A Wilderness Society rally in Hobart today attracted a large crowd ahead of Saturday’s State election.
The debate on the close ties between the Labour government and the logging giant Gunns and the future of old growth logging in the state is shaping up as a major election issue, with 3000 people turning out at lunchtime today to hear speakers including prizewinning author Richard Flanagan and popular gardening guru Peter Cundall.
Andrew Wilkie called the government and Gunns corrupt, citing the undue influence of the corporation on government policy, a previous bribery conviction of Gunns’ CEO John Gay involving a state MP, and the accusations of former Liberal leader Bob Cheek.
The Tasmanian Wilderness Society was set up at the time of the damming of Lake Pedder in the early 1970′s, and has attracted gradually increasing support from Tasmanians. The battle to halt logging of Tasmania’s wild temperate rainforest has been a bitter and largely unsuccessful struggle over at least two decades, and has caused a great deal of division in the State’s half-million population.
These divisions are likely to continue after Saturday’s State election, with the outcome forecast as a Labour minority depending on the support of the Liberal or Green parties to govern. Richard Flanagan alluded to this when he said that the interests of the people of Tasmania will continue to be put behind that of Gunns until they can find their common cause and work together.