ROCKY
Rob, Honni and others who appear to be supporting the proposed pulp mill. You may well understand the actions and attitudes of those opposed to it a little better if you would look a the WHOLE sorry saga from the beginning until now.
I do not need to detail the rather long list of actions carried out by Gunns and the Labour Government that have offended people over the last four to five years, but briefly here are some of the undetailed issues;
Our business have been put on hold. Our properties have been devalued. We have been sprayed and subjected to other environmental crimes such as waterways poisoned. We have watched as plantations have marched across our regions, relegating rural communities into the endangered classification. The Pal policy, a monster of social engineering, has been thrust into our lives along with its dictatorial imposts on what we are allowed to do on our own properties. Gunns and other Forestry companies are exempt from these same controls, galling us even more.
We have suffered the persistent pollution of burn offs. We have watched as our carbon contribution rises well out of proportion to this small (clean green?) State. Our concerns have all been but ignored yet heaven help us if we did the same.
We have watched as thousands of hectares have been trashed resulting in huge plant and animal destruction. (Plantations may well be made up of trees but they do not make a forest along with its multitude of other species.) We have watched pastures ruined as chemical trespass took place. We have watched as neighbours have lost stock to poisoning. We have watched as long term water supplies have dried up.
We have seen the corrupt liason between Gunns and the Government and the Local Councils. The PMAA and section 11, the withdrawal from the RPDC. We have listened to the most outrageous statements you could ever hear come from the mouth of Gunns Chairman John Gay. We have watched as Gunns sued protesters in an attempt to intimidate any resistance. We have watched helplessly as political manipulations have side lined the community in favour of Gunns. We are confronted with new laws that render the ordinary citizen voiceless and nothing short of impotent when trying to speak out against these issues. We have stood by mistakingly waiting for community consultation by Gunns.
We have polled the people and seen the support we have and yet no one listend. We have marched in the streets of Launceston and Hobart, upto fifteen thousand strong and still no one listend. We have peacefully protested in the forests. We have lobbied parliament and presented petitions well in excess of twenty thousand and so what?
Rob and Honni, we have certainly tried all things and it has achieved zilch. So now a group called FART tries something different. Well in my opinion good on them! Gunns are not the good corporate citizen they like to make out they are, they are like a plague, a black shadow oozing across the landscape. For many years now they have worked behind the scenes with their legal and political cohorts to exact their control over Tasmania and Tasmanians. This has been a long time in the planning and the devastation, both social and physical will persist for even longer.
I really don’t know if you can comprehend the depth of feeling I and others have after putting up with years of lies, manipulations and social destruction, all for the greed of a corporation. And when I discover that Gunns have control over what I do on my own property, then this for me, becomes the straw that breaks the camels back.
Make no mistake out there, Gunns and their minions have raised their stakes from the disliked to the detested. And I for one will not forget the massive imposition they have imposed upon my life. The mental, physical, social and financial cost thrust on me will require much more than my liftime to forget. I hate the very name of Gunns and all it now stands for. I dread the thought that this shocking and corrupt organization intends to build a pulp mill. I will therefore fight this and continue the protest by any means available to me.
As Bob McMahon said, “we have been put outside the law.” so if that’s what it takes, so be it. If you think FART is overboard then you’re certainly in for a surprise.
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