Scrutiny on Pulp Mill Process Welcomed

Our Common Ground today welcomed the Timber Communities Australia?s focus on an advertisement featuring former RPDC member Dr Warwick Raverty. The ad is part of Our Common Ground?s campaign to solve the conflict over forests in Tasmania.

It’s clear that we won?t end old fights in our forests as politicians of the major parties continue to ignore what most Tasmanians want, said Judy Tierney, spokesperson for Our Common Ground. ?But that?s exactly what happened in re-writing rules to approve the pulp mill.

The subversion of due process that occurred is one of the worst examples of ordinary Tasmanians’ rights being trampled on, she continued. It should be an election issue, so we welcome debate about our ad.

In the advertisement, Dr Raverty, a pulp mill expert, highlights the fact that when the pulp mill did not meet standards, and Gunns withdrew from the process, the politicians from both major parties rammed through laws that removed the public’s rights to properly scrutinize the project, even if there was corruption.

It is clearly on the public record that former head of the RPDC, Simon Cooper, in 2007 had written a letter to the Premier that was to indicate that the mill was critically non-compliant, she continued, We would urge and welcome a full investigation into the pulp mill process and an inquiry into why ordinary Tasmanians rights were removed, she concluded.

Our Common Ground is a coalition of community and business leaders, environment groups and timber workers who are committed to finding a solution to the conflict over forestry in Tasmania.
Judy Tierney, Our Common Ground