Harradine

I reckon with Harradine leaving its now time to get out of Tasmania. The recent Tasmanian boom or turnaround wasn't the result of Jim Bacon's Marxist-Leninist commitment to revolutionary communism but the fact that Harradine managed to squeeze squillions out of the nation's taxpayers tit. Given that he had around 45,000 voters he probably squeezed a few million $ for each voter out of the rest of us. Time to sell that delightful Tasmanian getaway now before the Tassie economy slumps back to its natural low. Have a squiz at Chart 2.1: Economic Performance – Final Demand: Tasmania and Australia 1997 -1999

From the horses mouth:
PRIME MINISTER:

let me first of all place on record my great admiration and respect for Brian Harradine. I think Brian Harradine has been a wonderful Senator for Tasmania and I really mean that. There are a lot of things that Brian Harradine and I would disagree on but there are a lot of things that we would agree on. And I have found him over the years to be an immensely decent committed person; a very fine Australian and somebody who’s worked very hard for the people of Tasmania who’s shown enormous encourage on issues. There are some pieces of legislation that we would never have been able to get in place at the beginning of our term had it not been for Brian Harradine


Well, in the whole eight and a half years we’ve had special policies to help the people of Tasmania. If you think of the way in which Tasmania’s been generously treated out of the sales of Telstra; think of the subsidies we’ve provided for Bass Strait transport; think of the fact that Tasmania is the only state in Australia which as a state enjoys the $7.50 increase in the Medicare incentive for bulkbilling for children under 16 and cardholders. And if you live in Launceston or Hobart, you get the $7.50. If you live in Sydney or Melbourne, you get $5.00. And yet I heard somebody yesterday say that I hadn’t done anything to help Tasmania.