.

The view will allow visitors a panoramic outlook across the rooftop of Tasmania.

“It’s an experience which has never before been available, except to a very few privileged people.

“The eyrie looks out over a wide area of forest. Eighty per cent of it is protected but it also contains smaller areas which are used for sustainable timber production.

“Visitors will be able to see for themselves how our forest industries fit into a wild and spectacular landscape.”

Mr Lennon said the Tasmanian Government had contributed $4 million towards the cost of the project.

“This development means jobs and opportunities and – even more importantly – jobs and opportunities in a regional community.

“And from a wider, State-based perspective, too, the project means benefits, with six of the seven contractors appointed to the project being Tasmanian.

“The hauler will be very attractive for visitors who want to see our tall trees, mighty forests and dramatic wilderness.

“At a local level, it will bring considerable benefits to the local and regional communities of the Derwent Valley in terms of new opportunities and more tourist dollars coming into the area.

“For instance, it’s estimated that for every dollar spent by visitors to the Tahune Airwalk, $1.57 was also spent in the Geeveston community.”

Mr Lennon said the Maydena Hauler would add enormously to the Tasmanian tourist experience.

“This development is simply unique. I have no doubt it will capture the imagination of everyone who becomes aware of it.

“Its development is another strong indicator of confidence that Tasmania’s economy is growing strongly.”

GREEN AND PROUD OF OUR ACHIEVEMENTS ON THE TASMANIAN ECONOMY

2006-02-07T21:44:00.000-08:00

Fear and Smear from Vested Interests is Predictable Self Interest
The Tasmanian Greens today challenged a ‘fear and smear’ campaign which claims adverse effects on Tasmania’s economy if a balance-of-power Parliament is returned, and reminded of the important role of the Greens in contributing to Tasmania’s economic renaissance, particularly in allowing the debt reduction strategy to occur.

Greens Opposition Leader Peg Putt MHA said that the Greens stand for open, honest and accountable government with an end to secret backroom deals and scandalous involvement of decision makers in receiving free hospitality, such as the Crown Casino upgrade, whilst negotiating on behalf of Tasmania.

Ms Putt said that the Greens were proud of their responsible approach to Tasmania’s economy, both in the past and going forward, mentioning in particular:

Clean and Green

The Greens push over two decades to diversify Tasmanian’s economy, as a result now built largely on our natural assets and our ‘clean green’ brand and much more resilient than in the late 1980s when resource exploitation by a few was the focus;
Debt Reduction

The Greens enabled and supported the Field government, and the subsequent minority Liberal government in 1996-98, to undertake belt-tightening to reduce massive state debt – this could not have happened without Greens support of those Budgets during Balance-of-Power periods;
Open, Honest, Accountable Decisions

The Greens would end secret back room deals with corporate mates, which treat Parliament like a rubber stamp and shut small business out of the running, and would insist on Ministerial standards which end scandals like the Crown Casino upgrade and the consequent misleading of Parliament;
Responsible, Reasonable Budget Management

The Greens have demonstrated their capacity to deliver a fully costed and funded Alternative Budget which funds vital areas in health, housing, primary industries, and protected areas management which went begging under Lennon Labor.
“The Greens did all the hard yards to secure a diversification of the Tasmanian economy to become clean and green and we can rightly take credit for an economy which is now much more resilient and largely built upon appreciation of our natural assets rather than their destruction.” Ms Putt said.

“Our responsible approach to Tasmania’s economy is also demonstrated by our role in enabling the debt reduction strategy to occur, because it would not have happened without our continued support for each and every Government Budget during two different balance-of-power Parliaments.”

“Looking forward, you can count on the Greens to restore honesty, openness and accountability to government decision making and to do away with the cronyism involved in secret backroom deals with a select few corporate mates which is the hallmark of Labor under Lennon.”

“We will make sure that there is a level playing field in access to government which does not shut out worthy small business, that Parliament is not treated simply as a rubber stamp, and the sickening spectacle of Ministers with their snouts in the trough whilst doing deals on behalf of Tasmania is ended.

“We have clearly shown our competence in Budget Management by producing our fully costed and funded Alternative Budget which shows that the sky would not fall and that battlers would be better looked after by the Greens.”

“The bleating about the evils of balance-of-power government, which deliberately use the emotive and negative term ‘hung parliament’, can be seen as a rearguard action by vested interests who are on a good wicket with their mates deals with Lennon and fear greater public accountability.”

Cassy O'Connor -- A Voyage to Green Land

2006-02-06T14:31:00.000-08:00

The story so far

PART IV -- Fallacies & Fantasies

1. Committed Greens draw ALP salaries?

Drawing a salary as a wonk in a Fed ALP-MHR's office and presumably working for Duncan's re-election. This is the mark of a committed Green? More like a touch of the Cheryl's and Julian's.

2. Trail Blazing Ralph's Bay Campaigner?

Single-handedly running Walker Corpse out of town --- whoops -- they didn't even have an office in Hobart; now THERE was a committed developer who wilted when faced-down by a lay-down misere nimby campaign; especially when you have a Hodgman [et fils] concurrence

3.Representative Democracy or Absentee Opportunist?

Talking about backyards, it's a shame Cassy's is in Franklin and not in Denison --- it will be a long commute in the Caprice – but then again you can get your driver to do the shopping as is Ms Peggy's want.

4.Look to The Hobart Mercury for your political guidance, insights, (& friends?)

Is it a particular Hobartian delusion, that sees people believing all political news & commentary in Tas ( south of 43 degrees latitude at least) starts and ends in the Mercury? This sad little rag is populated by NewsCorpse no-hoper journos who can't (or won't) write beyond a rehashed media release.

Recherche Bay Discussions - Paul Lennon, MHA - Tasmanian Government Media Releases

2006-02-06T02:04:00.000-08:00

Recherche Bay Discussions - Paul Lennon, MHA - Tasmanian Government Media Releases

Premier Paul Lennon has confirmed the State Government is negotiating to protect the historically-significant Recherche Bay area.

Mr Lennon said today he had become involved more than a week ago in discussions with businessman Dick Smith, the Vernon family, which owns the land, and Tasmanian Land Conservancy.

“Today, I took recommendations to Cabinet aimed at resolving the outstanding issues."

Mr Lennon said the Government recognised that the community wanted a balance between sustainable development and protecting our natural and historical heritage.

“We recognise that this site has historical importance and, if possible, should be preserved.

“All of the people involved in the discussions are showing a great deal of goodwill, and I’m confident we will be able to announce a conclusion within days.”

LABOR DROPS BALL ON HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND CHILD PROTECTION

2006-02-06T02:00:00.000-08:00

Tasmanian Greens ...Media Release

Re-Prioritisation Critical for Sustainable Economy
The Tasmanian Greens today said Tasmania’s poor results released by the Productivity Commission for Tasmanian Health funding and waiting lists, education, and child protection services reveals the full extent to which the Lennon government failed to focus and prioritise these vital areas and instead has allowed itself to be distracted by racetracks and flawed dam proposals.

Greens Opposition Health and Education spokesperson Tim Morris MHA said that turning around these health and education figures, especially the school retention rates, is critical to driving the turn-around to a long term sustainable economy.

Mr Morris said that the government’s response that the Productivity Report used out-dated figures was an unacceptable tired and deceptive excuse, as well as being sadly predictable.

“The Labor government has been in power for the last eight years, and over that time these national reports keep reiterating that our hospital and dental waiting lists are longer than the national average, our dental services are suffering, our children requiring urgent help are have to wait, and that our education standards also do not reach national standards in key areas,” Mr Morris said.

“It is critical that the government prioritises addressing numeracy and literacy standards in all age groups, and turns around our school retention rates from being the second worst in the country to leading the way.”

“Economic analysts such as Saul Eslake have identified that prioritising education resourcing and standards is the most critical thing to turn around and drive a long term sustainable economic renaissance – and the government has not met this challenge.”

“People don’t want to be told to ignore these trends, they want to hear what the government is going to do about turning them around so the point we meet, if not lead, the national benchmarks.”

“The Health Minister, David Llewellyn, has once again relied on confusing the situation by releasing different statistics, and complaining that the Productivity Report has used old figures.”

“Minister Llewellyn is well aware that the Productivity Commission can only use the figures which are provided to it and need that current information to be collated in a consistent manner, but the government has chosen to either not provide the full information or have not done so in the appropriate format.”

