As Mr Gordon starts his run as a Labor candidate for a seat in Parliament in my electorate of Lyons I have the following Questions to which I require answers.
They refer to the cancellation of the China Contract, Contract 917 and Contract 918 between Gunns Ltd and Forestry Tasmania (FT) at the time he was CEO of FT..
Did Gunns advise FT on 1 Dec 2010 that they wished to terminate Contracts 917 and 918 by not exercising their rights under the Pulpwood Agreement?
Did Gunns advise FT on 18 April 2011 – having agreed to terminate the China Trade contract – that they wished to terminate Contracts 917 and 918, using as an exit clause “our agreement that the construction of the Pulp Mill did not commence by 30 Nov 2010”?
As the battle raged between Gunns and FT to exit the take-or-pay Contracts 917 and 918, would you agree with L’Estrange (CEO of Gunns), as recorded in Hansard in June 2011 that, “Gunns does not believe the contract is valid”?
Did L’Estrange ring you some two weeks later, on or about 30th June, with a solution to get over the financial differences over the contracts then bankrupting Gunns and FT, with the creation of “new contracts” – which could then be cancelled by Gunns Ltd on the premise of making a decision to exit native forests so as to proceed with a plantation-based mill – for a cash reimbursement under the IGA?
Did this instant and complete about-face beween the two parties result in Gunns receiving $25.3 million and FT $11.5 million under the IGA? Further did you agree to forgo on behalf of FT another $11.5 million due from Gunns, if it was replaced by a $110 million Letter of Comfort from Minister Green?
Do you consider in retrospect that these transactions were a fraud on the public purse as the original contracts were either invalid or about to become invalid in October 2011 and could have been cancelled at no cost to the public?
If elected would you support a Royal Commission into the IGA over the cancellation of Contracts 917, 918 and the China Trade Contract as resolved between Gunns and FT?
I have carefully detailed these transactions on Tasmanian Times “The Underbelly of Forestry Tasmania” first published on Tasmanian Times Wednesday March 6 2013 ( here ); this you should read before you reply.
Your answers will be of interest to your potential electorate.
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