Pulp mill refuses to die

MATTHEW DENHOLM, Australian

THE scandal, controversy and speculation surrounding Gunns’ pulp mill has become a part of life in Tasmania.

There are schoolchildren who were the proverbial twinkle in their parents’ eyes when the saga began.

The debate has tarnished the political careers of some while breathing life into others, helped fund the retirement of scores of lawyers and divided an already fractured community.

After at least five years of wrangling, victory for either side remains elusive. Politicians continue to find a definite position as difficult to locate as one of those smelly fugitive odours so feared by the mill’s opponents.

During the past two weeks there has been yet another significant repositioning by leaders locally and in Canberra. Former Labor premier Paul Lennon’s obsession with the pulp mill – and the stink surrounding his fast-tracking of it – was a factor in his downfall.

Cognisant of this, his successor, David Bartlett, began by treating the project like the plague. He and his ministers – once willing to use taxpayers’ money to fund a travelling bus promoting the mill – were suddenly playing down its economic importance.

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Now, faced with collapsing revenues, investment and employment, Bartlett has had a sudden conversion. This week, when Gunns said it was down to one possible joint venture partner (thought to be Swedish firm Sodra), he was overjoyed.

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Like a man dying of thirst sticking out his tongue to catch a solitary raindrop, he hailed the news as “a major vote of confidence in the Tasmanian economy”: “This is a positive step forward in creating new jobs for Tasmania and in ensuring that a world’s best practice pulp mill will be constructed in our state.”

Federally, on June 23 Forestry Minister Tony Burke made a ministerial statement that sounded like a Gunns commercial, complete with the company’s extravagant job claims: On TT: No Sodra ticks for Gunns, Burke reads from the Gunns script

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People of the Tamar Valley, be warned; the mill – and government support for it – is back in vogue in the corridors of power.

Comment by Conor Duffy, 7.30 Report:

Tasmanian Government says no to tabling Gunns letters

This week the 7:30 Report broke a story about documents on the potential impacts of the Gunns pulp mill that had been kept secret for four years.

The story has caused a bit of a stir in Tasmania, where news about the $2 billion pulp mill has been analysed for five years now.

Gunns is one of the biggest employers in the state and its mill plan has divided some Tasmanians.

The barista at my local coffee shop has told of having blazing rows at family meals over whether it should go ahead.

Supporters say it will enable Tasmania to add value to its forest industry, creating extra jobs and exports.

Opponents say it will destroy jobs in the Tamar Valley and damage Tasmania’s clean green image.

The 7:30 Report story showed Tasmania’s peak planning body, the RPDC, was concerned the emissions from the mill could affect the quality of life of the people who live nearby.

Gunns pulled out of the RPDC two years later, and critics believe the fast track assessment set up in its place wasn’t as rigorous and didn’t address the issues in the RPDC letter. Gunns and its supporters dispute this, saying the story is old news and the mill has passed all checks.

The day after the 7.30 Report went to air, the Greens moved to table the document in state parliament and were supported by the Liberals.

But the Government used its numbers in the parliament to block the tabling of the documents, even though much of it had been broadcast on the 7:30 Report the night before.

Whatever your thoughts on the story, surely tabling and putting these documents officially on the public record so anyone could access them, could do no harm?

Tasmania’s Infrastructure Minister Graeme Sturges thought otherwise and issued a feisty press release accusing the Liberals of selling out jobs.

“Do the Liberals stand for anything at all?” Mr Sturges said.

“Despite all their failings, at least they have consistently supported the new jobs a pulp mill would bring up until now.

“But today’s backflip makes it clear that jobs and the economy are no longer a core issue for the Liberals.

“This is a clear indication to Tasmanians that the Liberal-Green alliance is alive and kicking and it is revealing of the weak approach the Liberals would take to the Greens in the event of a hung parliament that would see them governing together after the election.

“It’s clear the Greens would be running their radical anti-jobs agenda and the Liberals would not attempt to stop them just to stay in power.

“What a recipe for disaster – today had all the hallmarks of the horrendous Rundle-Milne power-sharing agreement of 1996 when the state unemployment rate hit 12 per cent.”

Tabling the documents a recipe for disaster?

An interesting argument given that one of the documents the Greens and Liberals voted to have tabled was a letter from Gunns itself.

And for the record, the Liberals are still in support of the pulp mill project.

HERE