Last week Gunns’ PR Francis Duffy contacted Pulp the Mill spokesperson Lucy Landon-Lane wanting to arrange a meeting with the group.
Ms Duffy acknowledged that several members of Pulp the Mill had participated in the public Forest Stewardship Council certification discussions held earlier in the week but that the group had previously refused to meet with Gunns to talk about the proposed pulp mill in the Tamar Valley.
Again, Pulp the Mill refused to meet with Gunns.
Lucy Landon-Lane said: “While we applaud the fact that Gunns is seeking Forest Stewardship Council certification for its forestry operations, we will never approve of the Tamar Valley pulp mill.
“The assessment process was fundamentally flawed and completely inadequate, and the proposed mill will never have the support from the majority of the community for a whole range of reasons.
“These reasons include the fact people’s health will be seriously affected by the stinking pollution from the mill; their safety compromised by hundreds more trucks on our highways; the pristine waters of Bass Strait where threatened species live will be the dumping ground for toxic effluent; and our precious forests trashed.
“The Tamar Valley is home to over 100,000 people who will be adversely affected by this dreadful mill; and our established and sustainable primary production and tourism industries will be seriously compromised, with no recourse for legal compensation due to section 11 of the Pulp Mill Assessment Act.”
“The Tamar Valley is simply the wrong site for any kind of pulp mill, and we will continue to protest until Gunns withdraws its proposal. We feel there are no grounds for compromise on this issue, and therefore we have decided that there is no reason for us to meet with Gunns.” she said.
Dave Groves, Saturday morning, July 24:
Earlier:
Greens: Tourism and pulp mill don’t mix …
Greens Senate candidate, Peter Whish-Wilson, is asking why the federal government is happy to give $100,000 for wine tourism in the Tamar Valley when continuing to support an unpopular, risky and socially divisive pulp mill proposal that threatens to drive tourists elsewhere.
The grant, announced by Federal Minister for Tourism, Martin Ferguson, in Launceston today is designed to boost the growing wine tourism industry in the state’s North East.
“This $100,000 TQUAL grant was given to Tamar Valley Wineries to promote our premium wine products to the world and to develop and support high quality wine tourism visitor experiences to Tamar Valley Wineries.
“As an owner of a Tamar Valley Vineyard and a recipient of these funds, I’d like to thank Mr Ferguson for this wine tourism promotion grant, and his support for the Tamar Valley Vineyards and Wineries.
“I’d also like to thank him for his recognition of the commercial imperative for wine tourism businesses to market themselves on the things that are special to the Tamar Valley.
“This place has fantastic people, a great community and wonderful scenery, and this is what the TQUAL grant is all about.
“I’d like to highlight again that the TQUAL Grant stresses the importance of marketing the Tamar Valley’s “Visual identify”.
“What sort of visual identity are we going to have in the Tamar Valley if the Gunns Ltd proposal to build one of the world’s biggest Pulp Mills, with its smokestacks, fugitive emissions and thousands of daily log truck movements becomes a reality?
“Mr Ferguson and Prime Minister Gillard’s federal Labor Government have been big supporters of this proposal in the past, which contradicts the spirit of this TQUAL Grant.
“I am running for the Greens on the Senate ticket because many people from the Tamar Valley and across Tasmania are still strongly opposed to this rotten Pulp Mill proposal, and the Tamar Valley needs closure on this issue before we can move on with our lives.
“I call on Martin Fergusson and Julia Gillard’s Labor Government to clarify its current support for the Gunns Ltd proposal, and address the massive contradiction evident here today with this TQUAL grant”.
