‘Eric Abetz has written to the Premier, Paul Lennon outlining his concerns that about 220,000 cubic metres of logs are exported from Tasmania each year while Auspine and other softwood processors are struggling for timber.’  ABC report.

Hypocrisy knows no bounds. Senator Abetz did not come to the rescue when the jobs were originally affected. Not a peep. Now Gunns is the official owner of Auspine, suddenly, log exports should be banned and jobs are on the line. WOW!

Now Gunns also wants to process pine logs in their Pulp Mill. Another new development.

He also stated last week that the loss of 26 jobs from a Gunns owned veneer mill is because they can’t get logs from the Florentine. Not trying to put a bit of pressure on there, is he?

I think one can tell which way the wind blows.

Talking about Eric,

frankly speaking

I am Australian, in fact I am Australian No. 00400500654
under the Australian Citizenship Act 1948.

On the 15th February 2002 I pledged:
From this time forward,
I pledge my loyalty to Australia and its people,
whose democratic beliefs I share,
whose rights and liberties I respect, and
whose laws I will uphold and obey.
Now, having stated the above, I have a ‘frank question’, as I and my Family originally immigrated from Filderstadt near to Stuttgart, another prominent Person in our state comes to mind:

“(When) did Eric become an Australian, a true blue Aussie?”
I would expect from Eric, a former Schwob, that he should be just as frank and proud to prove his Australian Citizenship as me.
Would you please be so kind to ask him on our behalf?
Interesting surely to hear his reaction, not only for me .
Cheers and thanks
Frank Strie

More about Eric:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Abetz
Eric Abetz
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Eric Abetz (born 25 January 1958 in Stuttgart, Federal Republic of Germany), has been a Liberal Party member of the Australian Senate since February 1994, representing the state of Tasmania. He was educated at the University of Tasmania and was a barrister and solicitor before entering politics. He was Tasmanian State President of the Liberal Party 1990-1994.

The youngest of six children, Abetz emigrated with his parents to Australia in 1961. His father, a radio technician, decided to emigrate after reading in a newspaper that a trade mission lead by the minister responsible for the Tasmanian Hydro Electric Commission was visiting Stuttgart in search of skilled workers for employment in new ‘Hydro’ power schemes. His father was one of those employed by that scheme.[1]

Abetz studied at public schools, Hobart Matriculation College and the University of Tasmania, earning degrees in law and arts in 1981. He notes that his political ideology was moulded by his university experience, where he was told that his exam results would not be credited unless he joined the Australian Union of Students, saying “I found the notion of “no ticket, no start” to be repulsive and obnoxious and still do”. In 1980-1981, he became the only Tasmanian to become national president of the Australian Liberal Students’ Federation. This included political conflict with Nick Sherry and Sue Mackay, who are currently Australian Labor Party senators.[1]

He won preselection to replace the retiring Brian Archer in 1994, and was re-elected in 1998 and again in 2004. Abetz was Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Defence 1998-2001 and was Special Minister of State from January 2001 until 2006.

He has served as Chairman of the Native Title and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Land Fund Committee and Chairman of the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee. He also served as Chairman of the Attorney-General and Justice Government Members’ Committee [2].

He was a member of a Parliamentary Delegation which visited France and Belgium in June and July of 1997, and made an official visit to the United Kingdom in September 1999 [3].

He became Minister for Forestry as part of the new Howard cabinet in January 2006. He commenced by his portfolio attacking the Australian Greens in general and Greens Senator Bob Brown in particular. He described the Greens as now representing the extreme left of Australian politics and suggested that there was mostly general agreement between the two major parties on the areas for which he is now responsible in his ministry[4][5].

Abetz is a Christian and an elder of the Christian Reformed Churches of Australia. Throughout his political career he has been closely associated with a number of strongly conservative groups.[6]