A state divided

Is it the fate of Tasmanians to constantly be at odds with each other? Anne Layton-Bennet discusses.

FOR over 50 years opinions about dams, pulp mills, poker machines, forestry, mining, super trawlers, cable cars and salmon farming have divided the Tasmanian community. The controversy that’s currently tearing the state apart concerns a stadium — and whether Tasmania needs, or can afford another one.

The latest bout of community conflict was triggered by the AFL’s former CEO, Gillon McLachlan. When former Tasmanian premier Peter Gutwein presented another case for a Tasmanian team to be included in the national competition, the AFL’s response should have given him pause. For Tasmania to be granted a team Mr McLachlan insisted a new stadium must be built. And it must be in Hobart, include a roof, be able to seat 23,000 people, and its location must be the waterfront site at Macquarie Point.

This exacting price to finally have a team in the national draw was inherited by Jeremy Rockliff when Peter Gutwein unexpectedly resigned in 2022. There was no obligation for the incoming premier to agree to the AFL’s one-sided and unreasonable conditions. He could have chosen to renegotiate the deal, or even say it was too high a price to pay and withdraw altogether, but he didn’t. That decision has left Tasmanians once again mired in conflict.

Why Jeremy Rockliff agreed so unhesitatingly, (and reportedly with no consultation either through his Cabinet never mind with the Tasmanian public), is an example of the way so many contentious issues have historically been handled by Tasmania’s governments. It matters not if governments were Liberal or Labor, the default position has been to follow the money and completely ignore or dismiss any dissenting voice that had the temerity to challenge a controversial development or project.

A divided community benefits nobody. The environmental campaigns that stopped the building of the Franklin Dam in the 1970s and the two pulp mill campaigns in the decades that followed are proof of that. Social division creates friction within families, friends and colleagues and sucks the energy out of any public discourse that could and should be focused on innovative and sustainable economic benefits for Tasmanians, rather than developers.

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The stadium has now joined a conga line of polarising issues Tasmanians have had to contend with. It’s joined the dams, pulp mills, salmon farming and logging campaigns that have all scarred and continue to scar the Tasmanian psyche. But Tasmania’s Labor and Liberal Parties and its governments are also proving more vulnerable thanks to the level of public pressure that has become more determined, articulate and sustained in recent years.

One example of that is the 12-year campaign that stopped the construction of a pulp mill Tasmanian timber company Gunns Limited was determined to build in the Tamar Valley. It was a campaign the community eventually won, but Gunns went broke so jobs were lost and along the way, it claimed the scalps of two premiers and several politicians. It was emotionally exhausting for those on both sides. I should know; I lived it. But the victory came at a price, economically, socially and environmentally.

It’s no secret that Tasmania is the poorest state. It’s the poor relation economically and also when it comes to education achievement. Tasmania’s literacy levels are shockingly low. Yet once upon a time, Tasmania was Australia’s economic powerhouse thanks to its abundant natural resources. But in exploiting Tasmania’s gold, silver, tin and copper, and brutally stripping its ancient forests, successive governments took the money, and paid scant regard to the time when these finite resources were gone.

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Mines closed when they were no longer profitable. Jobs were lost. Communities suffered. The introduction of clear-felling the state’s native forests saw their destruction rapidly increase just as their value was being recognised — environmentally and economically.

The world was changing but Tasmanian governments were blind to the fact. Tasmania wasn’t only becoming appreciated as a great place to visit it was also being recognised as a great place to live, especially in a warming world. Its more moderate climate, unique natural environment, native forests, iconic wildlife and rich coastal and marine life were lauded both nationally and globally. Suddenly Tasmania was in the spotlight and revered as an environmental jewel that needed to be protected not plundered, but both Labor and the Liberals failed to see it. Their combined mantra was all about jobs, jobs, jobs — in particular those in the resource extraction industries.

Before the stadium hit the headlines public opinion was already split over plans to approve an expansion of the farmed salmon industry, and ongoing opposition to native forest logging and mining in the state’s north-west. The tension between the demands of industry and business and those determined to protect the state’s environment was rising. Tasmania isn’t the only place to be experiencing such tensions of course, but with a much smaller population, they are more concentrated and in your face. Everyone has an opinion, and those six degrees of separation are more like two or three in Tasmania, so emotions can be heated.

Governments ignore public opinion at their peril these days. Premier Rockliff learned this the hard way when he chose to go to the polls twelve months early, in part because he wanted certainty over the stadium. He didn’t get it. Instead, the election resulted in a further eroding of support for both Liberals and Labor, together with an increase in support for the Greens and Independents. The only political certainty in Tasmania now is uncertainty.

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Meanwhile, public opinion remains deeply divided over the stadium, an issue that has dominated the headlines for months and sucked the oxygen out of issues like homelessness, and a collapsing health and hospital system that a majority of Tasmanians consider far more important than a stadium that remains shrouded in uncertainty as we wait to learn if it will be declared a Project of State Significance.

Opinion also remains split over the expansion of the farmed salmon industry, while the calls to end native forest logging grow ever louder. Tasmanians are no longer the compliant people they were 50 years ago. They’ve found their voice and they’re prepared to use it to challenge government decisions about their island, too many of which benefit developers over community.

If Tasmanian governments fail to listen and respect the people who elect them to office – and who pay their wages – there is every likelihood that the fate of Tasmanians will be to continue being at odds with each other until there’s nothing left worth fighting for, or to protect.

Anne Layton-Bennett is a freelance journalist and has lived in Tasmania since 1988.