Pulp and the forests

Dear Examiner Editor,

This will be my last attempted contribution to The Examiner as I can find consistent un-biased information elsewhere and I feel I am wasting my valuable time with this paper and its content, but please feel free to add it to your collection if you like.

Just like to make a correction to The Examiner’s “News” section July 27, 2005.

There is a figure bandied about “$8000” that the West Tamar Council will spend on a “poll” that concerns the proposed pulp mill.

That figure is actually estimated at $6,000 and if the council had bothered to engage the community before it blindly “green lighted” the proposal it would have saved them the trouble and ratepayers the money.

Perhaps the author could have included the blatant misuse of ratepayers’ funds by the council releasing the $6,700 that will go towards an infrastructure study for the proposed pulp mill when the IIS has not even come for public comment, but that would go against the grain would it not?

As far as the author’s wild assumption that the survey will have absolutely no impact on the proposal’s future I would ask him to take a close look at what has transpired so far and how the community has reacted to this debacle thus far.

Despite millions of taxpayers’ dollars flushed away at intense propaganda spin pro pulp mill, the community remains united and rightly so, concerned at the alarming process that has seen the RPDC and WTC backflip, while Gunns continue to make it up as they go along.

True enough, as the author points out, the location of the proposed pulp mill is not in the council’s municipality.

Any emissions both via air and water will not come to West Tamar.

Instead a magical screen will be erected to deflect any nasties that dare travel the 500 metres or so across the river.

What about the 10 tonnes per minute delivery of native timber to feed the proposed mill?

Will that be delivered in Gunns helicopter to avoid West Tamar municipality?

Come on; try just a little to be objective so everyone can stop laughing.

And,

What a lucky break for the proponent of the proposed pulp mill!

Piper’s River, the site of their proposed 15 billion litre dam and the site that the public were able to comment on, hasn’t enough water to wash your hands in it.

By some stroke of luck, Gunns has dropped Piper’s River and struck a deal with Hydro to suck 13,000 Olympic swimming pools of fresh drinking water out of Trevallyn only a week before the Government announced the Meander Dam project would get the green light. This will allegedly ensure water to the proposed pulp mill.

What an amazing coincidence!

Now I could be cynical and say that this dam was given the green light because of the proposed pulp mill. I mean after all, the mill proposal has had millions of taxpayer dollars thrown at it and had all the support you would give a good mate from our leaders, while farmers were only promised a miserly $50,000 to help with their battle to save the fruit and vegetable industry in Tasmania (just 10 cents per person).

The Minister responsible for the dam project said yesterday in The Advocate that, “Financially it is not viable because if you put $1000 into it, the return would not be five or 10p.c.

Now if you or I were at work and made this decision, how long do you think the boss would keep you on?

In years to come as our grandchildren survey the “green desert” plantations, swathes of heavy industry and wood fired boilers leaving polluted skies reminiscent of eighteenth century England, asthma at record levels, their stomaches lined with imported fruit and vegetables sprayed with who knows what, medical services in crisis and big business running our state, they will say, “this is what it was like in 2005, nothing has changed”.

And,

I was with a marvellous group of people a few weeks ago. I had an invitation to work with the local “Landcare” group.

It was a cold and windy Saturday morning and we were planting a few hundred endemic trees, shrubs and grasses by the water, revegetating past wrongs.

Despite an expensive trip for massage therapy and a back that has only just come good, it was a joyous experience.

Those excited people who came together to plant for the future made a step in the right direction.

In a past life when my body was strong, I landscaped in Sydney.

I planted uncounted thousands of trees over my time in that industry and my few hours planting by the banks of the Tamar River brought back the joy I
used to know each day in my work.

It was about creation, about the future, about beauty and about life.

It was never boring, never mundane and it served my soul well.

It was special to be able to go back to a site and view the work done years later and admire the work of nature.

Since my arrival in Tasmania I have planted endemic natives at Mt Arthur, Pipers River and Musselboro Creek and some suburban venues.

I hope they are all thriving!

If you have the chance, plant something. Stand back and admire its shape, texture, smell, colour and its intrinsic beauty.

Give it a drink, nurture it and watch the marvel of nature unfold.

Enjoy the feeling that comes with creation and know that what you have done is good.

Plant now for our future and for future generations; you can even do it just for the enjoyment it will give you!

Dave Groves
Kayena
That you may retain your self-respect, it is better to displease the people by doing what you know is right, than to temporarily please them by doing what you know is wrong. – William J. H. Boetcker
We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect. – Aldo Leopold
“Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything
better.” – Albert Einstein