“We need a consistent and nationally comparable system of collating and presenting this data, to assist in identifying priority areas, but that will only work if the government participates and is then open to receiving the results instead of merely dismissing them.”

“Tasmanians cannot afford for the Lennon government to go into a state of denial over their health, education and child protection services,” Mr Morris said.

Yeah, right Zygo

2006-02-05T22:41:00.000-08:00

Yeah, right Zygo ... You’re making things up, or maybe - like Graeme Sturges - just regurgitating a Greg Barns’ spray from November last year.

Possibly you didn’t read my subsequent mercuryedletter response to the series of untruths he published about my pre-selection.

I went through the same pre-selection process as every other hopeful Tasmanian Green candidate. I handed in my nomination form on September 30. In it I answered a series of questions - the same as every other hopeful Green candidate.

Because there is a rigorous process to be followed - one that has to satisfy the party executive - I was given no assurances by the Tas Greens. Having, also on September 30, left a great job with Duncan Kerr MP, I felt deep uncertainty about the future.

I was interviewed by a panel of six people, and asked the same questions as every other Green member who was seeking pre-selection. Our answers were graded on a scale of, I think, one to four. I had to prove my Green credentials and commitment beyond question, and I knew it.

A committee made the decision on the Denison Green ticket. I was pre-selected to the number 2 spot on merit and I am extremely honoured by the Greens’ faith in me - a faith I plan to repay.

A trail of loyalist grassroots Greens in my wake? Find them for me. I’d be keen to put their minds at rest. So far I’ve experienced enormous warmth and support from my fellow Greens.

If there’s to be a wake on election night, it won’t be mine. No matter what the result, if I campaign to the best of my capacity, I’ll hold my head high. Like life, politics is a punt ... this time, I don’t mind the odds.

Let’s argue on the substance, Zygo. It might suit your politico purpose to shoot the messenger, but you should get your facts straight before you print… pork pies.
Posted by Cassy O'Connor on 02/04 at 04:58 PM
Your Comments

Go Zygo Go

Wethinks Ms O’C protesteth too much

If you are looking for solid GreenGoss you’d be a fool to rely on Greg “Sad Sack” Barnes, or the S&M Master from the Chamber [a.k.a. St...Urges The Pious], let alone EdLtrs and EdOp from the Tart of Macquarie Street (aka The Murc).

Harringtone St HQ itself is the best font of Green Knowledge these days.

The self-acknowledged chronology of Cassy’s rite of passage says it all ... out Duncan’s door on a Friday & into the boughs of green-ness on the Monday. That must have been one hell of a 48 hour epiphany. It’s amazing the amount of commitment one can develop over a weekend.

That’s ZYGO’s point I guess. Nouveau arriviste greens bring nothing but machine-driven politico-pragmatism to a party which once prided itself on principles.

Excuse the cynicism, but even green lifers get a bit russet around the edges, when these stunts are pulled.

Once the Rev Bob would have lent his guiding hand, but now the future of panda welfare at the WWF seems to be his pre-occupation.

Bon Chance
Posted by Dada Dave on 02/05 at 04:37 PM
Your Comments

Dada Dave and Zygo - those who lurk behind psuedonyms to sledge - you know zip about me, my Green cred, or my commitment.

Far from undergoing some 48 hour conversion, I have been a member of the Tasmanian Greens for more than three years. There is nothing inconsistent in working for the good Duncan, and holding green beliefs. I was never, have never been, a member of the ALP.

Beautiful Ralphs Bay and what the Lennon Govt would’ve allowed to happen to it were the catalyst for my decision to run for the Greens.

I’m tired and you are both very boring.

Print your fallacious twaddle in the Mercury. Under your real names. I dare you.
Posted by Cassy on 02/05 at 10:38 PM

An Economy going from Strength to Strength - Lara Giddings, MHA - Tasmanian Government Media Releases

2006-02-05T01:07:00.000-08:00

An Economy going from Strength to Strength - Lara Giddings, MHA - Tasmanian Government Media Releases

In yet another sign of a buoyant economy, Tasmania has outperformed every other State and Territory for retail trade growth in December 2005 according to data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

Economic Development Minister Lara Giddings today said Tasmanians remained confident in an economy which continues to outshine the rest of the nation.

“The latest figures show retail trade in trend terms in Tasmania rose by 0.4 per cent in December 2005 to $383.4 million, which is 6.6 per cent above the level recorded one year earlier,” Ms Giddings said.

“The 0.4 percent increase in December was the largest of any state and territory.”

In December 2005, growth was recorded for all components of retail trade in Tasmania except for department stores and other retail (down 0.1 per cent in Tasmania and down 0.4 per cent nationally).

The largest increase was for recreational goods (up 1.3 per cent in Tasmania but down 0.1 per cent nationally), household goods(up 1.0 per cent in Tasmania and 0.2 per cent nationally), hospitality and services(up 0.7 per cent in Tasmania), clothing and soft goods (up 0.5 per cent in Tasmania but down 0.6 per cent nationally), and food retailing(up 0.1 per cent in Tasmania).

Ms Giddings said the growth in retail trade shows that Tasmania’s economy continues to be strong.

“The high level of retail activity shows that consumers remain confident enough in the Tasmanian economy to maintain their level of expenditure.

“And it shows that retailers are prepared to invest in Tasmania and create jobs for Tasmanians.

The ABS have also released great results for Tasmania in international merchandise exports for December 2005

“The nominal value of overseas merchandise exports from Tasmania grew by 11% to $2.728 billion in the year to December 2005 compared with the previous year.

In terms of Tasmania's export markets, the largest increases over the past year by country and nominal value has been to India (up $100m), Korea (up $65m), Singapore (up $60m), Hong Kong (up $57m), Taiwan (up $44m), Thailand (up $24m), Indonesia (up $18m), Malaysia (up $16m), South Africa (up $13m) and New Zealand (up $10m).

“The growth in Tasmania’s retail trade and export data is also a result of the good economic management of the Lennon Labor Government which has created an environment where business is willing to invest and consumers are able to spend.”

Dead Elephant Seal Found On South Bruny - Mike Pemberton - Tasmanian Government Media Releases

2006-02-04T14:50:00.000-08:00

Dead Elephant Seal Found On South Bruny - Mike Pemberton - Tasmanian Government Media Releases
Surfers are advised they may chose to avoid Lighthouse Bay at South Bruny after a dead elephant seal was found at the high tide mark.

It is possible the large seal carcase may attract sharks.

Mike Pemberton, the acting head of the Biodiversity Conservation Branch of DPIWE, said the 4.1metre seal, which was found yesterday, is estimated to weigh 2.5 tonnes and is about three metres around the girth.

“Officers of the Marine Conservation Section of DPIWE inspected the carcase of the middle aged adult and said there appeared to be nothing suspicious about its death,” Mr Pemberton said..

“In a joint operation with the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, samples were taken for analysis.

“There is a slight possibility the carcase, which is being washed over at high tide, may attract sharks.”

Lighthouse Bay is in the South Bruny National Park and is difficult to access by vehicles.

The carcase will left to decompose naturally.

& all this from the annointed one who didn't have to go thru pre-selection

2006-02-03T20:23:00.000-08:00

& left a trail of peed-off loyalist grass-roots greens in her wake

& a wake -- thats what it will be on election night

greens & pork pies - enough to make a vegetarian puke

A DOUBLE HELPING OF PORK PIE
Denison Labor MP Graeme Sturges’ claim of a ‘bitter factional fight’ among the Tasmanian Greens is laughable, and entirely dishonest. Do we detect a whiff of desperation emanating from the Government Propaganda Unit?

I counted seventeen untruths in an eleven paragraph media release issued on Tuesday this week. It is one whopper of an attempted smear. And Tasmanian taxpayers are paying for this tripe.

Read More • Have your say

Smokers fail to come to the party. 04/02/2006. ABC News Online

2006-02-03T19:45:00.000-08:00

Smokers fail to come to the party. 04/02/2006. ABC News Online:

The push to form a smoker's party in Tasmania has been extinguished.
The southern Tasmanian pensioner who would challenge the state's new anti-smoking laws has given up in disgust.
Dover man Andy Devine, 65, received a flourish of publicity when he placed a small newspaper ad three weeks ago.
He called on disgruntled smokers, affected by the pubs and clubs smoking prohibition, to band together into a political party to lobby for change.
He along with friends distributed 300 statutory declarations in pubs around the state.
He needed 100 signed and returned forms to establish his party.
He received three.
Andy Devine declined to be interviewed, only to say he was disappointed with the lack of response and would abandon any plans to form a political party.
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Basslink cable wrangle

2006-02-03T14:31:00.000-08:00

The Mercury: Basslink cable wrangle [04feb06]

HE parties involved in the $780 million Basslink project are disputing the progress of the project.

