Forestry Tasmania's secret

Last week both the Mercury and the Examiner reported Forestry Tasmania’s refusal to supply cash flow information to the Leg Co Committee looking at FT’s financial performance. (ABC report on TT HERE)

Winners and losers

 

Finance & Economic Aspects of Gambling in Tasmania

There’s no denying that the election of Andrew Wilkie to a position on the cross benches in a Parliament with a minority Government has propelled the issue of gambling into the public policy spotlight.

And rightly so.

It is a many faceted issue.

The obvious social implications of gambling are foremost in most discussions.

But there is also a fiscal aspect to gambling as it raises about 11% of total State taxes, about $100 million out of total State taxes of $880 million for 2010.

Lotteries, wagering and Betfair produced $40 million of State revenue, leaving $60 million raised by table gaming, keno and electronic gaming machines (EGMs).

Gunns, FT and cash flow problems

Questions about Gunns'  and Forestry Tasmania's cash flow problems abound Charles(#9)asks

1. Forestry Tasmania FT has an increasing overdue credit portfolio, which has risen steadily over the years to $40 million?

Comment: This is essentially correct. FT’s trade receivables at 30th June 2010 were $38.5 million, after writing off $1.2 million worth of bad debts for the year. $6 million were GMO JV receivables, the balance related to its own receivables.

Flanagan L'Estrange exchange

It was pleasing to see Greg L’Estrange put pen to paper by replying (HERE) to Richard Flanagan (HERE) rather than rely on the bland response of his media department. It does enable a reader to pick up nuances that are otherwise lost.

It was a tad arrogant however to suggest as Greg did that Richard has a simple view of the world. A different view perhaps?

Greg's Chutzpah

He’s done it again.

This time in broad daylight.

Under the gaze of thousands of Gunns’ watchers, CEO Greg L’Estrange has once again manufactured a few book entries to help Gunns achieve a modicum of P&L respectability.

That boy certainly has chutzpah.

Bartlett's mess

It’s not uncommon for people from all walks of life to take credit for the favourable decisions and blame the rest on circumstances beyond their control.

Politicians are probably keener than most to take credit for the good stuff.

Forestry tasmania's cover up

Sue Neales was on the right track with her story titled $22m in forest funds sit idle (HERE)

The story regarding unspent funds received by Forestry Tasmania as part of the Tasmanian Community Forest Agreement TCFA was immediately rebutted by FT’s Hans Drielsma (HERE) who denied any hoarding of funds saying a prudent plan was in place to spend the remaining $22 million, a figure from internal FT spreadsheets obtained under RTI and referred to by Sue Neales.

But the truth is much worse, if one chooses to believe Mike Blake, the Auditor General. The TCFA future commitments far exceed the available cash on hand. There is an eerie resemblance between FT’s use of TCFA funds to operate and Mr Aird’s use of the SPA account to fund current Government programs.

Let’s start at the beginning.