This cop-out

The Age
Any decision on Tasmania’s pulp mill must consider wildlife, write Brendan Wintle and Sarah Bekessy.

Gunns claims that the long planning horizon for timber harvesting operations makes it impossible to predict the whereabouts, and therefore the potential biodiversity impacts, of pulpwood supply. This cop-out appears to have been enough to satisfy Turnbull, who makes no mention of wood supply and harvesting impacts in his draft decision, published on the Australian Government website. This despite the fact that of the 279 public submissions on the Gunns application, 180 raised the issue of harvesting and wood supply as a major concern.

The state and federal governments’ response to this finding was to water down the wording of the Tasmanian RFA and modify the EPBC Act so that third-party action will be considerably more difficult. Malcolm Turnbull should carefully consider the potential long-term impact on threatened species of the timber extraction required to support the mill and whether there has been adequate assessment of the risks. If he approves the mill without such an assessment, his stated commitments to rigour and best practice will sound hollow.

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Dr Brendan Wintle is a senior research fellow in environmental science at the University of Melbourne and a member of the Australian Forestry Standard Technical Reference Committee. Dr Sarah Bekessy is a senior lecturer in environment and planning, RMIT University.