Contractor Siemens says 630 megawatts of electricity had been transmitted across the undersea cable and it was "technically completed" by January 26.

However, owner National Grid says there are still technical issues with the equipment.

"The independent project inspector needs to tick off on it and until then it is not fully operational and has not been commissioned," corporate affairs director Jon Richards said.

Siemens spokesman Brad Voss said 630 megawatts had been transmitted for six hours on January 16.

Hydro Tasmania spokeswoman Helen Brain said the organisation was still working to take over operation of Basslink from April 29.

The dispute over the completion date is of keen interest to both Siemens and National Grid, which are liable for liquidated damages because the project was not completed by the original target date of November 30, 2005.

Damage to six of the 200-tonne transformers during shipping set the project back by six months.

The damages, likely to run into millions, are payable for every day the project is late under the Basslink Development Agreement.

As a result of the lateness, Hydro has missed out on the chance of selling highly priced electricity to Victoria and South Australia during the summer.

As well, the State Government was forced to spend $39 million on the Bell Bay gas-fired power station.

Mr Richards said there was no set or anticipated date for completion.

"We are still saying April 30 but we hope it will be before," he said.

The project inspector, Robert Cooper of Evans Peck, will sign a certificate of completion when he is satisfied the project is finished.

Hydro Tasmania is expected to pay about $92 million a year over 25 years for the use of Basslink.

Pressure on to fix rail woes

2006-02-03T14:30:00.000-08:00

The Mercury: Pressure on to fix rail woes [04feb06]

NEGOTIATIONS aimed at resolving a problem surrounding the future of Tasmanian rail operations will continue in Melbourne over the weekend.

Pacific National, State Government officials and the Australian Rail Track Corporation began negotiations yesterday.

The ARTC has been called upon by the State Government to recommend the fees Pacific National should pay for access to the state's rail lines, if PN hands back its 45-year lease on the track.

The resolution of the access fees would enable Pacific National Tasmania managers to make a recommendation to the next PN board meeting scheduled for February 21.

The Federal and State Government's have pledged about $80 million over 10 years for track maintenance, if PN invests $38 million in locomotives and rolling stock.

"At present, ARTC is negotiating with Pacific National all weekend on behalf of the Tasmanian Government," ARTC chief executive David Marchant said.

"They are in negotiation on the total of the package, including maintenance and capital contribution."

PN Tasmania chief executive Neil MacKinnon said it was hoped a resolution could be reached by the middle of next week.

The negotiations have come against a background of corporate turmoil between PN 's joint-venture partners Toll Holdings and Patrick Corporation.

Patrick has applied to the Federal Court to break up the joint venture.

Meanwhile, Toll Holdings has been in a standoff with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission over legal aspects of its $4.6 billion takeover bid for Patrick.

The negotiations come during a week in which PN told staff it would have to cancel two trains because of problems with traction motors in locomotives.

Tassie role in health revolution

2006-02-03T14:29:00.000-08:00

The Mercury: Tassie role in health revolution [04feb06]

TASMANIAN scientists are part of a team behind a world first that could revolutionise human health.

It has developed plants which produce a substance called DHA, a component in omega-3 oils.

Omega-3 oils, which are found in seafood, are vital to human health. The research could mean the commercial growing of plants containing DHA.

However, that could be up to seven years away and, because the plants are genetically modified, there are political, legal and consumer issues still to deal with.

Tasmania, for example, has placed a moratorium on GM crops, saying there is a market advantage in promoting Tasmanian produce as clean, green and GM-free.

The Tasmanian members of the CSIRO team are based at the organisation's laboratories in Hobart.

The local research is being conducted by micro-algae biologist Sue Blackburn, molecular geneticist Stan Robart and research chemist Peter Nichols.

They are teaming with scientists from Canberra, Melbourne, Perth and Adelaide.

The team has isolated the gene in micro-algae which produces DHA and transferred it to a plant called arabidopsis, a member of the cress family.

Seeds produced by the plants were found to contain DHA.

"We are now trialling with other crops such as canola, cotton seed and linseed and will know the results within six months," Dr Nichols said.

Although scientists started recognising the components of fish oils as early as the 1930s, it wasn't until the 1960s and 1970s research in the area took off.

It was triggered by health experts recognising that Eskimos, whose staple diet is fish, had an incredibly low incidence of heart disease.

They also found the Japanese, another fish-eating people, had lower levels of heart disease and were living longer than their counterparts in other nations.

The known and suspected health benefits of DHA give the CSIRO's research global significance.

Not only is the breakthrough the first step toward improving human nutrition, it will lead to reduced pressure on declining fish resources and provide Australian grain growers with new high-value crops for global markets.

Fed Govt criticised over pulp mill funds. 04/02/2006. ABC News Online

2006-02-03T14:15:00.000-08:00

Fed Govt criticised over pulp mill funds. 04/02/2006. ABC News Online

The Federal Government is under fire for paying $2.5 million to Tasmanian timber giant Gunns for its proposed pulp mill, after the funds promised before the 2004 election were tied to a plan with higher environmental standards.

Gunns dumped its plan for a totally chlorine free plant after the election.

It now includes contentious chlorine-related compounds for bleaching native timber.

The Government has revealed it recently made the payment.

Minister for Forestry Eric Abetz says a chlorine-free mill was not viable.

"That, of course, then was changed to an environmental best practice pulp mill, we looked at that and said fine," he said.

The Wilderness Society says the Government is funding broken promises.

The Tasmanian Greens' Peg Putt alleges it is a repayment for $70,000 donated by Gunns to the Liberals - revealed in electoral commission disclosures this week.

"This is the best investment Gunns ever made," she said.

"A $70,000 campaign donation to the Liberal Party and the Liberal Government in Canberra gives them $2.4 million."

Gunns has not returned calls.
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The value of a good EDUACTION is self evident

2006-02-02T22:44:00.000-08:00

THE CRISIS IN TASMANIA'S EDUACTION SYSTEM

Date : Friday, 3 Feb 2006

Subject : THE CRISIS IN TASMANIA'S EDUACTION SYSTEM

Author : Peter Gutwein MHA

Shadow Education Minister, Peter Gutwein, said today that there was hard evidence pointing to a crisis occurring in Year 6 and 7 classrooms in Tasmania with reading, writing and literacy standards at national lows and on the decline.
Mr Gutwein said that the most concerning aspect was that Tasmanian Year 7 students were, on average, older than Year 7 students tested in other States and Territories and had been at school for a great deal longer.
"Something is going seriously wrong in the Tasmanian education system and is getting worse with Year 7 standards slipping," Mr Gutwein said.
"Hard evidence, shows that Tasmanian students are performing worse than Year 7 students in any other State in the nation, yet are older and have been at school longer, on average, than anywhere else in Australia pointing to a major crisis in the Tasmanian education system.
"On average, Tasmanian Year 7 students are 13 years of age at the time of standards testing, four months greater than the national average and up to 10 months older than in other places in Australia.
"Further, they have been at school longer with their years of schooling by the time they have been tested in Year 7, being 7 years and 7 months. This is 5 months extra schooling than the national average and up to one year greater than anywhere else in Australia.
"With the additional months of schooling that Tasmanian Year 7 students have received, combined with their higher age levels, you would expect that their standards of reading, writing and numeracy to be much higher, but, in fact, the reverse is true.
"In all three areas, that is, reading, writing and numeracy, the proportion of Tasmanian Year 7 students able to pass the basic national benchmark is at the bottom of the class, and only compares favourably to the Northern Territory.
"In short, Tasmanian Year 7 students are older and have been at school longer than anywhere else in Australia, but are achieving much worse results.
"And the latest figures show that in all three areas, the proportions of Tasmanian Year 7 students able to pass the basic benchmarks are declining. Things are going from bad to worse, potentially resulting in a crisis.
"In fact, we have now reached a low point where almost one in every five Year 7 student cannot pass the basic numeracy standard."
Mr Gutwein said that this damning data from the Productivity Commission's national Report on Government Services 2006 followed concerns raised by the Evatt Foundation, by leading ANZ economist, Saul Eslake, by the Australian Council for Educational Research as well as a Federal Government curriculum report which all rated Tasmania as bottom of the class when it comes to education.
"Mr Eslake believes that this failure to gain reasonable or even average standards in Year 7 classrooms will have a very detrimental effect upon the ability to recruit skilled workers, to increase workforce productivity and, ultimately, ensure a sustainable, healthy Tasmanian economy."
Recently, Mr Eslake commented that: "Tasmanian kids do pretty well in the early years of schooling, suggesting that they are as innately smart as kids from anywhere else in the country but that by the time they get to Year 7 they have slipped below the national average."
"Tasmanian students are, regrettably, near the bottom of the class" "Clearly, Minister Wriedt, who has been Education Minister for eight years now, has failed on implementing effective strategies to improve the standards in Tasmanian schools, where, by the time Tasmanian students reach Year 7 they can achieve results equal to or better than the national average," Mr Gutwein said.

