REBEL Bass Greens MHA Kim Booth says he will campaign to bring down the Giddings government if further support is given to Gunns' $2.3 billion pulp mill.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Mr Booth dubbed the government "a dead man walking" if it ignored his threat, and promised to do whatever it took to get Greens and Liberal support for his actions.
"It means that were my party colleagues of the same view, and the Liberals were of the same view, then the government would fall," Mr Booth said.
"The minute there is any support given to the Gunns project, then my pledge last year to the Governor of stability and confidence will be acted on. The gloves would be off."
In response, Premier Lara Giddings said last night that there were no plans for taxpayers to underwrite the project.
"The onus is now on Gunns Ltd to obtain finance through a joint venture partner, and that is not an issue for government, that is an issue for the companies involved," Ms Giddings said.
"I have been clear that the Tasmanian government has not been approached by Gunns to underwrite the project and I don't expect such a request will be made.
"In saying that, I support the project because I believe it will make an enormous contribution to the Tasmanian economy during difficult economic times. It is also a key part of transitioning the Tasmanian forestry industry out of high conservation value forests and into plantations."
In an interview yesterday with The Examiner, Mr Booth:
Said the Wilderness Society would damage its brand and lose support if it offered to trade the mill for native forest protection, as some sections of the society want.
Slammed Ms Giddings for suggesting the pulp mill was now the cake and not just the icing on the cake - "I mean if that's the best she can do for Tasmania, then she ought not be in Parliament, let alone be Premier."
Said it was improper to seize private property from farmers on behalf of a private company. But he ruled out using his threat of no confidence if Gunns is allowed to use the Dilston bypass easement for its water pipeline.
Accused the government of knowing how bad the budget was before the last election: "If they didn't know, they were pathologically incompetent. Of course they knew. They either lied to the electorate or they were pathologically incompetent."