Transcript:
BRIGID GLANVILLE, PRESENTER: Troubled timber giant Gunns is to stop logging native forests, moving the business towards managed plantations.
The move will go down well with environmentalists, and looks well timed with the Greens having more influence on Government policy.
But some in the industry are unhappy, claiming Gunns has surrendered in the ‘forestry wars’.
Here’s Emily Stewart.
EMILY STEWART, REPORTER: Gunns Limited has finally admitted it’s lost the three decade long battle with environmental groups and the majority of Australians.
Chief executive, Greg L’Strange, says the forestry industry isn’t popular and needs to modernise to survive.
GREG L’STRANGE, CHIEF EXECUIVE, GUNNS LTD.: The conflict must end. For too many people have been financially and emotionally injured in the Australian forest wars.
EMILY STEWART: The company told an industry conference in Melbourne that the future is no longer in logging native forests and lies in the more sustainable plantation model.
And for Gunns the future includes the controversial $2.3 billion Bell Bay pulp mill in Tasmania.
But instead of fighting, the timber giant now wants to work with environmental groups.
With the company moving to a more environmental friendly model it’s no longer concerned about the potential power of the Greens.
GREG L’STRANGE: The opportunity is there to work with the ENGOs to establish a sustainable framework that will move us from conflict to resolution and then promotion.
Through this inclusive approach we will find joint solutions to age old conflicts and move to a real sustainable forest industry.
EMILY STEWART: In fact, most of the industry believes a bigger role in government will moderate the views of the Greens.
SCOTT GENTLE, VICTORIAN FOREST CONTRACT ASSOCIATION: It’s welcome to the real world for The Greens. Like all of us, we’ve got to realise that when a decision is made, you’ve got to balance it out and that’s what they’re faced with.
So hopefully, you know, rather than these off the wall policies that they have we’re going to see some real politics.
EMILY STEWART: Gunns is confident about the future of the industry, despite six managed investment schemes falling over in the past two years including Willmott Forests this week.
GREG L’STRANGE: It’s a different product, different opportunity. So I’m pretty confident that forestry is an attractive long term, it’s relatively low yielding, boring, but it provides within a broader investment profile an opportunity for people to have that stable investment.
EMILY STEWART: But while Gunns is feeling warm and fuzzy the overwhelming feeling from the rest of the industry is abandonment, as the company outlined its future business plan you could cut the atmosphere with a knife.
SCOTT GENTLE: It’s public pressure, you know, this perception you’ve got to get out of native forestry, you know that’s what they want.
And look they’re a company, they’ve got to make business decisions what soots them. But you know unfortunately the fallout damage from that is timber communities, is people, and that’s never a good thing for anybody.
TERRY EDWARDS, CEO, FOREST INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION OF TASMANIA: It does cause enormous concern about the way in which they are going about this process, which will injure other smaller sawmillers and industry players and Gunns don’t appear to be having much regard for that.
EMILY STEWART: Perhaps for some, the war isn’t quite over, with not everyone keen to move away from the industry’s traditional stamping ground.
SCOTT GENTLE: You can’t just keep giving ground. I think all the science is there. We’ve given ground over the years, you know, government’s now committed to forestry.
They’re showing strong signs and we’ve got to hold that ground. We’ve got to manage what we’ve got and manage it properly. If we don’t that, you know, we’re all going to get it wrong and we’ll all be out of a job.
EMILY STEWART: But with Gunns waving a white flag, it will be up to the smaller players to continue the forest wars.
ABC Video, transcript, links: HERE
Earlier on Tasmanian Times: MIS: A final domino falls over. Forestry blames GFC. Gunns quits FIAT, says it’s lost the battle, HERE
Dr Frank Nicklason
Dear Editor (Mercury)
Gunns chief executive officer, Greg L’Estrange, suggests that the forestry industry has lost the public debate on native forest logging. ( Mercury 10/9)
That may be so but his suggested reasons for that outcome are not correct.
Mr L’Estrange asserts that environmentalists have used the key leverage point, amongst others, of “public emotion”. He says that “the industry maintained a stance that science will prevail and feudal lords will maintain the 200-year tradition of licensed access to crown land”.
