Labor promises to pick fresh site for Northern prison
Tasmania’s second maximum security prison will not be built outside Westbury if Labor wins government, MP for Lyons Jen Butler has revealed. LATEST ELECTION NEWS >>
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TASMANIA’S second maximum security prison will not be built outside Westbury if Labor wins government, MP for Lyons Jen Butler has revealed.
Westbury Residents Against the Prison was quick to welcome Labor’s announcement but said it was slow coming.
Labor says it will select a fresh site for the Northern Prison and consult the community before doing so.
In June last year. the state government abandoned its first preferred site for the new prison at Westbury following community backlash.
However, its new preferred location, a 70ha piece of Crown land at Brushy Rivulet at Biralee has also attracted community and environmental opposition.
Labor member for Lyons Jen Butler said the Liberals had failed to talk to the community and release detailed plans or the development application
“Labor is committed to building the northern prison but will not proceed with the Liberals’ proposed site at Birralee Road, Westbury,” Mt Butler said.
“It is not feasible that this development go ahead at the site on Birralee Road due to the unknown costs associated with that site and the risk to the taxpayer.
“Labor will be looking at alternative sites following a full public consultation process.”
Westbury Residents Against the Prison was quick to welcome Labor’s announcement but said it had been slow coming.
“While it’s welcome it is far more overdue than we would have liked. The reserve should have been subjected to scrutiny and criticism from Labor straight after it was announced in June last year. But late is better than never,” the group said.
“We now need Labor to use every single opportunity in the lead up to the election to focus on the outrageous costs inevitably associated with this ridiculous proposal. In a time where our post JobKeeper economy is about to cast Tasmanians into crisis, not a dollar can be spared.
“This Government is desperate to get this prison across the line in the Meander Valley, and in the Meander Valley alone.”
10.30AM: Tasmania taxpayers will underwrite a $100m loan to Incat to build a 120-metre catamaran if the Liberals are re-elected, Premier Peter Gutwein says.
In a visit to the Derwent Park shipbuilder this morning, Mr Gutwein said the three-year interest-free loan would underwrite the existing 500 jobs and create 150 more.
Incat will try to find a buyer for the boat on international markets or offer it for long-term lease.
The loan will revert to commercial terms after three years and be repaid after five. It will cost taxpayers $6m.
“Incat has been hit by global border closures over the past year, with demand reducing in the international ferry market,” Mr Gutwein said.
“Retaining Incat’s highly-skilled workforce through a steady pipeline of work is critical.
Mr Gutwein said the announcement would deliver $95 million in economic benefit to the local community.
Labor misses out in key seats
9.30AM: LABOR was unable to secure enough nominations for preselection in key Tasmanian seats, a former MP claims.
Julian Amos served as a Minister in Labor governments, but says the treatment of popular southern mayor Dean Winter was hard to understand.
Mr Winter, a member of the party’s minority right faction, was passed over by the left-dominated administrative committee for a spot on the ticket in the seat of Franklin.
Mr Amos says there was room for Mr Winter in the party line-up.
“When nominations were called this last weekend, there were only three positions to fill (four in Clark),” he wrote in his regular newsletter issued on Wednesday.
“And, what an embarrassment – vacancies remained after closing time for nominations.
“This could mean Winter would be endorsed. This was not what the junta was prepared to accept.
“So people were frogmarched into seeking endorsement for the seat of Franklin, one in fact being moved from Clark to Franklin.”
Mr Amos said it didn’t make sense that teenage climate campaigner Toby Thorpe was chosen to be on the Labor ticket and Mr Winter was not.
“Having a 19-year-old was far more important than an experienced Councillor and Mayor,” he said.
“Meanwhile, in the neighbouring seat of Clark, the transfer of one candidate to Franklin left the party in the embarrassing position of having still only two nominations.”
Labor has so far announced 22 of its 25 candidates for the My 1 election.
Mr Amos said the handling of Mr Winter’s nomination had weakened Labor’s campaign.
“There a deeper and more sinister issue at play here.
“Certainly the Leader’s position has been undermined, the prospects for the Party damaged, and the ructions within the Party have only just begun.”
Proposed legislation would end dangerous workplace invasions
Tuesday, March 30
THE “disastrous” proposal for the new Northern Regional Prison should not be forgotten during the state election campaign, a Greens candidate says.
In June last year, the state government announced it had abandoned its preferred site for the new prison at Westbury following community backlash.
