TIMBER company Gunns — desperate to lure investors to its proposed $2 billion pulp mill — has begun secretly courting conservationists, holding talks with Greens leader Bob Brown and The Wilderness Society.
The Australian has learned both Senator Brown and TWS representatives have in recent months met Gunns management as the company seeks to reduce community opposition to the mill.
Senator Brown met Gunns chairman John Gay at the Launceston Country Club and Casino several months ago, as the company sought to know what it would take to blunt the Greens’ staunch opposition to the mill.
While the meeting, understood to have taken place over dinner, ended without significant progress, both men have left their doors open to further discussions.
Given that Mr Gay had previously tried to sue the Tasmanian senator in the infamous Gunns20 lawsuit, the meeting will come as a surprise to many on both sides of the pulp mill and forestry debates.
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Movement by Senator Brown on the project would sway other conservationists, and Gunns strategists feel that, as mill opponents are scaring off investors at a crucial stage in negotiations and local opinion is divided, it is logical to engage their critics.
Senator Brown is understood to have outlined the Greens’ bottom line that any mill be based entirely on plantations and that the bleaching technology involved be totally chlorine-free (TCF). While Mr Gay was open to plantation feed-stock — the company is attempting to source enough plantation timber at start-up to avoid the use of native forests — TCF remains problematic because of significant extra cost.
It is understood the conversation became less cosy as it drew on and as Senator Brown insisted the Tamar Valley, with its burgeoning food and wine industries and existing air-pollution problem, was not an acceptable site for a pulp mill. Mr Gay, a man known for straight talk and occasionally shooting from the hip, is understood to have thundered that he would see “his” mill built, come what may and that it was not up to others to dictate its design and location.
The Australian has learned that another meeting took place about a month ago between members of The Wilderness Society and Gunns. TWS pulp mill campaigner Paul Oosting said there had been some follow-up conversations recently.