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Taikotecture: Taiko drumming - Lara Giddings, MHA - Tasmanian Government Media Releases

2006-02-02T22:40:00.000-08:00

Taikotecture: Taiko drumming - Lara Giddings, MHA - Tasmanian Government Media Releases

The first performance of Taikotecture, a spectacular performance of taiko drumming will open tomorrow at the St Michael’s Collegiate Performing Arts Centre.

Arts Minister Lara Giddings said the performance features internationally acclaimed taiko artist Art Lee.

“Mr Lee has been delivering taiko drumming workshops during January in Hobart and Burnie, Ms Giddings said.

“I was pleased to approve an Arts Tasmania grant to assist Burnie Arts Council to bring Mr Lee to Tasmania.

“This has been a great opportunity for Tasmanian musicians to learn from a great master, and to present some fantastic performances to the Tasmanian people.

“Taiko drumming has grown significantly in Tasmania over the last few years, and this performance will feature some of the finest Tasmanian players. ”

Also featured in Taikotecture are Taiko Drum, the original taiko troupe; Matsuriki, a new group of leading Tasmanian taiko performers; and Taiko Chan, the new youth taiko ensemble.

Hobart performances will be held on 4 February at 7.30pm and Sunday, 5 February at 4pm.

AMA CONCERNS ON PULP MILL MUST BE HEEDED

2006-01-25T01:52:00.000-08:00

Tasmanian Greens ...Media Release

The Tasmanian Greens today supported the concerns raised by the AMA regarding a range of potential impacts of Gunns’ proposed pulp mill on human health, including effects on respiratory disease, impacts of odourous emissions, and the likelihood of increased road traffic causing road fatalities, air emissions and noise.

Greens Member for Bass, Kim Booth MHA, said that the government and Gunns Ltd must take the concerns of doctors seriously, and that the RPDC would need to revise their decision not to require a baseline health study for the Tamar valley in their final IIS Guidelines, because such a study is integral to addressing whether health impacts can be shown to have originated with a pulp mill.

“The concerns of doctors that a pulp mill could have a range of significant health effects are very real and must be taken seriously rather than being batted away with the usual spin-doctored statements asserting world’s best but evading full impact assessment,” Mr Booth said.

“The respiratory health impacts in the polluted Tamar air shed which extends over Launceston are already a national scandal affecting many of my constituents, yet a pulp mill could add to these and the AMA has put the acid on the government and Gunns to get serious about it.”

“A glaring hole in the Integrated Impact Statement guidelines was the failure to require a baseline health study throughout the Tamar valley so that there is something to make a scientific comparison with if a pulp mill is built and pollution from it seems to be having an effect, and the RPDC really should look at this again.”

“”The issue of increased logging traffic and other vehicles is also of note for the impacts on road trauma, as well as the increase in noise and particulate emissions,” Mr Booth said.

GREENS TARGET CONSTRAINTS OF TRAINING, INSURANCE, AND RAIL FREIGHT TRANSPORT

2006-01-25T01:50:00.000-08:00

Tasmanian Greens ...Media Release

The Tasmanian Greens today said that key areas for action on the Tasmanian economy emerging from the latest Tasmanian Survey of Business Expectations are the need for increased investment in education and training to improve the availability of suitably qualified employees and managers, to address the constraints on business growth imposed by high insurance costs, and to assure the future of rail freight services.

Greens Opposition Leader Peg Putt MHA said the Greens have policies focusing on these areas as priorities and dismissed the implied anti-Greens stance of the TCCI, saying that the Greens emphasis on achieving these key results for the economy will be helpful in pushing a new government to get serious about tackling them.

“The Greens strongly support a transition to a clean, green and clever economy which means that we recognise the constraints on growing a knowledge-based economy posed by the lack of suitably qualified employees and managers and are making a policy push for improved education and training opportunities,” Ms Putt said.

“Also a constraint on economic growth is the high cost of insurance, and here the Greens propose to cut stamp duties on insurances which will assist business and increase safety.”

“Another area of concern for the future of our economy is transport, particularly the future of rail freight, and again the Greens are pushing for a result that ensures these vital services remain.”

“I differ with the TCCI over the role of the Greens in promoting a strong economy, because our push for training, for tax cuts to stamp duty on insurances, and for retention of rail freight services will reinforce the political will of the other political parties to deliver on these areas.”

“No other party has outlined a plan to cut stamp duties on insurances, despite a push by business and consumer groups.”

WAITING LIST DATA STILL NOT AVAILABLE

2006-01-25T01:49:00.000-08:00

Tasmanian Greens ...Media Release

What Is Minister Llewellyn Up To?

The Tasmanian Greens today called on the Government to either publish the Elective Surgery waiting list data for the final quarter of 2005 or explain why the figures have not been updated despite the DHHS website stating that, “this information is updated 10 working days following the end of each quarter.”

Greens Opposition Health and Human Services spokesperson Tim Morris MHA said that since reporting had begun, the usual practice was for the Elective Surgery waiting list statistics to be published by about the 14th of the month past the end of each quarter, but for some reason this time the latest figures have not been published within the usual timeframe.

“The Greens are starting to get suspicious that the Government is going to play tricks again and either change the way the Elective Surgery waiting list data is collated or reported so as to prevent the public being able to compare and measure the performance in this vital area,” Mr Morris said.

“The Government is clearly hiding the latest figures for elective surgery, presumably to cover up for their abysmal performance.”

“We are sure if the number of Tasmanian waiting for elective surgery had been substantially reduced from in excess of 7000, as reported for the September quarter, then the data would have been published in accord within the timeframe advised by the department.”

“It is now time for the Minister for Health and Human services to come clean and release the latest Elective surgery waiting lists figures in accordance with departmental policy, and explain why he has withheld them,” Mr Morris said.

New Minister is Uninformed and Inflammatory

2006-01-25T01:47:00.000-08:00

Tasmanian Greens ...Media Release

New Minister is Uninformed and Inflammatory

The Tasmanian Greens today responded to vitriolic anti-Green comments by incoming Federal Minister for Forestry, Fisheries and Conservation Senator Eric Abetz saying that he is ill-informed on the Greens’ plans for job creation in the forest industry.

Greens Opposition Leader and spokesperson on Forests Peg Putt MHA called for Senator Abetz to recognise that the Greens represent the views of a substantial proportion of the population who will be insulted by his incorrect and inflammatory remarks, and said that he should be prepared for dialogue and co-operation in his Ministerial role.

“Contrary to Senator Abetz’s spiteful claims, the Greens have thoroughly researched plans for job creation in the forest industry, which we can make truly ecologically sustainable, and there is a lot to talk about for anyone genuinely interested in shifting to a high value-adding, job creating industry and away from mass, low value woodchipping in the clearfelling culture,” Ms Putt said.

“We can create around 900 jobs through a combination of new timber processing ventures based in the existing plantations and tourism jobs gained through forest protection.”

“Many Tasmanians support the Greens which is how we come to be in Parliament, and Eric Abetz needs to recognise that we represent their views and that his vitriolic put down of them is insulting and a poor start for a new Minister who should be prepared for dialogue.”

“It is disappointing that the Senator has not bothered to inform himself of the actual policies of the Greens on forestry but has instead run on blind prejudice, sounding like an obsessed ideologue,” Ms Putt said.