A consistent, and persistent, feature of the forestry debate has been the unwillingness of forest industry leaders, and their apologists, to take seriously the warnings of independent scientists (including doctors and economists) in relation to impacts of broad scale, industrial conversion forestry in native forests and on food producing land.
Notable examples of this include the science of carbon storage in mixed native forests, the massive greenhouse gas emissions associated with so called ‘regeneration burns’, the dangers of aerially sprayed herbicides and pesticides in plantation establishment and protection, the water yield issues pertaining to thirsty plantations in catchment regions, the critical importance of maintenance of biodiversity, and the mental health effects experienced by those who bear witness to the destruction of natural and cultural heritage, and social cohesion.
Mr L’Estrange’s analysis suggests that this is an ongoing feature of the debate. It is a challenge that Gunns and other forestry industry players need to address if they are ever to achieve the prizes of an enduring acceptance and/or respect from the Tasmanian community, and Forest Stewardship Council certification.
The Age:
To finance the mill, Gunns needs to attract foreign investment and has joined with Swedish company Sodra, which is insisting the mill meet world’s best practice environmental standards and rely on plantation resource. The mill, which requires final federal approval, is still hotly opposed on environmental grounds.
Gunns and Tasmania’s environment movement have been long-time foes, culminating in a long-running bitter legal dispute brought by the company against 20 conservationists, including the Greens leader Bob Brown. The legal action failed this year.
But the deputy leader of the Greens, Christine Milne, yesterday said Gunns should receive compensation if it pulled out of its Forestry Tasmania agreements. Full Age article HERE
ABC Online
FIAT lashes Gunns’ new direction
The Forest Industries Association of Tasmania (FIAT) says Gunns new business plan will hurt small operators.
Gunns chief executive Greg L’Estrange has told an industry conference in Melbourne the industry has lost the public debate on logging native forest.
He also reiterated the company’s plan to become a solely plantation-based business
Greens leader Bob Brown says it shows the community does not support industrial logging.
“And wants the great forests of Tasmania and elsewhere in Australia protected,” he said.
But Terry Edwards from FIAT says that business plan will not translate to the rest of the state’s forest industry.
“From the point of view of the rest of the Tasmanian industry it does cause enormous concern at the way in which they are going about this process,” he said.
“[It] will injure a lot of other smaller saw millers and industry players and Gunns doesn’t appear to be having much regard for that.”
Mr Edwards says Gunns’ swift transition to a plantation-based operation is causing concern.
And,
Gunns chops woodchips trade
By Brad Markham
Timber giant Gunns Limited is to slash the price it pays Tasmanian sawmills for native timber woodchips.
The company has told sawmillers it will only be paying $50 a tonne for the woodchips from October.
That’s a drop of more than $20 a tonne.
Gunns is also changing the way it buys the waste woodchips from sawmills.
From next month it will only purchase the woodchips on short-term contracts.
In a letter to sawmillers, Gunns has told them they will need to arrange delivery of the woodchips to Gunns’ Triabunna mill themselves.
The company says falling international demand for ‘natural forest derived’ woodchips is behind the changes.
Gunns has told sawmillers Japan will no longer buy them.
“[Japan] will only purchase woodchips that meet the FSC Controlled Wood Standard,” it said.
“The only sales opportunity we now have is to non-Japanese markets at substantially lower prices than those previously achieved in Japan.”
Environment groups welcome Gunns’ frank assessment on native forests …
The Wilderness Society, the Australian Conservation Foundation and Environment Tasmania welcomed the long awaited announcement by the Chief Executive of Gunns to move out of native forest logging and work with the community and conservation groups to “find joint solutions to age-old conflicts and move beyond [to] a real, sustainable forest industry”.
These comments forecast a change in direction to the long running conflict over forestry in Tasmania.
The Wilderness Society spokesperson Paul Oosting said “Community and environment groups working for decades for the protection of Tasmania’s irreplaceable native forests see Gunns announcement as a very welcome breakthrough. We look forward to protecting Tasmania’s forests and supporting new lasting jobs by continuing to work with the timber industry to pave a way forward.”
Environment Tasmania, The Wilderness Society and the Australian Conservation Foundation are engaged in talks with forestry industry representatives on options for the protection of native forests, the creation of a sustainable timber industry and the delivery of an end to the decades-long forest conflict. If groups can reach an agreement over principles, then they would seek government support for a broad process to involve stakeholders and the broader community in the development and delivery of a solution.
