Pulp Mill

The whole Pulp Mill development is increasingly taking on the appearance of a huge financial scam , a fraud  imposed on the Australian taxpayers who will have to agree to guarantee profits and to socialise any future losses.

"Tasmania's Chamber of Commerce and Industry believes the pulp mill planned for northern Tasmania would not be bankrolled without the Government signing a Sovereign Risk Agreement."

News that Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett has spent recent days in Hobart without contacting key stakeholders in the debate over the future of Tasmania's environment and forests, highlights a missed opportunity for the Minister to fully understand Tasmanian environmental issues as they relate to his portfolio, according to The Wilderness Society (TWS).

Shareholders attending the ANZ bank’s Annual General Meeting in Perth have had the environmental, social and economic risks associated with Gunns’ Tasmanian pulp mill highlighted by a formal question directed to the board and a high profile protest in front of the meeting venue, according to The Wilderness Society.

Related: Wilderness Society online pledge

Lawyers for Forests served papers on Peter Garrett, the Minister for Environment on December 5 to start a Federal Court case in Victoria. The case challenges the previous Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s decision to approve the pulp mill and focuses on the impact of mill on the marine environment and the inadequacy of the decision and the conditions placed on the mill in relation to the marine environment. (See Case Summary PDF)

Related: ANZ International Day of Awareness on the Pulp Mill 12 December

Recent Local-government elections in Tasmania have delivered a massive thumbs-down for the proposed Tamar valley pulp mill according to the Wilderness Society. “This emphatic vote for the environment shows that voters will punish pro-mill candidates at the federal election,” said Wilderness Society campaigner Geoff Law. “Voters in the federal marginal seat of Bass have dumped a mayor who was an outspoken and prominent supporter of the Tamar Valley pulp mill.”

Related: Perpetual annual general meeting and Gunns' pulp mill

The Wilderness Society (Tasmania) Inc
Media Release
30 October 2007

Shareholders participating in the Annual General Meeting of
Perpetual Limited, major investment and superannuation managers, were
today presented with information about the Gunns’ pulp mill project and
their share in forest destruction, climate change and the risks
associated with the controversial project.

Perpetual is the largest single shareholder of Gunns, the
monopolistic Tasmanian woodchipping company undertaking environmentally
damaging activities in Tasmania.