GREENS LAUNCH FULL BASS TICKET

2006-01-25T01:46:00.000-08:00

GREENS LAUNCH FULL BASS TICKET

The Tasmanian Greens today launched a strong five member ticket, headed up by Greens Member for Bass Kim Booth, to contest the 2006 state election with a firm eye to retaining the Greens’ hard won seat and increasing and consolidating their primary vote.

Greens Member for Bass, Kim Booth MHA, said that he was looking forward to the coming contest and felt that the Greens in Bass were well placed to wrest further votes from Liberal and Labor as disillusioned voters deserted the major parties, drawn to the Greens’ long term economic, social and environmental vision.

“It is with great pride that today I announce the full team of Green candidates that will contest the forthcoming state election,” Mr Booth said.

“They are all standing up for Tasmania, putting themselves on the line to work for the best possible future for Tasmania.”

“Our Bass team is made up of people engaged in all walks of life and brings a breadth of experience, talent and vision that will have great appeal to the electorate.”

“Bass really is at the crossroads as we look back on a past that has seen a focus on exploitation of our natural resources and a bulk commodity low value mentality.”

“Tasmania needs more people in parliament who understand that the pathway to the future will be built on clever economies recognising the finite nature of our planet’s resources and having the courage to honestly face the reality of global environmental and social challenges.”

“This great Bass team includes candidates with backgrounds in engineering, education, the arts, health and disability services as well as myself who has come from owning and running my own business.”

“I have been struck by our common aims in recognising the potential for growth and employment within our region whilst also factoring in the cost and contribution of our environment and people and look forward to working with them all to see the Greens poll strongly in Bass.”

The Green’s Bass Candidate Ticket:

Kim Booth MHA is the Greens Member for Bass and Greens spokesperson for Primary Industry, Infrastructure, Water, Racing and Gaming and Small Business. He was first elected in 2002 having previously owned and run his own sawmilling business.

Jeremy Ball works as an Executive Assistant to Greens MHA Kim Booth and has previously stood for the Greens in both local government (2005) as well as in the last federal election (2004). He was raised in Launceston and returned from living and working overseas in 2002 and was Northern Campaign Coordinator for the Greens in the 2002 state election.

Peter Cover grew up in Tasmania close to the sea and has always had an affinity for Tasmania’s natural environment. He has been an academic in Engineering and Biology with research in Fisheries.

Jill Thompson has worked for Disability Services and completed degrees in Philosophy and Psychology and Information Systems. She is particularly interested in health issues and feels strongly about providing more capable essential public services.

Kate Case grew up in George Town and Launceston and is currently a teacher of jewellery making and silversmithing at TAFE. She has two teenage sons and her interests include art, science, reading, music, singing and bushwalking.

NEW CAMPAIGN TO INSPIRE TASMANIAN HOLIDAY - Paula Wriedt, MHA - Tasmanian Government Media Releases

2006-01-25T01:43:00.000-08:00

NEW CAMPAIGN TO INSPIRE TASMANIAN HOLIDAY - Paula Wriedt, MHA - Tasmanian Government Media Releases

A new-look holiday marketing campaign positioning Tasmania as an inspiring island experience will cut through the clutter of holiday advertising on mainland Australia.

Tourism Minister Paula Wriedt said Tourism Tasmania is about to start phase nine of its highly successful destination marketing campaign to increase preference for the State as a holiday destination, and more importantly, to increase the number of people intending to holiday in Tasmania now.

“This campaign is different to past marketing, and follows extensive consumer research and testing in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane,” Ms Wriedt said.

“It’s designed to drive home the message that Tasmania is an inspiring island experience – that you can rejuvenate through inspiration, and by engaging in island life.

“The advertising communicates the distinctly different holiday experience and lifts the perception of a Tasmanian holiday: from passive to active: from journey to experience; and from quaint to contemporary.

“It captures Tasmania’s wilder personality, and informs potential visitors of the many different, more engaging ways to explore the wonders of the island state - experiences Tasmania is already internationally recognised for.”

Ms Wriedt said consumer research undertaken over the past few months, revealed that for those people who had not yet been to Tasmania there was a lack of urgency to visit, that it was comfortable and nice, and that it would always be there.

“Tasmania was thought of as being passive, rustic, historic and preserved for all time,” she said.

“In contrast, those who have been to Tasmania recently were more aware of a sense of engagement, doing more than seeing, interaction and a contemporary place.

“The campaign has captured this in its new look and feel.

“The primary change in the look of the advertising is the use of a striking black background, and several images focusing on a specific Tasmanian experience.”

Advertising will be conducted through the Good Weekend magazine (inserted in the Sydney Morning Herald and Melbourne Age) and on outdoor billboards in both Sydney and Melbourne. There will also be a new and revised interactive website, www.discovertasmania.com

The campaign, which starts on 28 January 2006 and runs until the end of May, will target three primary groups in Melbourne and Sydney: older affluent people, young couples/singles and people in the lower older demographic (45+).

Tasmanian Firefighters to assist with Victorian Fires - David Llewellyn, MHA - Tasmanian Government Media Releases

2006-01-25T01:40:00.000-08:00

Tasmanian Firefighters to assist with Victorian Fires - David Llewellyn, MHA - Tasmanian Government Media Releases

Deputy Premier David Llewellyn today announced Tasmania will send firefighters and equipment to help Victoria battle some of that State’s worst ever fires.

“It’s a horrific situation in Victoria, and this morning Victorian Authorities formally asked for Tasmania’s assistance.

“We will send a number of personnel and possibly up to 10 light tankers as soon as possible, probably tomorrow.

“The Chief Officer of the Tasmania Fire Service, John Gledhill assures me that Tasmania won’t be left short changed by sending some of our firefighters to Victoria.

“John Gledhill says, the forecast weather for Tasmania for the next week is looking ok however we will be able to maintain more than adequate cover should fires break out here.

“Tasmania’s personnel are likely to be deployed in forest areas, due to our Service’s obvious experience and ability in fighting those sort of fires.

“It’s a tense situation in Victoria and it’s important that as a State we do what we can to help fellow Australians in need.

“It’s expected the firefighters will relieve exhausted crews and be in action for about five days.

“We wish our firefighters well and hope that they can help make a difference in the difficult situation.”

For further information about the deployment please contact: TFS Chief Officer John Gledhill on 62308605.

Majority Government Vital For Continued Growth - Lara Giddings, MHA - Tasmanian Government Media Releases

2006-01-25T01:39:00.000-08:00

Majority Government Vital For Continued Growth - Lara Giddings, MHA - Tasmanian Government Media Releases

Economic Development Minister Lara Giddings said the Tasmanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry had correctly identified that stable, majority Government was vital for the State’s continued growth in its latest Survey of Business Expectations report.

“Look at the enormous economic and social progress that’s been made in Tasmania over the last eight years and compare it to the drift and stagnation that occurred under the minority Liberal government from 1996-98,” Ms Giddings said.

“Minority government has a history of seeing confidence shrink, investment dry-up and unemployment rise.

“Nobody wants to go back to the dark old days when Tasmania was widely considered to be closed for business and Australia’s ‘rust-belt state’.

“The Tasmania we live in today has undergone a remarkable transformation.

“We have Australia’s fastest-growing economy for the first time ever and Tasmanians are feeling good about themselves.

“The TCCI has correctly identified that a hung parliament would be a disaster for Tasmania.

“The State Labor Government is confident that Tasmanians will not be prepared to put our progress at risk.

“Every single poll indicates that only Labor is capable of securing a majority at this year’s election and we will put forward a strong record of achievement for voters to consider.”

Ms Giddings said the latest TCCI report found that around 65 per cent of Tasmanian businesses surveyed expected economic conditions to remain strong or improve moderately over the next 12 months.

The Minister said it was clear that business also had positive expectations for the 2006 March quarter and that the December quarter had seen strong growth, including:

· General business conditions up 15.4 per cent;

· Total sales/revenue up 18.9 per cent;

· Average selling prices up 17.5 per cent;

· Profitability up five per cent;

· Employment levels up 13.5 per cent; and

· Capital expenditure on plant and equipment up 20.9 per cent.

“In earlier surveys, Tasmanian business was highly optimistic, based on expectations formed when the level of economic activity was much lower than it is currently,” she said.

