The Tasmanian Greens today called on Premier David Bartlett to accept that Gunns’ proposal for a Tamar Valley pulp mill has no social licence, no finance, no shareholder support, and will never proceed.
Greens Pulp Mill spokesperson Kim Booth MP said thousands of Tasmanians have marched against the mill, hundreds have been arrested, there has been political turmoil, the loss of faith in the previous Lennon government, a number of court cases likely to reach the High Court, the departure of Gunns chief John Gay, and the collapse in value of Gunns Limited, and it is now patently obvious that the mill proposal is dead.
Mr Booth also said that the mill proposal is still unable to achieve finance, and will never receive a social licence from the Forest Stewardship Council.
“The Premier must accept that the people of Tasmania, Gunns’ shareholders, and international financiers do not want any part of the divisive proposal for a Tamar Valley pulp mill,” said Mr Booth.
“The only people in Tasmania who still believe in this divisive proposal are David Bartlett and his Labor Party, and I am calling on them to acknowledge reality and accept that the pulp mill proposal is obviously dead.”
“It is time for David Bartlett to abandon this socially divisive and damaging project in order that Tasmanian timber workers and the community can move on into a socially acceptable industry,” said Mr Booth.
Greens table petition against Forestry burns
Tim Morris MP Greens Member for Lyons MR
The Tasmanian Greens today tabled a petition against the high intensity burning conducted by the forest industry every autumn.
Greens Member for Lyons, Tim Morris MP, said another 70 people have signed this petition, the latest in a long line of petitions generated by the community in opposition to the poisoning of their airshed by high intensity forestry burns during the autumn months.
“Every year my office receives phone calls, complaints, and petitions against the forest industry’s poisoning of the air people breathe, and this petition is yet another chapter in that story,” said Mr Morris.
“It is high time that the forest industry stopped using our air as a dumping ground for their smoke, and stopped blaming others for the smoke as they have an increasing tendency to do these days.”
“The Greens will continue campaigning against the archaic forestry practice of using high-intensity burns to incinerate massive amounts unnecessary logging waste every autumn,” said Mr Morris.
