Environment
‘Illegal’ to jump gun on mill
Matthew Denholm Australian
MALCOLM Turnbull is not able to make approval for the Gunns Tasmanian pulp mill conditional upon further studies being done, according to legal advice. There is growing speculation the Environment Minister will approve the mill early next week, subject to conditions including further hydrodynamic modelling on the dispersal of effluent. But businessman and former Howard adviser Geoffrey Cousins has obtained legal advice that this “half-way house” option is not open to Mr Turnbull because federal environment law states that the minister must be fully aware of the impact of any project before approving it. Mr Cousins told The Weekend Australian any such decision would leave Mr Turnbull open to legal challenge and be bad policy and bad politics, ensuring the issue dogged the Coalition during the election campaign.
Michelle Grattan, Andrew Darby The Age: Tasmanian pulp mill decision expected next week