Gunns Ltd has gained finance for the Tamar Valley pulp mill, says TAP Into A Better Tasmania.
The Joint Venture Partner is a Japanese Pulp and Paper group.
Federal and State Labor colluded in the deal, says TAP.
“Highly confidential information was made available to TAP on the evening of November 10th, 2009,” said TAP spokesperson Bob McMahon.
“The information throws up the following serious questions,” said McMahon.
Is it true that Gunns Ltd has managed to find finance to construct its pulp mill through a joint venture partnership with a Japanese Pulp and Paper Group (unnamed)?
Is it true that in order to achieve this joint venture partnership Gunns has been obliged to give away between half and two thirds equity in Gunns Ltd?
Is it true that the Tasmanian State Labor Government and Federal Labor Government were party to the deal and made it possible by giving guarantees that only governments can give?
Is it true that the Tasmanian Labor Government has provided resource guarantees of land, forests and water as well as guaranteeing compulsory acquisition of land for the pulp mill water pipeline easement?
Is it true that the Federal Government has guaranteed subsidies for capital works and equipment?
If the Federal Government involvement is true then how does this square with the requirement under the EPBC Act for Gunns to complete hydrodynamic modelling and for the research to be assessed by the Federal Government prior to their granting approvals?
ABC Radio News: says the JVP is Sodra …
And The BusinessSpectator too: Sweden’s Sodra in talks on Gunns pulp mill
What the Wilderness Society says: HERE
Concerned Resident
November 10, 2009 at 12:31
How bloody dodgy can the labor gov’t be (with the liberals support).
The pollies actually make my blood boil…to think we will now be funding Gunns and their destructive ways.
The Federal gov’t is no better…what the hell do they think they are doing…risking the health of all Tasmanians for corporate greed.
Both levels of gov’t ,federal and state selling, no giving, if they have promised subsidies, to the Japanese. I thought the Japs had more credibility than this as well because they were refusing to take chips from old growth timber…
I am so didillusioned with all this…it makes me sick…what the hell are they doing to our beautiful Tassie?
Mary
November 10, 2009 at 16:09
Is this for real? Where is your evidence Bob?
I find it very difficult to believe that TAP received highly confidential information in relation to the Bell Bay pulp mill.
James
November 10, 2009 at 16:20
What an preposterous piece of writing.
It starts off with a blatant statement, yet it really only contains questions about whether or not the original statement is true?
Tappin On
November 10, 2009 at 17:02
That explains the bus load of Japanese that was touring around Rowella last week. We saw quite a bit of activity on the site with choppers up and down like bunjis. Soon after a bus load stopped near Chartley Estate and started snapping and flashing – obviously taking photos of the cleared site. Then they headed off to the Tamar Ridge Vineyard.
I reckon Bob’s on the money.
Pete Godfrey
November 10, 2009 at 20:15
I am hoping that it is April 1st come late. Otherwise there may well be a lot of trouble in Tasmania in the near future.
Annie
November 10, 2009 at 20:27
Mary – Comment 3. Why wouldn’t the ONLY group truly representing the interests of the affected community (ie not just conservation/wilderness interests, but ground roots community interests) be privy to highly confidential information?
As for “Where is your evidence, Bob?” the nature of confidentiality means that exactly – confidential. So he’s not going to divulge it to you, Mary. Sorry.
How about you wait a wee while – until, say, March next year – and it will probably be proven that Bob has hit the nail squarely on the head.
salamander
November 10, 2009 at 22:11
Just so long as no one thinks we will EVER, EVER, EVER give up!
Bryan
November 10, 2009 at 22:31
Oooops !
smithee
November 11, 2009 at 02:59
Given that the pulp mill has all along been closely tied to the political system, where will this fit in with the election ?
Will the Lib-Labs and Gunns arrange things so that nothing is revealed until after the election ? A renewal of pulp mill protests would have to benefit the Greens… or would it ?
Jon Pitt
November 11, 2009 at 09:49
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO to the pulp mill. We don’t want the pulp mill !
Annie
November 11, 2009 at 11:14
I did say GROUP, Don, (#11). Of course there are many individuals working hard to stop this thing. Why don’t you read things properly before shooting off your mouth – dyslexia notwithstanding?
The way you carry on one would think that you are the only person working to scuttle this thing.
max
November 11, 2009 at 11:22
Why would John Gay tell the Stock Exchange that he was talking to Sodra and then say he wouldn’t or couldn’t meet their strict guide lines. Surely this means that he is no longer talking to Sodra, perhaps he is selling Tasmania’s forests to Japanese interests as mentioned and knows that this would not be in the best interests of Tasmanians. If this is the case we have a LibLab coalition willing to go along with the sell-out of Tasmania and with all the subsidies given to plantations and forestry we will be paying for the take over of our land. The AGM was held on remembrance day, what would all the people who fought and died to stop the Japanese take over of Australia think.
john hayward
November 11, 2009 at 11:54
Gunns fully owns less than 100,000 ha of plantion, with much of their claimed 300,000 ha being in MIS or mainland pine plantations. Do they feel they can hoodwink potential JVs as though they were mere Tasmanians?