Environment Tasmania Director Dr Phill Pullinger also welcomed Gunns’ shift. “We now have the best opportunity in decades to resolve the forest conflict in Tasmania. It is vitally important for Tasmania’s future that we protect our native forests, create a timber industry that Tasmanians can be proud of, and heal the deep divisions in our community. We have to find a solution to the conflict over forestry that is durable, lasting and involves the whole Tasmanian community,” he said.
“If Gunns moves out of native forest logging and concentrates on processing its plantations, it will protect jobs in the timber industry,” said Lindsay Hesketh, National Forest Campaigner for the Australian Conservation Foundation.
“It’s time to look at forests in Tasmania in a new way because the old way – a battle between jobs and forests – has protected neither. It ruptured the community, failed to protect jobs and destroyed Tasmanian’s natural heritage.
“We encourage all players to continue dialogue to find common ground on these important issues,” Mr Hesketh said.
Pulp consultant Robert Eastment talks to Airlee Ward on Stateline, Friday September 10, (Garry Stannus transcript):
Airlie Ward speaks to Forest Industry Analyst, Robert Eastment
[Transcript of ABC 10 Sept 2010 Stateline Interview by Garry Stannus]
INTRODUCTION:
“Last week Stateline brought you a story about divisions within the environment movement over forestry peace talks. Now cracks in the industry sector are widening. Forestry giant Gunns has decided to quit the lobby group, the Forestry Industries Association. Yesterday, company chief, Greg L’Estrange, reaffirmed Gunns’ intention to get out of native forest logging completely. The industry group has attacked the plan. I spoke to industry analyst Robert Eastment about the rift earlier today.
Robert Eastment, welcome.
Q1 With or without the round table, the complexion of … of forestry industry in Tasmania has changed dramatically hasn’t it, with Gunns’ recent announcement that environmentalists have basically won the war on native forest logging?
A Ah, look, I don’t think it’s really a question of winning or losing, I think there’s a realisation that the future is in plantations, Gunns does have an extensive plantation resource, and, ah, there’s less of a future long-term on, on native forest, um, production, whether it’s wood chips, solid wood, whatever.
Q2 Given that Gunns did take the lion’s share of the native forest resource, um, is in your view, the round table now actually necessary?
A Ah, yes I think so, there’s been no conclusion yet, there’s no definitive agreement, um, we know that Gunns have stepped back from ah, from FIAT, or the Forest Industries Association of Tasmania who is at the table and ah, we can also confirm now that Gunns is seeking a place at the table in their own right.
Q3 [Intake of breath] Gunns are now seeking a table … ah a seat at the table in their own right?
A Correct
Q4 Given that um, the, the company, sort of used to be the poster boy I suppose for the industry, it’s now certainly raised the hackles and ire of many within the industry, Forest Industry’s Association and of course sawmillers who have now had their … their price cut…?
A Ah there’s no doubt at all that a lot of the people other than Gunns in the industry are very … are very vulnerable and therefore very upset. But having said that, um, they have a right to run their business, they have put a lot of investment in buying equipment, technology, buying contracts, so they themselves will need to be looked after in some form.
Q5 As a result of … of the power that Gunns has had and the strength that it’s had in the industry, as a consequence of them changing their direction by virtue of any move that they make, does it squeeze, potentially squeeze any one out who doesn’t go along with them?
A Ah [reluctant sigh?] that’s a hard question to answer because we don’t know what the result’s going to be yet of the final negotiation. Gunns have taken a choice to step back into plantations and they’re doing that for a number of reasons and one of them is to make a huge effort to work with the community and the environmental movement, ah, but having said that, there’s a lot of industry there themselves, of various sizes … now some of them ah, it appears, will be ah, you know, will be squeezed out, but I think, for the majority of them … they do need to find a future for them.
Q6 From what Greg L’Estrange was saying yesterday though, in his view there, there is no market for native forest woodchips outside of places such as China anymore.
A There is two other markets where we sell the native forest woodchip to, other than China, unless, that’s excluding Japan of course, apart from China, that’s Taiwan and Korea, both of those countries pay prices more aligned to the Chinese price, about eight or twelve dollars more than China, so …
Q7 But still substantially below what Japan is [corrects herself] was paying?
