Wood: ‘How much money am I going to invest in it to have it all torn up?’

ABC Radio news – 11am Tue 23 Sep 2014

One of the new owners of Gunns former Triabunna woodchip mill says the government may still force him to sell it back to them.

A government inquiry is examining the sale of the Gunns mill to millionaire environmentalists Graeme Wood and Jan Cameron.

The business partners have decommissioned the mill and plan to develop it as a tourist attraction.

Mr Wood told ABC Radio his plans for Triabunna are uncertain because the government could still compulsorily acquire the site.

“But still, I repeat the Premier has not ruled out the possibility of a compulsory acquisition of the site, so from a pure business investment point of view, how much money am I going to invest in it to have it all torn up?”

A state government spokeswoman said the government wouldn’t comment on compulsory acquisition because it didn’t want to pre-empt the findings of the Parliamentary enquiry.

AND, EARLIER …

Triabunna mill inquiry: Bryan Green accuses Liberal MPs of trying to rewrite history

Updated about 11 hours ago

Tasmania’s Opposition Leader Bryan Green has accused two Liberal MPs of trying to rewrite history during a heated parliamentary inquiry into the sale of the Triabunna mill.

The parliamentary committee was commissioned to investigate the sale of the woodchip mill to environmentalists Graeme Wood and Jan Cameron in 2011.

The pair initially said they hoped to reopen it but later unveiled plans for a tourism development.

Liberal committee members Guy Barnett and Roger Jeansch grilled Mr Green, the former resources minister, about what he knew of the mill sale before it occurred.

Mr Green told the committee he had heard the news the evening before it was made public and was shocked.

He said the then-government’s goal was always to get the mill operating again, but ultimately who it was sold to was Gunns’
decision.

“This process was fully audited, we had Solicitor-General’s advice, what are you trying to suggest we were up to?” he said.

“You want to rewrite history. I’m telling you that every decision I made, every decision that I put to the Parliament of Tasmania I included the industry in that decision-making.”

Mr Green was also questioned about $25 million in compensation paid to Gunns to exit the industry when the company indicated it would leave voluntarily.

Mr Barnett asked whether the payment was neccessary and referred to outrage amongst other industry players.

Mr Green went on the attack.

“Nothing like a good witch hunt to take the focus off the Government’s poor budget performance,” he said.

Researcher outlines forestry jobs decline

The committee also heard about the sharp decline in forestry jobs in Tasmania in the past five years.

Jacki Schirmer from the University of Canberra gave evidence by phone about her latest research into socio-economic changes in the forest industry.

She said overall employment had dropped from 7,000 direct jobs in 2008 to just over 2,700 in 2013.

Ms Schirmer said the Glamorgan Spring Bay area suffered major problems as it depended so heavily on forestry employment.

She said the decline became rapid after the closure of the mill in 2011.

“There’d been the loss of almost 70 per cent of forestry jobs at that stage,” she said.

Ms Schirmer said the report did not take into account the flow-on effect of the job losses.

A recent article in The Monthly magazine reported that mill manager, conservationist Alec Marr, had said reopening was never on the cards.

The article said the plant’s infrastructure was destroyed in an undercover operation to quash any possibility the Labor-Greens state government at the time would compulsorily acquire the mill to reopen it.

Gunns blamed for mill closure

The inquiry also heard claims the mill’s demise was caused by Gunns itself.

Colin McCulloch from the Australian Forest Contractors Association said the subsequent closure of the mill saw forest businesses “wiped off the planet” in the hope the $2 billion pulp mill proposal would get off the ground.

Mr McCulloch said a lot of his members were out of work when the mill was sold.

“I don’t think Gunns had any friends at that time,” he said.

Mr McCulloch described the sale to Mr Wood and Ms Cameron as an “up yours” to the industry to kill competition.

He told the committee forest contractors were sacrificial lambs in the process.

Mr Wood offered to appear before the committee in Triabunna, but Mr Barnett said the call came too late.

He is due to appear at another time.

From here:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-09-22/liberals-accused-of-trying-to-rewrite-triabunna-mill-history/5760236

• Scott Bacon: Premier creating uncertainty over tourism investment

• AND, 3.50pm … Uncertainty over Triabunna mill tourism plan, owner Graeme Wood says

Updated 3.50pm 23 Sept 14

Environmentalist and Wotif founder Graeme Wood says his investment in the Triabunna woodchip mill is uncertain unless there is more government support.

Mr Wood and his business partner Jan Cameron bought the mill in 2011 from former timber company Gunns and plan to develop it as a tourism hub.

The acquisition and dismantling of the mill is being investigated by a parliamentary committee.

Mr Wood told 936 ABC Hobart his investment in Triabunna was uncertain because the Government could still compulsorily acquire the site.

He said the inquiry was petty and was a disincentive to more investment in the state.
SoundCloud: Graeme Wood talks to Leon Compton on 936 ABC Hobart.

“There is an air of uncertainty hanging over the venture at the moment,” he said.

“We are getting mixed messages coming out of the Government.

“On the one hand they are saying tourism is terrific and on the other hand the Premier won’t rule out compulsory acquisition of the Spring Bay mill site.

“The Premier has not ruled out the possibility of (acquiring) the site, so from a pure business investment point of view, how much am I going to invest in it to have it all torn up.”

Mr Wood said the Government played favourites when it came to tourism projects in Tasmania.

“It seems to me, if you’re not a favourite of the incumbent government then they will stand in the way of what you might want to do.

“I invest in lots of places and I’ve got to say that trying to invest in Tasmania you endure a lot of friction.

“I’m not rushing into anything until I see stronger political support or at least not negative political attitudes.”

Mr Wood had offered to appear before the committee but was told by the chairman, Liberal MP Guy Barnett, that the offer had come too late.

The Government said it would not rule out compulsory acquisition because it did not want to pre-empt the inquiry’s outcome.

His other claims have been rejected by a government spokeswoman who said they were wrong and without foundation.

When the inquiry moved to Triabunna today, Mr Barnett said the committee had asked Mr Wood for permission to tour the mill site.

“We didn’t receive a response to that, so that’s not happening,” he said.

Businessman Graeme Elphinstone was the first to front the inquiry today.

He said the 2011 sale had a significant impact on his engineering company which specialised in building log truck trailers.

“We went from building a trailer every four working days to one every
28 days,” he said.

Former mayor Cheryl Arnol told the inquiry the new owners were entitled to do what they want with it.

She said that if the mill cannot be re-opened for the industry, it should be used for something else that creates jobs.

Meanwhile, Mr Wood has released polling showing 69 per cent of Tasmanians supported his tourism plan.

His company commissioned a phone survey of 404 people from the electorates of Franklin and Lyons asking how they felt about his plans for Triabunna.

From here:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-09-23/triabunna-mill-owner-graeme-wood-threats-to-tourism-business-el/5762664?section=tas

• Blair Richards, Mercury: Triabunna mill site could be revived, Tasmanian businessman tells parliamentary inquiry

A PROMINENT Triabunna businessman told a parliamentary enquiry it would be possible to get the town’s former woodchip mill site up and running again.

More…

http://m.themercury.com.au/news/tasmania/triabunna-mill-site-could-be-revived-tasmanian-businessman-tells-parliamentary-inquiry/story-fnj4f7k1-1227067800792

• John Hayward, in Comments: A classic exposition of Tasnomics, with the Libs mulling over the idea of gutting the health budget and public service to support the public acquisition of possibly the world’s most voracious and wasteful woodchip industry on behalf of private industry cronies and perhaps some of their own MIS-loving members. Ideological fundamentalism at its purest.