Hydro and Forestry foolishness

Ben Quin

The circumstances regarding the very poor performance of the Hydro Basslink deal should also be put to Forestry Tasmania in relation to their wood supply agreement with Gunns for the pulp mill. The total amount of public funds at stake is about the same – 2 billion.

The failure of Hydro to seriously consider the impacts of climate change and drought as part of the business case for Basslink is likely to send Hydro broke, with serious implications for the State budget.

Like Basslink, the 20 year wood supply agreement, where the majority of supply is proposed from plantations, is also a long term bet on rain. Has FT considered the potential of significantly reduced rainfall in its calculations?

The public should also be advised whether or not FT undertook a carbon-price sensitivity analysis before setting the floor price in its wood supply agreement. Perhaps they could share with the public their estimate of what the carbon price is expected to be in 2009 and how this relates to the floor price set for public native forests.

Yours sincerely,

Ben Quin

Independent Candidate for Lyons