A Correct, yes.
Q8 Gunns is determined, Gunns has made it very clear it’s, it’s determined its whole direction is to, is to focus on plantations and, and to get FSC Certification. Can you get FSC Certification processing native forest? Is that in fact possible?
A [Deep breath] Ah … never say never… [smile] It could be. You know, I don’t know …but … I …. …. the short answer is it would be extremely unlikely …the … it already has [unclear, sounded like: ‘PEFC’] Australian Forestry Standard, ah, FSC at this stage would… [nods to Ward] would be unlikely.
Q9 What do you think it will do to the round table if Gunns … Who makes the decision whether Gunns has a seat at the round table and what do you think that will do to discussions?
A Look I don’t know who has that decision to be, to be honest. I suppose the Chairman actually of the, of the discussions. But ah, I would say that Gunns is saying that, you know, that they want to change, they’re willing to, to, to embrace change and therefore they’re asking to be at the table. Will they get on the table? Um, I would expect that they would… will find a way to put them there, even at this late stage
Q10 [unclear] expressed a willingness to work with environmentalists?
A They have …. certainly expressed a willingness to work um, more than they’ve expressed, they have shown [stresses the word] they have shown a willingness to work with environmentalists, now whether that’s winning or losing wars I don’t think that is, I think ah, it’s probably meeting in a way in the middle because they’re gonna be looking for something in return [intake of breath] but certainly I think more to the point is Gunns is looking at embracing change, ah change from native forest and with direc … purely a resource based in plantations.
Q11 [Unclear – it sounded as if Airlie said ‘He still made it’] very clear [smiles challengingly to Eastment] the Tamar Valley pulp mill is very much what the company’s after, Robert Eastment, we’re out of time.
ABC Online:
Loggers sentenced for attacking Florentine protesters
Three Tasmanian forest contractors have been given community service orders for assaulting forest protesters in the state’s south, two years ago.
Forest contractor Rodney Howells hit the protesters’ car with a sledgehammer and shouted abuse, while his employees Terence Pearce and Jeremy Eizelle kicked in the windows.
The two activists had chained themselves inside the car, which was blocking the entrance to a logging coupe in the Florentine Valley.
The incident was filmed by conservationists and the footage broadcast on the internet.
The three men will each have to perform 70 hours community service.
The attack on YouTube: HERE
Anne: A couple of interesting links, Mercury and the Press Council
Sunday Age:
Victoria no longer in Gunns’ sights
Melissa Fyfe
September 12, 2010
TIMBER giant Gunns, a major player in Victoria’s $3billion native forest industry, has confirmed it will move out of logging operations in state-owned forests.
Gunns chief executive officer Greg L’Estrange – responsible for 40 per cent of Victoria’s native forest industry – told The Sunday Age that while moving out of Tasmania’s native forests was the priority, the principle also applied long-term to Victoria.
The Victorian Greens have seized on the move and called on the Brumby Government to immediately end native forest logging and transfer the industry into plantations. The party will be campaigning on the issue in the lead-up to November’s state poll. ”It should have stopped ages ago,” said Greens candidate for Melbourne Brian Walters. ”There’s no reason it can’t stop immediately.”
But the Victorian Association of Forest Industries vowed to fight the Greens on native forest logging, making the issue a key battleground in the lead-up to November. Executive director Philip Dalidakis conceded that the Gunns decision had ”the potential to establish a precedent in the public mind”.
But he said the company was pursuing its own corporate strategy, which had little to do with a broader industry strategy, appropriate government policy or responsible forest management.
Shutting down Victoria’s native forest logging would increase imports of timber products harvested under irresponsible environmental regimes, he said. ”This is environmental hypocrisy at its worst. The Greens have argued against native forestry and recently against plantation development, which makes me wonder which magic potion will appear to produce the wood and paper products consumers demand,” said Mr Dalidakis.
The Sunday Age understands the Brumby Government is keen to bolster its environmental credentials before the state election by announcing a small reduction in native forest logging. Party strategists are believed to be currently looking at some of the controversial logging operations in Melbourne’s water catchments. read more HERE
First published: 2010-09-10 06:59 AM
