Bob Brown (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answer given by the Minister for Fisheries, Forestry and Conservation (Senator Abetz) to a question without notice asked by Senator Joyce today relating to road funding.

Last night when the road funding was announced it seemed unusual that in Tasmania $60 million was allocated to the East Tamar Highway. I say that because there are competing needs for the upgrading of roads in Tasmania, particularly for the dangerous roads where deaths have occurred in recent times, including that highway, the West Tamar Highway, roads on the north-west coast, the road from Hobart to New Norfolk, the Southern Outlet through Margate and down to more southern parts of Tasmania in particular—these are amongst those I can name just off the cuff.

The speculation about why the East Tamar Highway was picked was cut short today because in response to a question from Senator Joyce to Senator Abetz, the minister—Senator Abetz—volunteered that the $60 million in Tasmania had been allocated to pave the way for the new $1 billion Gunns pulp mill. I am outraged by that allocation under those circumstances, and thousands of other Tasmanians will be outraged by the government selecting a road to featherbed the richest corporation in Tasmania which is already the subject of extensive government largesse in so many ways, not least for the proposed pulp mill. We are a year out from this pulp mill being properly analysed before there is a decision for a go-ahead.

I can tell you that the Greens vehemently oppose the mill because it will be polluting, because it will be destructive of Tasmania’s wild and native forests and their wildlife, because it will be in the wrong place, because it will not be world’s best practice and because it will put exudate both into the atmosphere of the Tamar Valley, which includes Launceston, and into Bass Strait waters as well. But that is a side issue here. What we have from the minister’s own mouth is the allocation of $60 million to Gunns. That is an outrage when this money should be spent for the community of Tasmania to upgrade roads to make them safer.

Just last week we had a horrific accident on the Midlands Highway in Tasmania. There have been calls since then for the bringing ahead of the bypasses of towns on that road to make the road safer. I can quote many other similar situations, but the reality is that the government here has not taken into account community concerns, community safety, community wellbeing, community transport and community needs. No, it went to Gunns and said, ‘We will build this road for you.’ That is what Senator Abetz said.

This is a road paving the way for the Gunns pulp mill and it is outrageous that this allocation should be made under circumstances where there is a very close relationship between the Howard government and Gunns, and that has subverted the community interest of 500,000 Tasmanians. What a rort. What a spectacular failure of probity, prudence and the proper use of taxpayers’ funds in Tasmania. The minister should be ashamed of himself. The minister has been engaged here in featherbedding a billion-dollar company to the exclusion of the interests of 500,000 Tasmanians. It is a scandal. There is no mitigating circumstance for the statement that came from Senator Abetz this afternoon—none whatever. If the government want to give $60 million of taxpayers money to Gunns for the pulp mill, then let them do it. But to allocate road-funding money—which should be a priority to make the Tasmanian road system safer—to a commercial use for a proposed mill by Gunns is simply outrageous. (Time expired)

Question agreed to.