This is now getting quite serious for the Premier.
This afternoon on Louise Saunders Program Justice Wright stated that at a meeting between the two the Premier had suggested to him that “no public hearings should take place”. Just a week prior when asked by ABC’s Rosin McCann if he had said such a thing to Justice Wright, the Premier denied this. Has the Premier lied?

What a welcome change to see someone in authority acting with principle and integrity.

It was evident from Justice Wright’s comments and behaviours that the public was dealing with a competent professional.

And how like this government to attempt to coerce a person of that calibre. How many more mistakes can the Premier make before he trips himself up entirely?

This is getting serious for the Premier.
Justice Wright, the former head of the pulp mill assessment panel at the RPDC today revealed he threatened to resign after the Premier suggested he abandon public hearings.
Now interestingly, ABC Drive presenter Louise Saunders replayed some very telling audio this afternoon. It was a grab from a radio interview one week ago where ABC drive presenter Rosin Mcann asked the Premier if he had indeed suggested that Justice Wright abandon public hearings. The Premiers response was to scoff “of course not”. On this evidence it appears that the Premier has lied. If this turns out to be the case, he should go immediately.

What a crock! The notorious rabid anti-everything deep-green Christopher Wright has dumped on Paul Lennon. How credible is Mr Wright! After his evil, conniving cronies Julian Green and Warwick Raverty did the same! (Witness Warwick’s appallingly ungrateful letter to the Mercury today, Tue 20 Mar 2007) All we can say to that trio of ratbag ferals is “Get a job!”* The fact that Mr Lennon met Mr Wright on the same day that Gunns advised the ASX of their confidence in the government’s processes is a COMPLETE coincidence, and the inevitable, pathetic conspiracy theories just don’t need to be trotted out again. Thanks.

*Kons to Cremasco [now Dr] - as I recall.

Ah we have hit a nerve!!

I’m with Mark Hanna on this.  People forget that the Pulp Mill Assessment Panel was originally the “Approval” panel in the true Tasmanian spirit.  Chris Wright actually agreed, albeit grudgingly, to allow folks to make submissions on the main damage the mill would wreak: i.e the collaterals from the most intensive logging in the developed world.  He did draw the line at making Gunns provide IIS info on this stuff, the democracy floodgates were already leaking.

Having seen off Green, Raverty, and Wright, it now appears our stalwart Premier may have to give the flick to the Commonwealth and the UN as well, which I’m confident he will do.  There is only one thing our Rough Red is afraid of, and he does often seem to have a gun to his head, but hell, they do run the place.

John Hayward

Surprising this is not.

Lemon is ex blf,  not a powerful intellect.

His errors are plain for all to see, he does not have the wits to cover up his trail.

The real question here is “will the media act as the fouth estate, in the public interest,  and not as some emasuculated effete, and call loudly and unceasingly for (his) ouster”

...  yet he is still there. Why, because the media with perhaps 4 exceptions wont have a go. This point was amply made in Saturday’s Merc, with an even distribution of letters about the current mess that is our pulp mill. CF the comments on their web site which are running 20:1 against the kleptocracy of tasmanistan.

Paul Lennon’s bully-boy antics have been exposed yet again.  And now he’s lying to try and cover his arse.  What a sorry day for the Tasmanian Labor Party.  If the MPs had any guts at all they would stand up to him and demand his resignation. 
If we didn’t know it before, we sure know it now - he is not fit to hold office.

Stand by for the Premier’s support base to crumble like a sandcastle at high tide. 

His motivation for this Pulp Mill assessment fiasco has been less than clear.  Just why is he so driven to deliver ‘John Gay’s Folly’?  The key, unsurprisingly, is power.

One month ago Paul Lennon was a leadership spill looking for a challenger.  This monstering of the RPDC has been driven by his need to put his credentials on display and secure his position as premier.  He was a front-rower making one lone, last, primeval push for the line.  Problem is, not only was he opposed by some of the opposition, but two thirds of the crowd also.

He’s dropped the ball, and will be leaving the field of play imminently.

Absolutely. He’s totally unfit. Peg Putt has called for a Royal Commission, but as I understand it this has to be passed by Parliament. Fat chance. We’re back to Vice Regal Dismissal that was mooted and rejected here some weeks ago.
http://tasmaniantimes.com/index.php/weblog/comments/perhaps-the-butler-may-have-done-it/
http://tasmaniantimes.com/index.php/weblog/comments/time-to-call-in-the-administrators/
There’s surely a stronger case now. The Premier has been caught out,  interfering with due process, and strong prima facie evidence of conspiring with an interested party in subverting legal processes for commercial gain. This is worse than Whitlam, whose sin was getting his sums wrong and making poor ministerial appointments.

WHERE does the state liberal party stand on this,not a wimper of a protest,they are so weak they are helpless,bashing big red with a feather,the weak, stand for nothing spineless libs.

Amongst the clutter of the airways this morning was a small snippett of commentry from Mr. Michael Stokes, constitutional law expert from the University of Tasmania. Mr Stokes was of the opinion that the Premier’s actions in inapproriately dealing with Justice Wright may be “illegal”. For those who recall Harry Gibbs QC commentry on my last article, you will note that such actions may be viewed as a trigger for the Governor to invoke reserve powers and remove the commission of the Premier.

