Franklin Dam Controversy - Postscript

Postscript

In April 1983 the Federal Government tasked an RF-111 and later a Mirage jet, from the Royal Australian Air Force, to perform a reconnaissance mission over the dam as part of its case that the Tasmanian Government was not complying with Federal legislation to stop work. A photograph of the Franklin River taken on one of these missions (and showing the construction road) was signed after the case by all the judges involved and a copy is displayed in the Australian National University College of Law staff library. On 1 July 2008, twenty five years after the High Court decision that saved the Franklin River an anniversary dinner was held at Hobart's Grand Chancellor Hotel where former Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke stated that the campaign to protect the Franklin River had important lessons for the struggle against global warming: "And as you look at the arguments and the positions of political parties today you see a complete replication of what we experienced back there in 1983. The conservatives: they never change, they never learn. What was their argument back then? You can't do this, it will cost jobs. It will cost economic growth. You can't do it, you mustn't do it."