lennin is confused and upset

Lennon joins mill limbo criticism
BY DINAH ARNDT CHIEF POLITICAL REPORTER
02 Sep, 2011 12:53 PM
FORMER Labor premier Paul Lennon wants the state government to step in and clear up confusion about the future of Gunns' Bell Bay pulp mill.
Mr Lennon said that it wasn't good enough that his protege Premier Lara Giddings and Attorney-General Brian Wightman refuse to clarify whether Gunns still has valid permits to continue the controversial $2.3 billion project.


In an unusual alliance, he yesterday joined the Greens and Liberal parties in calling on Labor to step in on the matter - rather than leave it up to the Environment Protection Authority to determine after an August 30 deadline passed.


"It's unacceptable that we've got to this position where the head of the EPA has to advise us whether or not the project is still alive. We should never have gotten to this point," Mr Lennon said.


"I just don't accept that the government can wash its hands of the project given its importance to Tasmania, and even less can I accept that we've even gotten to this point where we don't even know if we've even got a project. Whether you support the pulp mill or not is not the issue: its future should be known."


Mr Lennon advocated the project during his time in politics and the laws now creating the confusion.


His latest comments are shared by the Greens, which tabled legal advice in Parliament yesterday that indicated the entire project may be finished due to particular permits lapsing.


Greens deputy leader Tim Morris said that Mr Wightman "must step in and launch court action to clarify this situation".


Opposition Leader Will Hodgman called for the same, saying Tasmanians deserved to know what was going on.


Mr Wightman insisted in Parliament that he saw no need to intervene.


"Independent regulators will decide whether the permits for Gunns' proposed pulp mill are valid. I do not believe that the public wants to see politicians intervening in that process."


Ms Giddings reiterated that position saying it was amazing that people advocating against earlier government intervention were now advocating for that same measure.


"I'm sure that others could get alternative legal advice. It's not something that we have done at the ministerial level because we've not needed to nor should we get involved in it."


Today is the deadline for Gunns to respond to a government payout offer for residual rights of native logging contracts it handed back.




examiner.com.au