Mill: Most Australians don’t want it

Ed Coper GetUp

“The pulp mill approval process was fraught with controversy, and weighted heavily to favour Gunns – the people’s concerns haven’t been adequately considered, and this poll shows just how much they have been ignored,” said GetUp Campaigns Coordinator Ed Coper. “The Federal Government has always supported this mill – there are still several avenues open to Mr Garrett and Mr Rudd to prevent its construction, in accordance with the wishes of 61% of the nation and 65% of their supporter base.” “Gunns is without a financier, without a Tasmanian Premier heavily backing the project, and without the support of almost two in every three people. The Federal and Tasmanian governments, both having acquiesced to Gunns’ demands in granting approval to this mill, need to ask themselves whose interests they are representing – certainly not the vast majority of the Australian people, as this poll shows.” “We will be looking very hard at the avenues open to our 280,000 members to apply pressure to anyone proactively supporting this ill-thought and deeply unpopular project, be it potential investors or the Government who should be representing the best interests of their constituents,” said Mr Coper.
www.getup.org.au
PRESS RELEASE EMBARGOED UNTIL 22ND JUNE 2008

Australians Oppose Gunns Pulp Mill: New Poll
Federal Government Urged to Reconsider its Support

A nationwide GetUp-commissioned poll has found Australians overwhelmingly oppose the building of the Gunns pulp mill in Tasmania’s Tamar Valley.

The poll found 61% of Australians oppose the building of the mill.

Opposition to the mill was strong across all demographics, including voting intention, with 65% of ALP voters declaring their opposition to the building of the mill.

“The pulp mill approval process was fraught with controversy, and weighted heavily to favour Gunns – the people’s concerns haven’t been adequately considered, and this poll shows just how much they have been ignored,” said GetUp Campaigns Coordinator Ed Coper.

“The Federal Government has always supported this mill – there are still several avenues open to Mr Garrett and Mr Rudd to prevent its construction, in accordance with the wishes of 61% of the nation and 65% of their supporter base.”

“Gunns is without a financier, without a Tasmanian Premier heavily backing the project, and without the support of almost two in every three people. The Federal and Tasmanian governments, both having acquiesced to Gunns’ demands in granting approval to this mill, need to ask themselves whose interests they are representing – certainly not the vast majority of the Australian people, as this poll shows.”

“We will be looking very hard at the avenues open to our 280,000 members to apply pressure to anyone proactively supporting this ill-thought and deeply unpopular project, be it potential investors or the Government who should be representing the best interests of their constituents,” said Mr Coper.

Over 25,000 GetUp members previously expressed their concerns to the EPBC Inquiry, 31,500 emailed their concerns to ANZ about the financing of the mill, and over 1,000 agreed to visit their branch manager in person. Over $130,000 was raised to run full-page newspaper ads encouraging potential investors not to finance the mill and encouraging the new Tasmanian Premier to distance himself from the mill.

About GetUp: GetUp.org.au is an independent movement to build a progressive Australia.
GetUp brings together like-minded people who want to bring participation back into our democracy. GetUp has over 180,000 members nationwide.
www.getup.org.au Page 2 of 2

GetUp! Poll
Conducted by Essential Research between the 10th – 15th June 2008
n=1019 adults 18+

Q: The recent resignation of the Tasmanian Premier Paul Lennon and the decision by the ANZ Bank to withdraw its involvement from Gunns proposed pulp mill in Tasmania’s Tamar Valley has resulted in more debate on this issue. Do you personally support the building of the pulp mill or oppose the building of the pulp mill?

Support Oppose
TOTAL 39% 61%
Male 45 55
Female 34 66
ALP voter 35 65
Liberal/National voter 48 52
Green voter 21 79
Other/Independent voter 35 65
18-24 44 56
25-34 38 62
35-49 39 61
50+ 38 62

The data gathered for this report is gathered from a weekly online omnibus conducted by Your Source.

Your Source is an Australian social and market research company specializing in recruitment, field research, data gathering and data analysis. Your Source holds Interviewer Quality Control Australia
(IQCA) accreditation, Association Market and Social Research Organisations (AMSRO) membership and World Association of Opinion and Marketing Research Professionals (ESOMAR) membership.

Senior Your Source staff hold Australian Market and Social Research Society (AMSRS) membership and are bound by professional codes of behavior.

Your Source has a self managed consumer online panel of 109 500. The majority of panel members have been recruited using off line methodologies, effectively ruling out concerns associated with online self selection. Your Source has validation methods in place that prevent panelist over use and ensure member authenticity. Your Source randomly selects 18+ males and females (with the aim of targeting 50/50 males/females) from its Australia wide panel. An invitation is sent out to approximately 7000 – 8000 of their panel members. The response rate varies each week, but usually delivers 1000 + responses. The Your Source online omnibus is live from the Wednesday of each week and closed on the following Tuesday. Incentives are offered to participants in the form of points (referred to as ʻZointsʼ). EMC uses the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software to analyse the data. The data is weighted against Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data.

About GetUp: GetUp.org.au is an independent movement to build a progressive Australia.

GetUp brings together like-minded people who want to bring participation back into our democracy. GetUp has over 180,000 members nationwide.