It's Not That Easy Being Green (Any More)

"Taz," shamelessly pinched from Wiki

After 16 years of Labor or Labor/Green governments, Tasmania just kicked the bums out and elected Conservatives in a landslide. So says special correspondent Brett McS:

It has been a mendicant state for some time. The new government’s platform is to free up the forestry and mining industries that had been shutting down under Green policies. So hopefully they will stop being a drain on the national purse. It’s a beautiful place, but people have to leave to find work.

I'd like to find that heartening: people waking up to common sense and all. But 16 years it took 'em? Argh.

I was amused by Brett's ancillary comment about telling an American he has a sister in Tasmania:

“Tasmania! That’s like … the end of the earth!”. I gather that “Tasmania” is a byword for “remote.”

I had to confess that to me, Tasmania conjures up only this fellow, who doesn't really seem like a Labor man.