Ahh, smell the hypocrisy ...

Apparently two healthy doses of hypocrisy.

How could the Liberals and Nationals keep a straight face in recent days while bleating about the carbon tax advertising campaign?

During more than a decade of the Howard government, Australia saw massive spending on government "information'' campaigns to back up initiatives like the GST and Workchoices.

In comparison, the Gillard government's spending on selling the carbon tax seems positively puny.

It's more than a bit rich for Abbott's crew to whine about taxpayers' money being used to push the government's agenda.

And the Greens?

They've spent years whinging about how governments and business play favourites in Tasmania in what they've sold as a constant conspiracy theory.

How often has Tasmania had to wear the cheap use of the word "corruption'' or something similar when it suits the Greens agenda.

No such problem though when some of the Greens' favourites move in.

Last week a consortium involving one of the Greens' biggest national backers swooped on the Triabunna woodchip mill.

That's business and it looks to have saved Tasmanian taxpayers providing a loan.

Let's forget the Greens usually like to demonise big business and between them Jan Cameron and Graeme Wood probably have more financial clout than Gunns these days.

The Cameron-Wood deal may well be a fantastic thing for Triabunna and Tasmania. We need it to be.

The problem is they're not bothering to tell anyone how it's going to be good - least of all the workers in the forestry industry hoping to see some sort of certainty about the future.

Yes, there's talk of tourism developments but no detail.

For the past decade in Greens conspiracy land that's the sort of secrecy they would normally be baying about.

What would the Greens be saying now if two retired forest industry executives who also happened to be big major-party donors had bought the Triabunna mill for $6 million less

than the ask?

What would they say if they wouldn't detail what they were going to do with it?

So why would Greens leader Nick McKim - who might like to remember he's also a government minister for all Tasmanians - be so quick to welcome this deal as wonderful news for Triabunna and Tasmania?

Perhaps he's been let in on the secret.

Maybe he should share it with the thousands of workers left out of forestry peace talks or mill sale deals over the past few months.