Tony Burke, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry has misled Parliament and should be relieved of his portfolio.
“It’s time for the Prime Minister to cut Burke loose. Not only is Burke a plagiarist, a shameless proponent of vested interest and incompetent in his portfolio, but most seriously of all, he has misled Parliament,” stated TAP spokesperson Bob McMahon.
“Having nakedly plagiarized the Gunns website in his pulp mill spruiking speech to Parliament on June 24, he also misled Parliament by claiming the mill would create 8000 long-term jobs.
“Not even John Gay, the notorious amplifier of the benefits of the proposed pulp mill claims that number of jobs. In a puff piece published in the Examiner July 7, Gay claims 1600 long-term jobs.
“With Burke and Gay making wildly different job claims, it’s about time Burke was made to account for the missing 6400 jobs, and then clean out his desk and move to the back benches,” continued McMahon.
“He went too far in spruiking the supposed benefits of the proposed mill and has paid no heed to the costs, risks and impacts on existing agricultural and fishing businesses in Tasmania should the mill go ahead.
“Just like his predecessor Eric Abetz, only the Forestry part of Minister Burke’s portfolio interests him. Agriculture in the Tamar region and the Bass Strait fishery can all go to hell as far as this man is concerned.”
A community delegation organized by TAP Into A Better Tasmania will be attending the ALP National Conference in Sydney July 30 – August 1 to demand Burke’s removal from his portfolio and the appointment of someone who really cares for food production in Australia.
Contact Bob McMahon 0448 547290 or (03) 63944225
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JUST like our environment
JUST like our environment minister or minister for permits if you will, burning the midnight oil and using his credibility for fuel. Lets see the back of Burke
Burke and Garret - sound sleepers who don't get it
How can Burke and Garret and their cronies sleep at night? Their portfolios cover all the areas listed below in the Independent's article at http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/ancient-glaciers-are-disappearing-faster-than-ever-1792274.html
But they just don't get it!
"Humanity must stay within the defined boundaries of several of the Earth's natural processes or face catastrophe, a group of leading environmental scientists warns today. The scientists, who include James Hansen of Nasa, the world's leading climatologist, suggest in the journal Nature that nine Earth-system processes are among the planetary boundaries: climate change, ocean acidification, interference with the global cycles of nitrogen and phosphorus, freshwater use, changes in land use, atmospheric aerosol loading, chemical pollution and rate of biodiversity loss.
For three of these – the nitrogen cycle, the rate at which species are being lost and anthropogenic climate change – they argue that the acceptable boundary level has already been passed. In addition, they say that humanity is fast approaching the boundaries for freshwater use, for converting forests and other natural ecosystems to cropland, for acidification of the oceans and for the phosphorous cycle."