Pulping promises

In announcing a $2.4 million payment to pulp mill proponent Gunns, the Federal Government has funded broken promises from both the Prime Minister and Gunns Limited.

Despite Senator Abetz’s claim this payment is to honour an “election commitment”, the Prime Minister’s Media Release of 29th June 2004 states: “should the feasibility study commissioned by Gunns limited conclude that world-class Total Chlorine Free pulp mill is economically viable, the Australian Government is prepared to consider contributing up to $5 million”

In funding the current pulp mill, the Federal Government not only break their own commitments, but they condone the broken promises of Gunns and turn a blind eye to the consequences.

In their Winter 2004 Plantations Newsletter, Gunns state that, “only world’s best technology utilising a low impact Total Chlorine Free (TCF) mill will be looked at. The pulpmill will focus on processing premium plantation timber.”

Since then Gunns have moved the goalposts and now propose a native forests fed, chlorine based pulpmill that will drive ongoing forest destruction and pollute both the air and marine environments.

With this case of corporate welfare, clearly the taxpayer has been taken for a very expensive ride.

In making this payment, the Government is pre-empting a decision by the RPDC and fail to provide any evidence that this mill will truly be worlds best practice.

Government representatives, including Senator Bill Heffernan, have openly questioned the environmental credibility of this mill and Senator Abetz himself has publicly withheld his ‘total and absolute support (for the mill) as currently proposed’.

Vica Bayley
The Wilderness Society