Im Married to a Tasmania so have witnessed politics there for the past 27 yrs . The times when the forestry industry was riding roughshod over everyone , the John Gay days it was fascinating to watch so the future could not be any stranger than the past. It was odd you were either for the forrest industry or against there did not seem a place for any other view. One thing they got very right down there is the growth of irrigation in the state. They took the view that if it rained in the middle of Tassie today it was going to end up in the sea the next so use it . To drive down the midland highway today compared to 20 yrs ago is a delight .Ive seen centre pivots running on head pressure , no pumps . bloody marvellous.One Xmas I was talking to a bloke I had knows for a few years an noticed he was growing spuds that year , I asked him if he always dis as I had never seen any on his place before. " yeah he said ..Dad used to but its been a while " "oh so you've always had an irrigation licence then ?" " Licence ..whats that ? we got frontage to the Forrester river and I dragged out the old pump and borrowed some pipes but whats this licence thing you speak of?".. magic no licence and hardly a govt bloke to do anything about it
