Will
Taxpayers Underwrite Liability for Southwood Litigation?
The Southwood
proposal is touted as an attempt to prepare an "investment ready site"
then offer it for development.
What
does "investment ready" mean to us?
Basically,
it means Forestry Tasmania and our State Government are going through planning
and developmental procedures normally taken on by developers, thereby taking
on responsibilities and liabilities normally belonging to the developers
or investors. I can see how appealing such an idea would be to investors,
like having a get out of jail free card.
The unfortunate
aspect of this situation is, the proponents can take on these responsibilities
but it is the Tasmanian Taxpayer who could end up paying.
Forestry
Tasmania, the Proponent, is a "Government Business Enterprise" (GBE), a
corporation owned by the Tasmanian people and responsible to the Tasmanian
Parliament and relevant ministers of the crown. Forestry Tasmania pays
taxes and dividends to its owners, who are the Tasmanian Government and
the people of Tasmania. Any liability incurred by Forestry Tasmania, in
its capacity as proponent of the Southwood proposal, will reduce such dividends
and taxes and thereby financially disadvantage the Tasmanian people. In
effect, we may be paying our own compensation from the moneys we would
otherwise receive in the form of taxes or dividends. We may also find we
are paying for legal argument on both sides. Should the liability extend
to the Global Community because of damage done to the global environment
or to world heritage values, we could be further disadvantaged.
The recently
released draft Development Proposal and Environmental Management Plan,
DPEMP,
contains numerous examples of assessments, evaluations, claims, measurements
or monitoring including but not restricted too:
-
The amount
of water to be consumed in the first stage
-
World Heritage
Areas which may be affected
-
Alternative
sites, technologies and routes
-
Alternatives
to the project itself
-
Identification
of worst case scenarios
-
Unavoidable
environmental impacts
-
Potential
Environmental impacts
-
Emissions
-
Resource
usage and availability
-
Impacts
on local communities
Neither
Forestry Tasmania nor any other Government Department should be allowed
to take on any liability in any aspect of this project. The People of Tasmania
have clearly stated, through Tasmania Together Forums, NO MORE WOODCHIPPING.
We apparently want a clean green Tasmania. We must not allow ourselves
to be held liable for the foolishness of ignoring those wishes. Any assessments,
claims, measurements or monitoring undertaken in relation to this proposal
should be done by independent, arms length bodies, and the results of the
same should be freely available to the public, before approval being given,
without commercial in confidence clauses. Furthermore:
-
Such bodies
should provide collateral backed, guarantees or bonds to ensure the availability
of compensation funds should a disaster occur.
-
Each and
every operator and consultant should be held jointly and separately 100%
liable and accountable for their actions, inaction and for any financial,
environmental or community loss or damage incurred.
-
Each and
every operator should be held responsible and 100% liable and accountable
to ensure that they do not breach the guidelines regardless of estimates
made by others.
-
Where guidelines
are breached, minimum penalties over and above any future compensation,
should be specified.
-
Each and
every operator, once entering into the project, should take 100% responsibility
for their impacts regardless of estimates made by others.