Controversy in Tasmania

In my last presentation, I spoke briefly about a controversy that has happened relating to preservation of Tasmanian wildness. In this post, I thought I would expand on that and talk a little bit more about what happened and what it means. To start off, this controversy is about deforestation in Tasmania and the illegal activities that went in regarding the whole situation. In 1989, a man by the name of Eddie Rouse was the chairman of a logging company named Gunns. At the time, elections were going on and he felt that his logging profits could be hurt if the laws changed. This was due to the fact that it was a possibility for the Labor-Green government to be elected. This would mean that there would be a moratorium on loggings in estates where areas were not already approved. Along with this, there would be a limit on the state's wood chip export quota, as well as closing some mills and preventing others from expanding.

The controversy comes with the actions of Eddie Rouse. In fearing the decrease of his profits, he attempted to bribe a member of the Labor (Jim Cox) to cross the floor. The money that was at stake was him losing 10-15 million dollars. If his bribes were to have been taken, they would have allowed the Liberal Party as well as Robin Gray (leader of the party) to resume power. Surprisingly, there was no evidence found that Gray was a part of this whole ordeal. Following these bribes, Cox did the right thing and went to the police to report Rouse. They then tapped his phone called to Cox and arrested him on June 23. He was sentenced to 3 years in jail, but only served 18 months. I found it very intriguing that Cox was so committed to his cause, and in being so, he ended up winning through reporting Rouse.

Sources:
Source 1
Source 2