Will Tassie Taxpayers Go Guarantor For Gunns?
As you consider the current Tasmanian political scene, forget the adage that has been applicable to Tasmania for most of the past decade: from bad to worse. With the ascension of Lara Giddings to the office of Premier and her factional stablemate Bryan Green to Deputy Premier, things have gone from bad to beyond bizarre in one fell coup.
And coup it was.
Just a few weeks ago Tasmania’s then Premier, David Bartlett, offered the press a typically hubristic comment about his personal feelings of being Premier, saying he was now "comfortable in the skin" in the role. Bartlett’s two years in the top job have been marked and marred by some severe flaws, including his self-centred personal style and his cultivation of a narcissistic image.
Another was the profound and complete contradiction between his rhetoric and his action. He came to office in 2008 promising to "clean up the mess" created by the government of his previous boss Paul Lennon, especially in |
Another Labor Premier Dies By The Gunn
Seven months out from the next Tasmanian election, a poll of voter intentions shows the Bartlett Labor Government is losing its grip on power.
The quarterly survey by pollster EMRS shows government support down two points to 33 per cent, Liberals up 3 to 44 per cent, and the Greens steady on 21 per cent. As preferred Premier, Liberal leader Will Hodgman heads Premier David Bartlett 40 per cent to 28 per cent.
The news could not be worse for Bartlett, who promised so much when he inherited the top job from the controversial former premier Paul Lennon.
Before he resigned in May 2008, the pro-logging premier Lennon self-destructed in one of the most scandal ridden periods in the state’s history. The fall of Paul Lennon could be linked to a number of issues, but most Tasmanians would concede that it was Lennon’s personal obsession with the Gunns pulp mill that killed his political career.
As a consequence of that scandal and a lack of community support, Gunns |
Not Another Political Zombie
Australian politicians named "Bartlett" seem to make good use of the possibilities of user-created content and social media.
Take former Senator Andrew Bartlett’s ongoing experiment with blogging. When he was in the Federal Parliament, he gave a unique, frank insight into his own decision-making and the political process on his own blog. He’s still blogging at his original digs, and on a spin-off blog that’s part of the Crikey stable. He’s always worth reading, and given his experiences and his track record, he must count as one of the most informed and credible political commentators in the country.
More recently, Tasmanian Premier David Bartlett’s use of Facebook has been far more natural than any of the various Twitterings of other politicians. Kevin Rudd clearly has lackeys on the job on his social media accounts, while Malcolm Turnbull and his dogs keep their blogging and social media engagement pretty risk-free.
Queensland Premier Ann |
Hare-Brained Electoral System
Cartoon by Bill Leak |