Instead, the government revealed a new location of 70ha of disused Crown land at Brushy Rivulet near Biralee, 5.2km from the Westbury town centre.
Greens candidate for Lyons, Liz Johnstone, said both major parties were trying to go through the campaign without mentioning the project.
“It’s obvious the Liberals now understand the huge mistake they made when they picked the new prison site in a panicked rush, and don’t want to draw any attention to the long list of issues that have stacked up over the last few months,” she said.
“Meanwhile, Labor are nowhere to be seen, and it’s not clear whether they support or oppose the new prison location.
“Before Tasmanians go to the polls, the community need to be given all the details of this project, including exactly how much it will cost them. They also need to know where all parties stand on this significant issue.”
Rolls close as campaign begins in earnest
David Killick
THE writs for the 2021 state election have been issued and the electoral rolls have closed to new voters.
The first deadlines of the snap poll passed at 6pm on Tuesday and the countdown to May 1 has officially begun.
The first votes will be cast within a fortnight.
It will be the first time in Tasmania that a House of Assembly election will be held on the same day as Legislative Council polls, of which there are three: in Derwent, Mersey and Windermere.
Parliament was prorogued by Governor Kate Warner at 10.45am last Friday and the House of Assembly officially dissolved a minute later.
PREMIER ACCUSED OF MISLEADING GOVERNOR
The short election campaign period means a rapid-fire timetable.
Nominations for candidates close at noon on Wednesday and candidates will be announced at noon the following day.
Pre-poll voting starts at 8.30am on Monday, April 12, and postal vote applications must be in by Friday, April 23.
Polling booths around the state will be open on polling day, Saturday May 1, from 8am to 6pm.
Labor promises clamp on ‘invasive’ protests
Helen Kempton
THE days of dangerous workplace invasions would be over under a Labor government, the party says – but activists say the policy will not stop them peacefully protesting.
Labor says if it wins majority government it will introduce legislation it expects will pass unlike the Liberals’ anti-protest laws that failed in the Upper House this month.
Labor says its legislation will clamp down on “invasive” workplace protests through big fines and jail terms for offenders.
Labor resources spokesman Shane Broad said the proposed aggravated trespass and Timber Harvest Safety Zone laws would carry fines of $10,000 and two years in jail for individuals and fines of up to $100,000 for entities, such as the Bob Brown Foundation.
“This is legislation that works in other states to protect working forests and mine sites from invasive protests where people dangerously lock themselves onto machinery,” Dr Broad said.
Labor says the Liberals’ failed anti-protest laws went too far and did not protect the right to lawfully protest on public streets.
Dr Broad said he was confident the fines incorporated in the proposed legislation would be enough to make campaigners think twice about disrupting workplaces.
But the Bob Brown Foundation said the Labor Party’s “proposed draconian new anti-protest laws” came hard on the heels of similar laws being rejected by the Tasmanian parliament, with Labor MLCs joining independents to vote them down.
“This policy hypocrisy is a crass attempt to outdo the Liberal government’s failed attempt to stifle peaceful protest in Tasmania,” a foundation spokesperson said.
“This policy has nothing to do with protecting jobs and is simply a desperate attempt to use BBF as a whipping post. These proposed laws will have far-reaching impacts on the rights of all citizens peacefully protesting about issues they care about.”
The spokesperson said the best way for Labor to protect jobs in the forest industry was to accept that native forest logging was an “outdated, destructive” practice and to usher in a plantation-based forest industry.
“These proposed laws will do nothing to stop Bob Brown Foundation from peacefully protesting against the needless invasion and destruction of Tasmania’s public native forests,” campaign manager Jenny Weber said.
Primary Industries and Water Minister Guy Barnett accused Labor of being all talk and no action on workplace protection.
“Labor had their chance to support Tasmanian workers and their families, and they blew it,” he said.
“Their recent vote against our proposed workplace protection laws was the ultimate act of betrayal and a kick in the guts to the hard-working Tasmanians who are being threatened and harassed by radical protesters for simply going to work.”
Take LGH kitchen move off menu: Labor
Any attempt to relocate kitchen services from the Launceston General Hospital would undermine patient care and food quality, Labor says.
Minister slams Medicare clinic petition as ‘shameless politicking’
Federal Labor candidates have started a petition for Medicare clinics in Sorell and Burnie, however the state health minister has slammed the move. Here’s why.