John Hayward
Mary
November 11, 2009 at 12:24
You have got to be kidding Annie. I note that none of the media have taken this rubbish seriously, not a peep to be heard. If it is confidential as you say then why pray-tell put out a media release with a strange hotch-potch of information, completely discredited by the statements of Gunns later the same day.
My theory is that TAP knew that they would only generate a pathetically small number of protestors (including all their friends and relatives), I think 50 was reported, so they put out complete rubbish statements to try to generate waning interest. Didn’t work.
Annie
November 11, 2009 at 13:06
Wait, Mary………….W-A-I-T……….it’s coming and you will look very, very stoopid!
Mary
November 11, 2009 at 15:18
There are only two people looking stoopid at the moment, and I am not one of them. I won’t be waiting with baited breath until March next year.
Valleywatcher
November 11, 2009 at 15:36
#19: Got YOUR interest, Mary!
Consider for a moment – it was a work day and most TAP Into A Better Tasmania members have jobs – bit hard to be in two places at once.
mary
November 11, 2009 at 15:44
#22 only because I am wondering how low these people will go.
I imagine they do, however given that supposidly the “majority” of Tasmanians are against the mill surely they could have done better than 50 people. Especially since the protest actually in Launceston.
Phil Lohrey
November 12, 2009 at 14:52
Finance for the pulp mill is the biggest story in Tasmania.
The present status of finance is mired in secrecy.
Lindsay has flagged the claims and contradictions. He reiterates the burning questions raised by TAP. Aren’t they worth serious examination?
But wait!! Hasn’t this forum been turned into something else?
Mill proponents will love the trivial discourse.
What happened to commitment to debate? – Seems our concerns have been tipped into some laundry basket..
John Hawkins
November 12, 2009 at 20:49
THIS IS PROBABLY THE MOST IMPORTANT POST SO FAR ON TAS TIMES.Gunns have not seen fit to reply or deny the Japanese connection which TAP thinks is signed sealed and delivered I wonder why? Sodra have through Leif Broden President and CEO made it quite plain that they are not the JVP.If a Japanese deal has been done with the knowledge of Rudds Federal Labour Government before the Bass Strait study is released the result is cooked and someone will go to jail.Federal Labour will be yet another victim of the Grest Pulp Mill Swindle.
Phil Lohrey
November 13, 2009 at 01:31
Yes, John, #29. This is the most important story ever concerning the mill; despite, perhaps, because of our ignorance. ‘Our’ representatives are cooking it all up right now. We will be told when it’s done. Imagine that: the deal with the biggest ever consequences for this island; taking place behind closed doors; now.
Some of us have been lulled into a false sense of security. There have been several false alarms. Now, the portents are there. The share market is reviving. Credit is easing. Contacts have been made. The pollies are onside. The laws are in place; final approvals given or implied; subsidies agreed; infrastructure all but sewn up. Gullible members of the public have been reassured. Even enquiring people will be caught off-guard. The reason: the media’s collusion/apathy and/or timidity.
Despite; perhaps, because of life-long consequences for us and the place where we live, we are no party to this world-scale deal; at all.
Brad Rawmiller
November 13, 2009 at 09:06
DON’T FORGET THE AEROGUARD!!!
If these unkempt flea ridden hippies were as dedicated as they like to make out they would make the ultimate sacrifice. Stand on the footpath in Murray Street, wait for a log truck to come along and throw themseleves under it. Not only would they make martyrs of themselves to the 4 or %5 of the population who don’t want a pulp mill it would provide a good belly laugh for 95% of Tasmanians that do want a pulp mill. The media would love it as well. The Wilderness Society could hold a press conference every Sunday and Oosting could read out the names of the deceased accompanied by some idiot playing a bugle and another banging a saucepan with a stick.
Christopher Purcell
November 13, 2009 at 11:25
Boags beer & Pura milk are already owned by the Japanese. Why not sell the rest of Tasmania to them?
The Japanese see their own forests as sacred in the extreme. Easy target…
Charles and Claire Gilmour
November 13, 2009 at 12:31
“Mr Gay said the Bell Bay Pulp Mill would take advantage of Gunns’ growing plantation timber resource.
(What they really mean is … Gunns will take every conceivable advantage of Tasmania and Tasmanians to grow their woodchip and pulpwood business.)
“Gunns has a long-term aim to transform the company from a native woodchip business to a plantation-based company,†he said.
(What they really mean is … Gunns has had a long-term aim to transform the state from native sawlogs to chip and pulp wood. This has been achieved largely by transferring publicly owned state forest to a pulp wood driven company.)
“In the past 20 years, the company has purchased or secured more than 300,000 hectares of land for plantation development.â€
(What they really mean is … For 20 years they have been conning the public, getting the two major parties on side, creating a dodgy scheme to secure good soil and well watered food farms, and ensuring Forestry Tasmania toes the line to secure access to state native forests to woodchip and grow their preferred woodchip come pulp wood.)
