ELECTION 07 AND FORESTRY

Opinion Piece By Jack Bower

Whatever result we get, as long as it's Labor or Liberal, we're in. So relax and enjoy a few slabbies. Who cares who wins as long as it's us!!

With hopes of retaining his Tassie seats, John Howard heads into six weeks of phony election campaigning. Liberal Party polling states that his Government's approval for the Gunns pulp mill will boost his chances in the state's key seats.

There's a message there to the other states to get into pulp mills?

Liberal polling is saying that Coalition support is rising in all Tasmanian electorates except Lyons, which seems to have been since Ben Quin began speaking out against the pulp mill project. If that's not proof positive that the electorate in Lyons wants a pulp mill then I don't know what is!

Lyon's Labor incumbent Dick Adams, is one of the pulp mills’ and the forest industry’s biggest supporters.

Biggest electorate, biggest incumbent! Makes sense to me.

If that trend continues then Howard is doomed! Long live K.Rudd!

Polls seem to be showing that Michael Ferguson is likely to lose his 3% hold on the seat to Labor's Jodie Campbell who has the advantage of really big hair and a nice smile. She's also pretty tight with Scott McLean, so we hear, so she's the one if you're in Bass.

Braddon is held by the Coalition with a margin of just over 1% but again it's pretty much a 'who cares' situation unless one of these creepy independents gets in.

BWAAH HAH HAW HAH, how likely is THAT folks?? Poor misguided buggers are fighting the future when they take on us loggers.

All of the candidates need to start spruiking forestry if they know what's good for them.

When the mill is built, Tasmania will be into the economic sunshine at last, joining pulp mill driven economies like Bolivia and Vietnam. I, for one, can't wait.

There will be more anti-mill rallies in Tasmania and on the Tamar, but so what. The pathetic Green resistance will soon collapse as their supporters realise which side their bread is buttered on. Any more of their poncing around and we'll have another rally for us workers. Makes a good day out on full pay I reckon.

Garrett has promised to make big changes to the Commonwealth's environment laws that were used to approve the project and, our insiders tell us this must mean, slacken them to buggery to encourage more forestry related activity.

As is now the fashion, Garrett seems to want to include a “climate change trigger”, hopefully that links directly to increasing logging activity. So far he's been silent on the future of MIS investments and subsidy levels but, if he has any sense (and that's so far pretty debatable) he'll increase both to the max!

Arch-enemy Bob Brown has done Garrett many favours by declaring their friendship over. That should boost Garrett's vote significantly.

So fellow wood tops, keep your eyes on the ball and don't think about your vote, just vote Labor and use the free time that you on the piss. The Tasmanian economy is still totally dependent on we loggers so we're in the drivers seat. Most of all, remember that it aint over till the fat lady sings.