Despite the usual naysaying from our resident experts on everything and nothing, I believe that the Premier has triggered the requirements necessary for use of reserve powers. What does his Excellency Sir William Cox think about all this? Why the silence?

How ironic - almost a year to the day of his election as Premier, and in-line with the 75th aniversary of De Grootes infamous sword action in front of Premier Lang and Sir Phillip Game, we now see Mr. Lennon poised to fall on his own sword.

1. For the good name of Tasmania,... go
2. For the good name of Tasmania,... go
3. For the good name of Tasmania,... go
4. For the good name of Tasmania,... go now
5. For the good name of Tasmania,...
6. For the good name of Tasmania,...
7. For the good name of Tasmania,...
8. For the good name of Tasmania,...
9. For the good name of Tasmania,...
10.For the good name and positive future of Tasmania,...
11. For the good name and future of Tasmania, for Generations to come…

Paul just gooooooooooo, before they get you!
Time is up!
I listened to that now seriously quoted interview on Northern ABC Radio where you did not told us the truth! You better be sorry for this, however history will remember you for the
Shame, shame and shame again!
Distgusted and still here!

No, crud, (post 11).  They are not weak.  They are positively slavering at the prospect of seeing both approval for the pulp mill they want and Lennon’s embarrassment.  All without having to lift a finger.

They don’t even need their beloved Saint Robin to give them instructions from the boardroom. (Well, perhaps the thicker ones might.)

14 minutes ago news:
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21421148-5006788,00.html
Inquiry sought into $2bn pulp mill plan
Matthew Denholm
March 21, 2007
TASMANIA’S Director of Public Prosecutions will be asked to investigate whether Premier Paul Lennon broke the law by “leaning on” a former judge to fast-track a $2 billion pulp mill proposal.
The state’s two opposition parties are today writing to DPP Tim Ellis SC requesting that he examine whether Mr Lennon breached sections of the Resource Planning and Development Commission Act that guard against improper influence being applied to commission members or hearings.

Justice Christopher Wright, chairman of the RPDC’s pulp mill assessment panel, has accused Mr Lennon of a “completely inappropriate . . . attempt to pressure” him to fast-track assessment of the contentious project.

Mr Wright says Mr Lennon gave him an “ultimatum” to dump public hearings and wind up by July 31 or face legislation to fast-track the process.

Mr Lennon was this morning defiant, accusing Mr Wright, a respected jurist, of being “unreasonable” in refusing his request to expedite his panel’s deliberations on Gunns Ltd’s proposal to build a pulp mill at Bell Bay, on the Tamar River in the state’s north.

The Premier accused The Australian of “media spin” in raising two legal opinions that his conduct appeared to be a prima facie breach of section 17a of the RPDC Act. “I don’t apologise for the actions I took,” he told Parliament, insisting his motivation was to ensure the project was not lost to Tasmania.

However, the Liberal and Green opposition parties today asked Attorney-General Steve Kons to refer the matter to Mr Ellis for an assessment. When Mr Kons refused, they said they would today write to Mr Ellis themselves requesting an investigation. Mr Ellis is understood to be away until Friday.

“How can the Premier claim this is media spin when we are hearing direct from the horse’s mouth – a respected judge,” said Liberal leader Will Hodgman. “I have today written to the DPP to ask whether he will look into whether the RPDC Act or any other law has been broken.”

OK, I apologise to Will.  He did lift a finger.  There’ll be ructions within party ranks tonight.  I suppose the chance (albeit an outside one) of a snap poll was too much to resist. 

God help us if the end result of all this is that we get a pulp mill AND a Liberal government.

DPP urged to investigate Lennon’s mill dealings. http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2007/s1878221.htm

Australian Broadcasting Corporation

TV PROGRAM TRANSCRIPT

LOCATION: http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2007/s1878221.htm

Broadcast: 21/03/2007

DPP urged to investigate Lennon’s mill dealings
Reporter: Jocelyn Nettlefold
In Tasmania, Premier Paul Lennon could face a criminal investigation over his attempts to fast-track a pulp mill approvals process. Full transcript will be posted when available…

The Premier keeps giving us guarantees that a Pulp Mill will not be built at any cost. Yet his actions have already cost us Tasmania’s RPDC.

In a move that sets Govt standards back decades he has effectively rendered Tasmania’s peak statutory assesment and planning body redundant. The Premiers actions have seemingly trashed any status it once had as an independant and authorative body that is above political interference.

RIP RPDC

Are all the Labor members, (with and without moustaches) bloody deaf from all the yelling at them by ex bully boy unionists, that they can’t hear the people banging at the door?
Without the bile of abuse and labelling, the complaint is that we have been lied to, not once, not twice, but many times by the Premier.
Shock horror, a politician lying, some may say, but when you add taxpayer propaganda with a totally myopic vision for Tasmania’s Forest Future, Lennon’s out of control.
There does not seem to be any reliable poll available showing what support there is in the community.  The Tamar residents consistently showed the majority were anti mill.
What is showing up in Lib/Lab polling in Bass? 
Turnbull is in a real pickle.  Howard recently said the election was a long way away in relation to popularity polls.  Gunns have allowed a revised deadline, July 31st.  Will Malcolm disappoint?

FARKIN UNBELIEVABLE,how about fastracking,health,dental, housing,child protection,nurse protection etc.not a chance.