A sorry state of affairs

According to the Deputy Mayor of Meander Valley, the council has lost $20 million per year because of the conversion of farm land to plantations and also, we have lost over 150 jobs in the area. This sum is now reflected in these increased rates demands we are receiving.

Under the PAL Act and the various amendments and also under the earlier planning acts, plantations were granted a ‘Permitted’ status, which means they bypass all planning laws and can be established without having to ask or gain consent from the council. Once these plantations are also declared a Private Timber Reserve (PTR), they also become exempt from all local, state and land taxes, or at the most, pay a mere token.

This now means that we as ratepayers in Meander Valley are directly subsidising the timber corporations who own the timber and the land to the tune of $20 Million per year through our rates. This fact was never explained by the council or even mentioned during the ‘public consultation’ period of the PAL Act and the amendments when they were first mooted and over which 1800 people petitioned against and the 321 written objections were entirely rejected by the then council.

Nor was it explained that in the drafting of the PAL Act there was substantial input from Gunns itself via their lawyer, Stuart McElwain, who also just happened to be the official lawyer for the Meander Valley Council and advised them on the Amendments to this Act, which they then drove through regardless of public opinion and which has subsequently become law. A wonderful piece of legislation that enshrines the right of the timber giants to access your back pocket!

The failure of the council to inform the public of these consequences of their actions I would consider a gross abnegation of their duty of care and demonstrates their willingness to favour the timber corporation’s welfare above the people they are supposedly there to represent. All the motions to pass this horrific piece of legislation, which declared people dwellings as ‘sensitive’ and ‘fettering’ agricultural land (read plantations) were carried with a majority of 7 to 2, with only the Deputy Mayor, Bob Loone, and one other councillor, Bob Richardson, voting in favour of the residents of Meander Valley.

As more and more plantations consume our farmland, the situation can only get progressively worse. It is not just Meander Council where this applies, but EVERY council in Tasmania. Even at a mere fifty percent of Meander’s losses over the 28 other councils, this equates to a loss of revenue in the region of $300 Million plus per annum and approximately 5000 jobs lost! This also equates to a direct subsidy to Gunns and the other MIS companies of that amount of money, without which, Gunns would have posted at least a $200 Million loss in the last year if they had to pay their rates and taxes on this land they have bought with tax-free investor’s money! Further, much of the rates that are collected by the council are spent on maintaining the infrastructure that is annually destroyed by the massive log trucks – a further indirect subsidy for Gunns.

It must be noted, that for the purposes of the PAL Act, plantations are officially classified as a ‘crop’. However, no food crop or any other farm produced crop gets the benefits of this singularly unique form of benefit. Once converted to plantation use, the terms of the MIS contracts specify that this is in perpetuity, and the land can be used for no other purpose, ever! Further, the plantations, apart from being an eye-sore, drastically reduce the water supply, silt the rivers, reduce tourism revenue, are planted in water catchment areas, are heavily dependent on toxic sprays and are themselves toxic, yet they are singled out for all these special treatments and privileges!

The revenue generated from these green wastelands almost entirely disappears offshore as the so-called ‘crop’ almost exclusively ends up in Gunns chip mills. The shareholders benefit fully from this scheme, and only 17% of Gunns shares are owned by Tasmanians, and that mostly by the directors of the company. It is through this operation and the plunder of our native forests that John Gay made the top ten in the Australian rich list, but despite these enormous drains on the public purse, and every advantage being thrown their way, Gunns has still performed so badly that they are hugely in debt and cannot pay for the infrastructure they have had built for them or for the timber they have received during the last three years from our forests.

Yet both sides of our government are falling over themselves to continue with this fiasco and further promote the pulp mill which will exacerbate the current problem tenfold. More local job losses, more plantations, more subsides, more rate hikes, more water losses, more chemical sprays, more log trucks, more health problems, more draconian governance – and for what? So that Gunns can mine our resources for the benefit of their shareholders at our expense.

To coincide with this, I have just received my latest rates demand – with the commensurate annual increase. However, there is no stated reason for the increase and no note of what proportion of the money they are demanding from me goes to finance Gunns.

Does anybody else realise this?