The Minister proves he has become a politician … and a good one.

Never put off until tomorrow what can be let till the day after is good lesson for a politician that Environment Minister Peter Garrett seems to have learned well. This Minister with perhaps the most difficult job in government is handling the issue of the northern Tasmanian pulp mill with consummate skill. Putting off a decision was the best way of reconciling the irreconcilable pressures to be both green and pro-development. With any luck Minister Garrett will not have to deliver a final verdict until after the next election and he might even avoid the need to do so altogether. The financial pundits seem to think there is every chance that Gunns Limited will not be able to arrange finance for the project. Certainly it would be a brave financier who committed the necessary multi-millions while uncertainty remains about the impact of emissions from a mill in to Bass Strait.

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