interesting article,

what do you think of Peter decision to approve the pilp mill

> TimC <tim_augustus@yahoo.com.au> wrote:
>
> Since you bring this up, I read an article on Crikey.com.au that I
> wanted to
> share with the list but was foiled by it's untimely demise ;-)
>
>
>
>
> Mungo: Garrett abandons utopia for results
>
>
> Mungo MacCallum writes:
>
> You have to feel sorry for Peter Garrett. He's had a pretty rough time
> since
> he joined the Labor Party more that three years ago, and it all came to
> a
> head last week.
>
> When Garrett, on behalf of the ALP, signed off on the government's
> decision
> to approve the Tamar Valley pulp mill, the Greens turned carnivorous.
> From
> being a trusted environmental warrior, Garrett had become a sell out and
> a
> cipher, the shadow minister who didn't cast a shadow. As everyone had
> predicted, the Labor Party had chewed him up and spat him out. From
> being an
> idealist and a man of principle, Garrett was now just another
> politician.
>
> Well yes, he was, and this is precisely the point. After spending his
> youth
> banging his impressive head against various brick walls in pursuit of
> noble
> causes, Garrett has now grown up. In 2003 he became convinced that
> actually
> achieving change for the better, imperfect though it might be, was more
> useful than spending the rest of his life yearning for an unattainable
> green
> utopia. Whether consciously or not he accepted the truth of Gough
> Whitlam's
> dictum: the impotent are always pure. He may even have turned it around:
> the
> pure are always impotent.
>
> From the start he knew politics would involve compromise, that he would
> no
> longer be the free spirit his fans had idolised at Midnight Oil
> concerts. He
> would have to balance the interests of the many against the dreams of a
> few.
> But he made the choice, and to his great credit he has stuck with it.
>
> Moreover, he has seen how dire the consequences of uncompromising
> idealism
> can be. In 2004 Labor under Mark Latham went down the deep green path in
> Tasmania. Seduced by the Greens Leader Bob Brown, Latham was persuaded
> that
> a policy of quarantining large areas of forests from loggers would be
> vote
> winner both in the state and across the mainland. Garrett embraced the
> move
> and campaigned vigorously in the short time remaining before polling
> day.
>
> The result is now history: not only did Labor lose the seats of Bass and
> Braddon in Tasmania, but the party forfeited any chance of picking up
> mainland forestry seats like Eden-Monaro and Gippsland. The policy did
> not
> lose the election for Labor, although the contrast between Latham
> sneaking
> away from timber workers through an underground car park while Howard
> was
> cheered by them in a mass rally was one of the enduring images of the
> campaign, and one which would have swung many waverers to the government
> in
> the final week. But there is no doubt that the net cost was at least
> two,
> probably three seats. Those on the left now excoriating Garrett's
> pragmatism
> might care to remember this if in 2007 Howard scrapes back by a similar
> margin.
>
> There is no doubt that the man himself feels uncomfortable with the pulp
> mill decision, or that he is hurt by the attacks from former friends and
> allies. But he has held the line and will continue to do so. And he can
> take
> more than marginal comfort from the fact that Labor's primary vote
> continues
> to run at 47 percent, while the Greens are at just 7.6. As a result
> there is
> every possibility that in two month's time Peter Garrett, Minister for
> the
> Environment, will be signing the ratification documents for the Kyoto
> treaty
> and preparing to implement a radical and far-reaching program on
> sustainable
> energy, pollution control and climate change, while Bob Brown, Greens
> leader
> in the senate, will still be leading futile demonstrations against a
> pulp
> mill.
>
> The purists will no doubt dismiss the political rise of Peter Garrett as
> his
> 30 pieces of silver, the wages of treachery. Those of us more interested
> in
> results than rhetoric will applaud it as a hard-earned laurel wreath, a
> reward for courage and vision, but above all for common sense.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> _____
>
> From: powderworks@yahoogroups.com.au
> [mailto:powderworks@yahoogroups.com.au]
> On Behalf Of ashokachowta@optusnet.com.au
> Sent: Tuesday, 23 October 2007 12:55 PM
> To: powderworks@yahoogroups.com.au
> Subject: [powderworks] Your opinion of Pete's approval of the Pulp Mill
>
>
>
> I want to know something, what's your opinion on Peter Garrett giving
> the
> approval for the Pulp Mill to go ahead, even though he says as long it
> meets
> the environmental standards or something like that?, I know he's losing
> fans, one fellow what's his money back from 11 Oils albums be bought,
> there
> are people including environmentalists in his electorate who are
> planning on
> voting him out, the Labor Party are thinking of chnaging his portfolio.
> So
> what do you reckon, u think he has sold out or not etc etc?
>
> Personally I'm not jumping to any conclusions, I don't think we've heard
> the
> full story of Peter's reasons. All will be revealed when if the Labor
> Party
> wins
>
> Oh and another thing and this makes me smirk now when I think about it
> but I
> thought one of the reasons that Powderworks was closed might be because
> of
> my and others occasional swearing.
>
> Ashoka Chowta Graphic Designs
> Myrtle Bank SA, 5064
> Australia
> Mobile: 0404 217 028
> Tele: 8379 8756
>
>

Ashoka Chowta Graphic Designs
Myrtle Bank SA, 5064
Australia
Mobile: 0404 217 028
Tele: 8379 8756