“It’s unrealistic to expect businesses to continually expect even stronger economic conditions after Tasmania has experienced strong growth and reached very high levels of economic activity over recent times.

“The latest TCCI survey shows that the majority of businesses in Tasmania are upbeat about the future, which can only be good news for continued growth.”

Ms Giddings said the State Labor Government would continue working to attract sensible development, added investment and more new jobs.

“Already this week, we’ve seen Access Economics admit they’ve been too harsh on Tasmania in the past,” the Minister said.

“The TCCI survey provides further reason to believe our economy will continue to grow strongly under a stable, majority Labor Government.

“We recognise that the number one constraint on growth is the lack of availability of suitably-qualified workers.

“That’s why we have provided $40 million over consecutive State Budgets to address this problem – and we will continue working with industry to overcome it.”

Ms Giddings said it was interesting to note that compliance with existing industrial relations legislation was not even among the top 10 constraints on growth listed by Tasmanian business.

“This provides further proof that the Howard Government is pursuing an ideological agenda that doesn’t have strong support in the Tasmanian business community.

“The Commonwealth Government would do far better to work with the State Government and provide more resources to address the skills shortage than to embark on a campaign of ruthlessly slashing the entitlements of the most vulnerable workers in our community.”

Furt

Hospital Staffing Vacancies - David Llewellyn, MHA - Tasmanian Government Media Releases

2006-01-25T01:38:00.000-08:00

Hospital Staffing Vacancies - David Llewellyn, MHA - Tasmanian Government Media Releases

Deputy Premier David Llewellyn said today it was time the Liberal Party caught up with the facts about medical staffing in the State’s hospitals.

Mr Llewellyn said that contrary to the alarmist claims of the Liberals, the State’s hospitals were recruiting strongly.

“The allegations by Ms Napier about 95 specialist vacancies at the Royal Hobart Hospital are a complete work of fiction.

“This is yet another attempt by the Opposition to undermine the Royal and denigrate its recruiting successes.

“The facts are:

Ø The RHH has just two specialist vacancies - for a Director of Geriatrics and a Director of Neurology;

Ø Except for the 10 specialists for yet-to-be completed facilities, just three of the Royal’s new Better Hospitals specialist positions – in cardiology, general medicine/respiratory and rheumatology – are currently unfilled;

Ø Of 97 junior medical positions in this year’s RHH intake, 94 have been filled and just three remain unfilled – for two paediatric registrars and one ENT registrar.

“That is a vastly different picture than the doom and gloom being peddled by the Liberals to try to divert attention from the long-term impact of their disgraceful assault on the Royal when Ms Napier was Deputy Premier.”

Mr Llewellyn said the recruiting successes of the Launceston General and North West Regional Hospitals were similarly impressive.

“Of 190 medical positions at the LGH there are just seven current vacancies, including two emergency specialists, one endocrinologist, and one visiting medical officer in plastics.

“The LGH had 89 junior positions in this year’s annual intake and has filled 86 of them, with just three – two emergency registrars and one surgical registrar – still vacant.

“The NWRH has just four vacancies from 47 junior doctor positions and has only eight current senior medical vacancies, with a total of 33 applicants and locums in all but one of the positions.

“We will always have positions that are difficult to fill and there will always be staff turnover in a system as large as our public hospitals.

“However, we are heading in the right direction and Tasmanians should be congratulating the hospitals for their success.

“It is time the Liberal Party owned up to its culpability for the problems we still face and stopped attacking those who are trying to fix them.”

EDUCATION FUNDING - Paula Wriedt, MHA - Tasmanian Government Media Releases

2006-01-25T01:36:00.000-08:00

EDUCATION FUNDING - Paula Wriedt, MHA - Tasmanian Government Media Releases

Education Minister Paula Wriedt said today that since 1998 the Labor Government has provided more than $5.1 billion for education, information services and training in this State.

“This has included $951 million in additional funding over the Government’s term.

“The annual Consolidated Fund budget for education has been increased by $227.4 million or 43.46%.

This increase has included the funding of the following achievements:

· The Teacher Nexus Agreement

· Provision of more than 3000 Laptops for Teachers ($4 million)

· Funding of the Community Health and Wellbeing Program ($20.4 million)

· Implementation of Tasmania: State of Learning Strategy ($5.4 million in 2005-06)

· Providing $4.3 million per annum from 2005-06 to support students with high and additional needs and associated programs

· Increased assistance for families with the cost of education through the Student Assistance Scheme ($2.9 million annually)

· Employed an extra 68 primary school teachers and also provided an additional $2 million to further reduce class sizes in pre and grade 1

· Providing $15 million over the last five years for the development and implementation of the new curriculum

· Investing in strategies for literacy and numeracy in the early years

Ms Wriedt said that this clearly demonstrates a very strong commitment to public education and training in Tasmania.

“Mr Gutwein is showing his ignorance of the State Government Budget process as we are now in an accrual budget management environment and it is no longer relevant to focus solely on the Consolidated Fund outlay.

“The Consolidated Fund outlays do not reflect the fact the DOE also receives significant funding through the Government Infrastructure Funds.

“This has provided an additional $45.47 million in funding for the education portfolio,” she said.

Ms Wriedt said that many of the Liberal’s policies are not realistic and have not been costed correctly.

“For example extending the Liberal’s proposed reduction in class sizes would result in an additional annual cost in excess of $32 million.” she said.

“If they are serious about being an alternative government then it’s time that they came clean on how they would pay for their extravagant promises.

Fruit wines comes of age. 23/01/2006. ABC News Online

2006-01-23T15:08:00.000-08:00

Fruit wines comes of age. 23/01/2006. ABC News Online

The Australian fruit wine industry is coming of age, with production ramping up across the country.
The sixth annual fruit wine show in Hobart yesterday attracted a record number of entrants, with 183 varieties.
From liqueurs made from jostaberries to 'black devil port' made from tropical black sapote, the wines were an instant hit with the thousands of people who were up for a slurp and sniff.
Among them was North Londoner Jacqueline.
"I've tried blackberry, loganberry, nectarine, plum, all sorts," she said.
"I'm going through all the different fruits just to try them all out. I've enjoyed most of them, some of them a little dry for my taste. Only problem is if you try too many of them you end up slightly tanked."

Patrick to seek to end Pacific National joint venture. 24/01/2006. ABC News Online

2006-01-23T15:07:00.000-08:00

Patrick to seek to end Pacific National joint venture. 24/01/2006. ABC News Online

Tasmanian exporters face yet another complication with rail freight company Pacific National.
One of the half-owners of Pacific National, Patrick Corporation, is to seek approval in the Victorian Supreme Court this week to end its joint venture with Toll Holdings.
Tensions between the two transport companies reached a flash-point last week, when the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) rejected Toll's $4 billion hostile takeover of Patrick.
Patrick says it has lost trust and confidence in its partner and that Pacific National has become dysfunctional.
Tasmanian Freight Logistics Council spokesman Jim McCormack says there must now be uncertainty about the $118 million Commonwealth-State funding package to keep Pacific National in Tasmania on the rails.
"One or other, or both governments will become fed up and say 'you've got a deadline now and you need to respond by such and such a date', and I would think that would be a legitimate position for either government to make, given that Pacific National claimed this was urgent when they first made the request in October last year," he said.

Bruny boat is let loose [24jan06]

2006-01-23T15:06:00.000-08:00

The Mercury: Bruny boat is let loose [24jan06]: "A HOBART couple yesterday launched a $300,000 bet with a splash of French champagne and the promise of an exhilarating cruise from Sullivans Cove to the tip of South Bruny and back.

Hobart Lord Mayor Rob Valentine was at Watermans Dock for the ceremony and had the job of christening the 11.3m Wild Thing for its owners Glen Shackcloth and Kylie Baxter.
He stood on the deck, splashed some of the champagne onto the bow, named it, then announced the rest of the bottle was too good to waste.
The other guests on a quick spin around the river agreed.
Wild Thing will run seven days a week from the dock to South Bruny and return (about three hours) as well as daily 90-minute cruises to Betsey Island and the Iron Pot. "

Fears of forest face-off [24jan06]

2006-01-23T15:03:00.000-08:00

The Mercury: Fears of forest face-off [24jan06]

"The only thing that burns cleaner than CNG, or LNG the liquefied form, is hydrogen which is still in the experimental stage.

