Board Meets this Afternoon
Tim Morris MP
Greens Economic Development spokesperson

Tuesday, 5 July 2011
mps.tas.greens.org.au

The Tasmanian Greens today said that the Economic Development Minister’s confirmation that the controversial Aprin loan process is not yet completed with the Tasmanian Development Board (TDB) still to finalise its determination, means that it is still possible that common-sense will prevail and taxpayer funds will not be provided.

Greens Economic Development spokesperson Tim Morris MP pursued the matter with the Minister, David O’Byrne, and said that he would hold Minister O’Byrne to his commitment to provide a public update on the Board’s determination as soon as possible, reiterating that the Greens do not support public monies going into this loan.

“The Minister for Economic Development, David O’Byrne, revealed in response to my question in Parliament that the application for a loan to the Tasmanian Development Board from Aprin had not yet been decided, but that a Board meeting had been called for today for further evaluation of the application,” Mr Morris said.

“The Greens do not support this loan being granted, we have been clearly on the public record stating this, and we have placed the Minister on notice that we expect the public to be updated on the Board’s determination as soon as possible.”

“There is great public interest in the fate of public monies in relation to this controversial loan application.”
“The Tasmanian Development Board will be meeting this afternoon to further evaluate the loan application from Aprin (Fibre Plus), to part fund the purchase of the mothballed Triabunna woodchip mill, to determine if the undisclosed ‘conditions precedent’ they imposed previously, had yet been met.”

“The Greens are really clear that neither the government, nor the TDB, should be providing one business with a competitive edge against another company through a ‘commercial in confidence’ special arrangement only available to them and not their competitor.”

“Greater transparency around the consideration of the provision of industry support funded by the tax-payer, especially where that support is contentious, would enhance community confidence that any such support is appropriate and the best use of public funds, however in this particular instance any tax-payer money going into supporting the Aprin bid to entrench native forest wood-chipping at Triabunna will not be supported by the Greens,” Mr Morris said.