“The company’s resource development has been aimed at producing a product that replaces native forest woodchips which have traditionally been exported to Asiaâ€
(What they really mean is … The company’s resource development has been aimed at: 1. clearfelling a traditionally local sawlog building resource into producing untraditional woodchips. and 2. replacing native forests with pulpwood plantations so they can continue to create a new tradition of exporting a resource that does not belong to them so they can import the rewards into their own and shareholders pockets at the expense of local communities.)
“Now the company is endeavouring to build a domestic pulp mill to process this plantation resource.
(What they really mean is … Now the company is endeavouring to use what ever means necessary to bypass any legal or environmental impediment to create a factory to ensure the states forest industry is perpetually woodchip and pulpwood driven and not sawlog, let alone carbon storage driven.)
“This is due to the location and quality of the wood resource, the scale and design of the mill and proximity of the mill to the Asian market.â€
(What they really mean is … This is due to the preferred company compliant nature of the average Tasmanian Labor and Liberal politician, the low quality of the their integrity, and the scale of unnatural justice they are willing to design so to place Tasmania as a pawn for an Asian market.)
“Mr Gay said there were a number of opportunities arising to secure management and ownership of other plantation assets and processing operations.â€
(What they really mean is … The opportunity has been underhandedly created to squeeze out even more good farms; accompanied with an acquiescent GBE which will continue to: 1. sow plantations in state forest, (albeit some by air rather than in hand planted straight rows), and 2. give preferential treatment to this company over smaller locally owned sawmillers; and with frenzied government subsidized MIS stimulation they will be able to continue to capitalize on securing, possessing and divesting even more of the diverse nature of Tasmania for their greedy single minded operation.)
Has the government given Gunns the power to, what will basically be, partly selling off or transferring the rights to 40% of Tasmania’s state forests and farms to an overseas joint venture partnering company via a pulp mill deal? Can, what was crown land converted to state forest, be automatically handed to a foreign company through a pulp mill deal? Wasn’t the supply agreement for use of state forest and the subsequent plantations just between Gunns and the state? Will a new contract/agreement have to be drawn up when/if a foreign company is involved? Is state land/forests protected from foreign takeover? What if the JVP in the future decides not to be part of the pulp mill but just wants the state forest resources? What deals are being done? If the Labor government has been so slack they had to introduce a ‘clarification’ bill, how are the public assured that any new deals are infact legal?
joey
November 13, 2009 at 15:39
wow brad, so insightful! and accurate of course..
Factfinder
November 14, 2009 at 03:32
Facts please:
Japan’s Timber Trade and Forestry
http://www.jca.apc.org/jatan/eng/japan-e.html
Japan is the world’s largest importer of wood, pulp, and paper products that are traded on the world market. Thus, Japan’s impact is felt in many countries around the world, including the USA, Canada, Russia, Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia, Chile and many others. About one third of all logs exported from Malaysia and Russia, plywood from Indonesia and sawn wood from Chile are destined for Japan. Almost all of the woodchip exported from Australia, the USA and Chile is also headed to Japan.
Outside Japan, Japanese timber and trading corporations are known for their devastating logging techniques and their violation of community rights to resources. For example, in 1990 the Japanese paper company Daishowa blatantly disregarded the Lubicon Lake Indian Nation’s land rights in Alberta, Canada and began clear-cutting the forests of the Lubicon territory.
Many Japanese advocacy groups have been campaigning for years to reduce logging in Southeast Asia. They have also been working on local governments to reduce tropical timber consumption for public construction. Yet Japan continues to support deforestation in the tropics as well as the world’s temperate forests.
Japan’s forests cover 66% of the land, making it one of the most heavily forested countries in the world. However, after liberalizing timber import in 1960, the Japanese wood self-sufficiency rate has consistently decreased from 86.7% to 19.2% in 1999. The Japanese forest industry has been defeated by cheap wood shipped from abroad. The cheap price, however, does not include environmental costs.
During this period Japanese wood production has decreased one third, and the number of forestry workers has fallen to one-sixth of its previous number.
Because of the decline of the industry and small number of new young workers, the number of forestry workers over 65 years old climbed to 29% in 1999.
After World War II, large-scale softwood plantations, such as cedar and cypress, were established in order to meet growing domestic wood demand. Now plantations account for 40% of Japanese forests. Maintenance such as weeding, cleaning cutting, thinning and pruning is needed for plantation management. However, demand for domestic wood is low and maintenance such as thinning is not put into practice. The result is that overcrowded, poor-growing, thin trees are left as is and little sunlight in the dense forest limits undergrowth, causing surface soil erosion. The situation not only disturbs efficient use of timber resources, but also leaves forests vulnerable to disease and pests and can cause disasters such as landslides when heavy rain. Reforestation is not put into practice after logging, making the situation even more serious.
Today, annual forest growth in Japan has reached 70 million cubic meters, but annual wood production is 19 million cubic meters, or less than one third of annual growth. If appropriate forest management and proper evaluation are realized throughout the world, and Japanese forestry is revitalized, impacts to forests overseas by Japanese wood demand could be reduced. However, current international trade and investment negotiations are taking Japan in another direction.