"As boot space in most council vehicles is not a priority, the CNG tank in the boot would not be a problem and, with most vehicles used within city limits, a single refuelling station would be sufficient.

"As a fuel, natural gas would cost around 60c a litre equivalent and that means saving money at the bowser for ratepayers.

"Even the Lord Mayor's limo could be converted."

In March 2003, the Environment, Resources and Development (joint standing) Committee, chaired by Mr Parkinson, said compressed natural gas should be the preferred fuel for all government-owned vehicles, and said the State Government should take a lead in changing to CNG.

Yesterday, Mr Parkinson said he had continued to push CNG in government circles since the committee's report was released.

He said the State Government was not dragging its heels.

"I know there is a project group within Lara Gidding's [economic development department] which has been working on this in general for some time."

Mr Parkinson said a number of mainland councils had moved to introduce the technology, including -- he believed -- Liverpool and Waverley in Sydney, and the entire Brisbane bus fleet operated by Brisbane City Council was moving to become CNG powered.

Natural gas push for council cars [24jan06]

2006-01-23T14:57:00.000-08:00

The Mercury: Natural gas push for council cars [24jan06]

"The only thing that burns cleaner than CNG, or LNG the liquefied form, is hydrogen which is still in the experimental stage.

"As boot space in most council vehicles is not a priority, the CNG tank in the boot would not be a problem and, with most vehicles used within city limits, a single refuelling station would be sufficient.

"As a fuel, natural gas would cost around 60c a litre equivalent and that means saving money at the bowser for ratepayers.

"Even the Lord Mayor's limo could be converted."

In March 2003, the Environment, Resources and Development (joint standing) Committee, chaired by Mr Parkinson, said compressed natural gas should be the preferred fuel for all government-owned vehicles, and said the State Government should take a lead in changing to CNG.

Yesterday, Mr Parkinson said he had continued to push CNG in government circles since the committee's report was released.

He said the State Government was not dragging its heels.

"I know there is a project group within Lara Gidding's [economic development department] which has been working on this in general for some time."

Mr Parkinson said a number of mainland councils had moved to introduce the technology, including -- he believed -- Liverpool and Waverley in Sydney, and the entire Brisbane bus fleet operated by Brisbane City Council was moving to become CNG powered.

Room to move on fishing restrictions [24jan06]

2006-01-23T14:54:00.001-08:00

The Mercury: Room to move on fishing restrictions [24jan06]

THE boundaries of proposed marine protected areas off Tasmania may be altered in a bid to minimise the impact on the state's fishing industry.

During a series of meetings yesterday Tasmanian Liberal senator Richard Colbeck said he had discussed proposals put up by fishermen to alter MPAs and all options would be considered.

Another meeting will be held in Hobart today.

Senator Colbeck moved to allay fears that the dumping of federal Fisheries Minister Ian Macdonald would delay negotiations over the controversial MPAs, which some fishermen have warned could wipe out some areas of the sector.

Senator Macdonald was to have visited the state this week for a series of meetings with the state's fishing industry which is desperately trying to stave off the no-fishing zones contained within MPAs, some of which cover lucrative commercial fishing areas.

Lennon story scrapped [24jan06]

2006-01-23T14:54:00.000-08:00

The Mercury: Lennon story scrapped [24jan06]: "A state election must be held before September, but there have been indications Mr Lennon is preparing for an early March poll with the campaign likely to run through February.
A Women's Weekly reporter and photographer are understood to have spent two days in Tasmania in November at the Lennon family's newly renovated country estate.
Ms Thomas said it was a normal feature about the Premier's home life and family.
Mr Lennon, wife Margaret, their two adult children and grandson Josh feature in the article in the context of the Lennons' three-storey sandstone home, Stonyhurst.
During the 2003 New South Wales election, then premier Bob Carr paid $40,000 for an eight-page advertising section featuring himself and his wife Helene to appear in NSW copies of the Weekly, in an attempt to make his austere image more appealing to female voters.
Ms Thomas said the Women's Weekly often profiled politicians, and not just when an election was pending.
The Weekly is owned by the Packer family's Publishing and Broadcasting Ltd which was a beneficiary in November of the Tasmanian Government's controversial decision to license the part-PBL-owned betting agency Betfair to operate from Tasmania.
State Liberal justice spokesman Michael Hodgman said yesterday the apparent scrapping of the 'puff piece' in the Women's Weekly gave further weight to questions about the probity of the Lennon Government's dealings with PBL.
Mr Hodgman called on Attorney-General Judy Jackson to investigate exactly how the feature on the Premier's family came about and who initiated the idea.
'This has the scent of cronyism about it,' he said.
Mr Rogers said the timing of the article's publication was entirely a matter for the Women's Weekly and had n"

Smith chips in to save bay [24jan06]

2006-01-23T14:48:00.000-08:00

The Mercury: Smith chips in to save bay [24jan06]

THE battle to stop logging on the historic north-eastern peninsula of Recherche Bay has almost been won -- as long as its owners agree to sell the land to conservationists.

Australian entrepreneur Dick Smith promised yesterday to immediately provide a conservation trust with all the funds needed to buy the Vernon family property at Recherche Bay in Tasmania's far South.

Mr Smith donated $100,000 outright in his bid to save the bay, where 150ha is scheduled to be logged soon by timber giant Gunns.

The remaining funds offered by Mr Smith, estimated to be at least $2 million, will effectively be on loan to conservationists, to be repaid within a year of the land's buyback.

Recherche Bay is known as Australia's "other Botany Bay" for its unique place in the early European exploration of Australia.

The breakthrough deal -- if the Vernon family agrees to the sale -- also removes a potential flashpoint from next month's likely state election campaign.

Mr Smith is part of a national fundraising effort, co-ordinated by Australian Greens senator Bob Brown, which is negotiating with brothers David and Robert Vernon about alternative uses and ownership of their land.

Part-owner David Vernon yesterday declined to comment on Mr Smith's funds pledge.

But Mr Smith, who has been bushwalking in Tasmania for more than 30 years, said his offer was not about taking sides or breaking a deadlock between greenies and the timber industry.

"I am not a rabid anti-logger and I understand that Tasmanians need to be employed," he said yesterday.

"But this is an exceptional area of Tasmania, and of Australia, that must be saved."

French explorers spent several months in 1792 and 1793 anchored in Recherche Bay while charting the remote region, collecting botanical samples and mingling with local Aborigines at nearby Southport Lagoon.

Mr Smith is adamant Recherche Bay is a national issue.

"I have the same view of this as I had about Franklin River," he said.

"This needs to be saved for all of Australia.

Mr Smith said he had spent last Christmas on his boat anchored in Recherche Bay, and believed the historic and beautiful place should be protected.

"It's just the most extraordinary area. I didn't believe it [when told] that area was going to be logged so heavily," he said.

"I immediately contacted [Senator Brown] and said: `Look, I'd be happy to put some of my own money up to try and stop this from happening'."

Mr Smith said he hoped other corporate and individual donors would join in buying back Recherche Bay.

The entrepreneur, who recently also bought land on the Tasman Peninsula at Crescent Bay near Port Arthur for a private retreat, admitted he thought the Federal Government should also chip in to save such a historically important part of Australia.

But Senator Brown insisted yesterday no deal had yet been completed with the Vernons.

He also appealed for all speculation about the land's future to cease to allow "breathing space" for the delicate negotiations to continue over the next fortnight.

"There is a lot at stake here -- not least of all for Tasmania -- and it is extremely generous of the Vernon brothers to be involved in negotiations," Senator Brown said.

He said David and Robert Vernon were sincere, direct and honourable people who wanted the best outcome for Recherche Bay.

"They are extremely good Tasmanians who have been put in quite an unusual situation, being asked to change course [from what they had planned]," Senator Brown said.

"Whatever the outcome, even if our negotiations don't succeed, Tasmania will owe a great thank-you to the Vernon brothers for being prepared to consider alternatives."

The Vernons have signed an agreement with Gunns to harvest 150ha of their land within the next three years, yielding 30,000 tonnes of woodchips and 5000 tonnes of sawlogs.

Their forest practices plan authorising the logging has been approved by the State Government, as well as the construction of a 4km logging access road to cross the protected Southport Lagoon Conservation Area.

