Economy
Death of the Gunnosaur
Only the mini peaks of contrarian buying, temper the downward plunge of Gunns shares.
The sawtooth effect makes the descent even rockier and the only major rise appear in the volumes traded showing a surge in activity at the expense of the timber giant.
The beast flails aimlessly on the floor, while onlookers gloat.
The cruelty would otherwise prompt a call to put the beast out of its misery, were it not for the vile and disgusting practices, which have seen so many injustices to the Tasmanian people.
Rorts, fuelled by taxpayer and investor funds and kept from media scrutiny, by a state government, have been supported by a federal drive for export figures. The whole plantation driven MIS has also been the secret weapon by which the Rudd Government planned to divert climate change.
Along with the failed insulation scheme, Rudd proposed selling trees to major polluters as a way of offsetting carbon emissions. Not reducing them, just evading tax. The reality is that, in an effort to establish these trees, massive amounts of native forest have been destroyed, wildlife burned and poisoned and the population subjected to some of the worst cancer rates in the Western World.
Water supply has been reduced and polluted, 25% of all road fatalities are due to log truck accidents and for what? The modified trees are not in the ground long enough to have any impact on carbon sequestration and no account has been taken of the carbon lost by destroying the forests the plantations replace.
Valuable farmland, needed for food production, has also been rendered useless after just two rotations of trees and the trees themselves are toxic and poisoning water supply throughout Tasmania.
Most Tasmanians are getting ready for street parties not seen since VE Day and the Coronation as they watch the vile Gunnosaur slip into oblivion and I for one will be there to rejoice.
Meanwhile …
This is an email that went around a few dozen contractors yesterday….
Finally some good news!
Gunns have just announced that their Japanese woodchip customers have achieved certification under the FSC controlled wood program. (See attached).
The certification removes a barrier to acceptance of Tasmanian wood fibre in the Japanese market and, when combined with the lower Australian dollar will hopefully lead to increased sales in the near future. This can only be good for forest contractors.
Discussions with State Government re: the assistance package announced by Premier David Bartlett a little over a week ago, and how to get the best benefit from the funds committed, are continuing. I have had meetings with Government and industry representatives today and have more tomorrow. Due to the complexities of structuring any assistance to cover a wider number of businesses than the previous package, there is a good deal more work this time to ensure that all who should receive assistance do so. I feel quite confident that there will be action before week’s end.
The participants in the Round Table about the Timber Industry future are still undecided. The Premier appears not to be pushing Nick McKim to nominate anyone from the environment movement (or maybe they are too divided to decide themselves). In any case, the issue of industry adjustment will not go away. Neither will it be dealt with by Government at state or federal level, until the round table has concluded its deliberations.
We are continuing to use whatever pressure that we can apply, to achieve the result we need without creating any more resistance than necessary.
Kind regards,
Ed Vincent CAHRI
Chief Executive Officer
TASMANIAN FOREST CONTRACTORS ASSOCIATION