Ads against the mill

Geoff Law Wilderness Society MR

“A pre-election decision means that Mr Turnbull must give the mill the thumbs down.” said Wilderness Society campaigner Geoff Law. “The Chief Scientist’s report has identified too many flaws in Gunns’ assurances about the effluent for Mr Turnbull to say ‘yes’.”

MEDIA RELEASE 28 September 2007

NEW WENTWORTH NEWSPAPER ADS CALL FOR REJECTION OF PULP MILL

Pre-election decision necessitates thumbs down for pulp mill

The Wilderness Society has placed full-page colour ads in a number of local newspapers in Malcolm Turnbull’s Sydney electorate of Wentworth today calling on him to reject Gunns’ proposed pulp mill.

“A pre-election decision means that Mr Turnbull must give the mill the thumbs down.” said Wilderness Society campaigner Geoff Law. “The Chief Scientist’s report has identified too many flaws in Gunns’ assurances about the effluent for Mr Turnbull to say ‘yes’.”

“If the logging industry and Premier Paul Lennon want an immediate decision, that decision can only be ‘no’.”

“The serious impacts of the mill on Tasmania’s forests, wildlife, water and air mean that it must not be approved. And there are too many uncertainties about the behaviour of the mill’s toxic effluents for Mr Turnbull to give it the green light.”

“The pulp mill will destroy over 200,000 hectares of native forest, and entrench destructive practices such as clearfelling and cable-logging.”

The newspaper ads point out the likely impacts of the pulp mill’s massive appetite for logs on Tasmania’s forests and on the climate. They show images of threatened forests and logging in the steep mountain landscapes of Tasmania’s north-east – the area that will provide the bulk of the resource for the mill during its first 10 years.

The full-page colour ads appear in the Randwick, Kingsford & Kensington Leader, Paddington Times, Coogee and Maroubra Chronicle, and Eastern Suburbs Spectator newspapers.

Meanwhile:

This week’s Wentworth Courier http://digitaledition.wentworthcourier.com.au/ has some more interesting features related to the pulp mill this week. On page 8 there is an interview with Turnbull on the issue of water and deforestation. Some of Turnbulls comments certainly warrant a letter to the editor or two.

Interestingly there is also on page 19 (see diginal edition) an ad which has been authorised and no doubt funded by the TCCI and signed off by Michael Kent.

Interestingly this ad also provides us with a list of businesses (amazingly including one called ‘Sea and Seal adventure tours’) that have signed on to this Gunns pulp mill advert.