Matthew Denholm The Australian
GEOFFREY Cousins, a senior business figure and confidant of John Howard, has attacked as “absolute madness” a proposal to build a $2 billion pulp mill in the heart of Tasmania’s prime wine district. Mr Cousins told The Australian yesterday that Canberra should block approval for the Gunns Ltd proposal until a more transparent and rigorous assessment had been conducted. The Telstra and Insurance Australia Group board member, who advised the Prime Minister on the method of communicating policy decisions between 1996 and last year, said the Lennon Government appeared to be “in the pocket of Gunns”. He said federal Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull faced his first real test over the mill, proposed for the Tamar Valley north of Launceston. “Here’s Malcolm Turnbull, a possible future prime minister, with the perfect opportunity … to exercise his power to see that due process is carried out,” Mr Cousins said.
‘In the pocket of Gunns’: Richard Flanagan: Out of Control
