CLAIRE MILLER, The Sunday Age:

As annual meetings go, the venue did not put shareholders at their ease. The crowd was mixed. Most were locals who stood up regularly to defend the company against the smattering of shareholders taking managing director John Gay to task over the falling share price, corporate governance and the cost of legal action against environmentalists.

As the meeting dragged on and the room got stuffier, the crowd cast longing glances at the single window against which Gunns’ director and former premier Robin Gray lounged. But if John Gay was sweating, it wasn’t just the rising room temperature and relentless questioning. All is not well in the Gunns’ empire.

Tasmania’s timber industry is in crisis. Gunns, the woodchip export giant that controls 80 per cent of forestry in Tasmania, faces hostile international trading conditions for the foreseeable future. At home, there is mounting resentment over the treatment of logging contractors and the way tax exemptions on plantations are helping Gunns buy up farms, which tends to displace farm jobs.

Industry insiders rarely speak on the record for fear of retribution, but sources told The Sunday Age that logging contractors are bracing for bankruptcies and widespread job losses.

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