Wednesday 7 November 2012

FT's wilful deception


It’s rare to find oneself in agreement with Minister Bryan Green as occurred the other day when referring to FT he said “the unprecedented challenges facing Forestry Tasmania have been underlined by its financial result….. further substantial losses had been predicted for Forestry Tasmania….. the reality is that in these circumstances Forestry Tasmania is not financially sustainable in its current form…”

That’s a pretty unequivocal statement, little room for doubt there, although a little understated as you’d expect from the responsible Minister.

FT is completely and utterly insolvent and only trading with assurances of Government support, without which Directors would have been unable sign the solvency declaration that it could pay debts as and when they fall due.

It’s been an awe inspiring gold medal winning performance.

FT is fortunate euthanasia is yet to be legalised.

The commentary accompanying FT Annual Report didn’t exactly assist with understanding how FT works from a financial perspective. Nor have any of the numerous combatative media releases over the years assisted readers in any way to understand FT’s business.

Trying to make sense of what has happened rather than accepting silence, inaction and apologia from Government and the gobbledegook from FT is the first challenge.

Let’s start from the beginning.