Tasmanian Greens ...Media Release

2006-01-23T14:44:00.000-08:00

GREENS LAUNCH FRANKLIN TICKET FOR STATE ELECTION

The Tasmanian Greens today launched their Franklin team of five endorsed candidates to contest the forthcoming state election this year, reconfirming that sitting Member Nick McKim will spearhead the Greens campaign in Franklin as their number one candidate.
Greens Member for Franklin, Nick McKim MHA, said that the Greens’ campaign will target key issues that are important to people in Franklin and build on the strong Green record of standing up for open and transparent government, sound economic management, appropriate development and job creation, accessible public health and affordable housing, and protection of our unique natural forest and coastal environments.
“I am delighted, proud and honoured to be fronting such a dedicated team of endorsed Green candidates who are determined to represent the views and needs of the Franklin electorate loudly and passionately in the forthcoming election,” Mr McKim said.
“We are hearing loudly on the streets that people are fed up with Labor’s secrecy and cronyism, deals with the big end of town while people are struggling to put a roof over their head, the community’s inability to access public health services, and the erosion of our unique natural environment.”
“The Franklin Green Team brings together a broad range of expertise and experience to present a strong vision for a healthy, clean and green Tasmania that will provide sound economic and social foundations for current and future generations,” Mr McKim said.
The Greens’ Franklin Candidate Ticket:
Nick McKim is the Tasmanian Greens current sitting Member for the electorate of Franklin. Mr McKim was first elected in 2002 and since then has been the Greens Opposition spokesperson for the portfolios of Energy, Environment and Planning, Attorney-General, Justice and Industrial Relations, Youth, It, Multicultural Affairs, and Assisting the Leader on Treasury.
Jane MacDonald is a South Arm resident and teaches Biology, Environmental Science and Marine Science. Ms MacDonald is an instrumental campaigner in the Save Ralphs Bay Inc organisation, and is currently working on restoring the Lauderdale Conservation Area.
Mark Rickards is a former Royal Australian Navy Officer and currently works as a Real Estate Agent. Mr Rickards believes Tasmania need a trustworthy government, and is passionate about encouraging employment growth and sustainable appropriate development.
Mike Anderson is a meteorologist following a previous stint as a Parks ranger. Mr Anderson is widely recognised as a champion of environmentally friendly and energy efficient homes, and sees a huge potential to promote Franklin as a world-class ecotourism destination.
Gerard Velnaar currently works in the aged care sector and also has senior management experience in providing business, training and employment opportunities. Mr Velnaar believes improving our health system, education and other vital social services must be a priority to ensure younger generations have a vibrant future.

Tasmanian Greens ...Media Release

2006-01-23T14:42:00.000-08:00

CHEAP-SHOT DRUG

Sturges Out of Date on Greens’ Current Policy Review
The Tasmanian Greens today described as desperate muck-raking a media statement issued by Denison backbencher Graeme Sturges which they say mirrors Family First’s discredited federal election misinformation campaign on the National Greens’ Drug policy.

Greens Opposition Leader Peg Putt MHA reiterated that the State Green Policy Platform of 2002, which they took to that State election, is currently being reviewed and updated as is standard practice for all political parties between elections.

“Labor is indulging in a fear and smear campaign and Mr Sturges should be ashamed of himself for repeating discredited fabrications previously spouted by Family First,” Ms Putt said.

“The Greens have recently revised our State Drug Policy, as part of our overall platform review process, in order to clarify aspects which were maliciously being taken out of context by other political parties.”

“The Greens Drug Policy is to impose criminal sanctions on drug dealers, and to require diversionary programs and community treatment orders in response to personal drug use.”

“This essentially reflects the status quo in Tasmania, and recognises that personal users need to be confronted with their problem and also assisted away from drug use.”

“The Greens would never dream of supplying drugs to children or anyone else, and are appalled by the very notion of a ‘drugs free for all’, and are sickened that any political party would stoop so low as to make such outrageous claims.”

“The Greens recognise, as does the current Labor government as demonstrated by its current actions, that small time users should be put through diversionary programs under community treatment orders to try and end their drug use.”

“We understand that personal drug use is a very serious health issue and would treat it as such, however drug dealers are another kettle of fish who prey on others and deserve the full weight of criminal sanctions.”

“Voters should be warned that they will see more of these gutter tactics from the Lennon government which has been given the go-ahead by the Premier to indulge in fear, smear and misrepresentation over Greens’ policy, and who will come up with all sorts of ludicrous and extreme claims rather than focus upon real issues facing Tasmanians now.”

“There are Greens’ Members of Parliament themselves who have children and are very aware of the dangers that drugs can pose for young people and as parents are committed to promoting a safe and healthy Tasmania.”

Ms Putt also pointed out that all the Greens’ policies are currently under review and will be announced between now and the election, and that the Drugs policy is as stated in this media release.

“Mr Sturges is quite behind the eight-ball here as the Tasmanian Greens website clearly states that the Policy Platform which we took to the 2002 state election is currently being reviewed and updated, as some have naturally become out of date over the last four years.”

“I challenge Graeme Sturges to stop muck-raking and start trying instead to get the Premier focused on spending money on health and housing instead of horses,” Ms Putt said.

STATE OUT-PERFORMS NATIONAL TOURISM IN JOBS AND SPENDING - Paula Wriedt, MHA - Tasmanian Government Media Releases

2006-01-22T23:05:00.000-08:00

STATE OUT-PERFORMS NATIONAL TOURISM IN JOBS AND SPENDING - Paula Wriedt, MHA - Tasmanian Government Media Releases

Tasmanian Tourism has far outstripped Australian tourism in its growth in jobs and visitor spending.

Tourism Minister Paula Wriedt said the figures released today by Tourism Research Australia were outstanding.

“Tasmania has experienced significantly higher growth in the amount of money spent by overnight visitors, compared to Australia as a whole since 1999 – a massive 67.2 per cent growth compared to 14.8 per cent,” she said.

“In addition, tourism accounts for a significantly higher proportion of Tasmania’s total employment, at about 19 per cent compared to tourism’s contribution of around nine per cent to total employment across Australia.”

Ms Wriedt said that these figures brought Tasmania’s gains over the past seven years starkly into focus.

“The value of tourism to the Tasmanian economy in 2003–04 is estimated to be $2.68 billion, which is a total contribution to Gross State Product of 11.2 per cent, compared to Australian tourism’s contribution to Gross Domestic Product of 3.9 per cent,” she said.

“This is a remarkable achievement for Tasmania’s tourism industry to perform so well when the report shows Australian tourism’s contribution to GDP in 2003–04 was declining steadily.”

Ms Wriedt said that these figures are especially significant in light of Access Economics’ statement that the Tasmanian economy as a whole has been doing consistently better than the economy of any other Australian State for the past few years.

“Not only is tourism making an outstanding contribution to Tasmania’s economy but these tourism comparisons indicate that we are on a very firm footing to manage the challenges of changing visitor patterns confronting tourism throughout the country today,” she said.

“With new developments proposed by tourism investors and continued cooperation between industry and government on marketing initiatives, there is optimism that Tasmania can consolidate the 45 per cent growth in visitor numbers achieved in the three years to June 2005 and continue to build industry performance in line with Tourism 21 goals.”

Call for the Council to Go Natural! - Doug Parkinson, MLC - Tasmanian Government Media Releases

2006-01-22T23:04:00.000-08:00

Call for the Council to Go Natural! - Doug Parkinson, MLC - Tasmanian Government Media Releases

Member for Wellington Doug Parkinson is all revved up over Natural Gas and he wants the Hobart City Council to follow suit.

“While the Hobart City Council is looking at alternative fuels and hybrid vehicles, it would do well to look at the possibility of running its fleet on natural gas.

“The Council should read the Parliamentary Committee Report on Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) as a vehicle fuel.

“I’d like the council to look at the possibility of a Partnership with the Government in a refueling facility.

“The facility could be used for all types of vehicles - fleet, taxis and any member of the public who decided to convert to CNG could use it.

“CNG is produced by compressing natural gas, it is mostly methane which is the cleanest known alternative fuel.

“The only thing that burns cleaner than CNG (or LNG, the liquefied form) is hydrogen which is still in the experimental stage.

“As boot space in most Council vehicles is not a priority, the CNG tank in the boot would not be a problem and with most vehicles used within city limits, a single refueling station would be sufficient.

“As a Fuel, Natural gas would cost around 60c a litre (equivalent) and that means saving money at the bowser for ratepayers.

“Even the Lord Mayor’s “limo” could be converted.”

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