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Greens at Loggerheads

 

 

 


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The State of the State

Copyright not privacy law

Phil Northeast 14 Oct 2009

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The Mercury in Hobart on Wednesday October 14 claims in a page 34 story “memories saved” about an exhibition of old photographs recovered from a local rubbish tip that privacy laws restricted the display of pictures taken after 1960. more...

Green’s Derwent Disaster

Phil Northeast
6 May 2009

Michael Aird

Michael Aird

The swing against the Greens could be the story from the Legislative Council elections for the seat of Derwent nobody wants to mention, except it is a gross over simplification, just like the real story. Media, politicians, and even a respected political analyst apply their own spin to the weekend’s elections for seats in Tasmania’s upper house of Parliament, particularly the seat of Derwent.

With the current State Government Treasurer Michael Aird’s seat in parliament, Derwent, up for grabs, there is considerable media interest in this election and the results. Many seemed to interpret results based on their own prejudices with simplistic analysis saying more about the commentators own political agenda, rather than the complex factors influencing the election results.

The Mercury had a large headline for the story in Monday’s edition “Labor put on notice”, with a sub heading suggesting a political analyst thought there was a serious swing against Labor in the results. At first glance, this appears to be the case with Mr. Aird’s primary vote dropping from 77.28% at the last election, down to 51.6% on Saturday. The pundits have taken this change and tried to apply it to the overall political landscape. They rely on the logic that Mr Aird is a member of the Labor Government, so any drop in his vote at this election is a reflection on the performance of the Government and its likely chances of victory in the next election for the other house of Parliament, the House of Assembly, ignoring important differences between the two houses. more..

Earth Hour Contradiction

Phil Northeast
28 March 2009

According to today’s Mercury people all over the world are urged to turn off their lights for one hour to highlight the way they consume energy.

Unfortunately, this betrays the weakness of the fundamentalist environmental rhetoric, how the energy is produced. For many years Tasmania strived to build a network of power stations that produce little or no carbon dioxide, or any other waste products, as they generate electricity. They rely on the sun heating water which is then collected in high altitude storages and as it flows down to the sea it turns turbines to generate the power.  Therefore, reducing electricity consumption in Tasmania should not impact on climate change.  more..

Greens at logger heads over plantations

Phil Northeast
12 Feb 2008

Disagreement amongst Greens spokespersons and contradictions of Wilderness Society  surfaced in recent statements opposing the establishment of sustainable forestry without the felling of old growth forest. 

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Tree farm in Northern Tasmania

A Green Party member of State Parliament, Kim Booth, expressed concerns about the return of existing farmland to trees at a meeting in the remote Upper Natone area of Tasmania’s Northwest Coast.

“More and more prime family farms are going under to tree plantations,” Booth told the Mercury.  
This highlights the continuing decline in the rural communities, as young people leave small isolated farms and head to larger towns and cities.

Read more here ...