RICK PILKINGTON
Dear Mr Burke having just read your press release
Statement by the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, the
Hon Tony Burke, MP
Preparing our Forest Industries for the Future
Wednesday, 24 June 2009
I had a few questions I was hoping you could help me with. I was impressed with the amount of jobs you said the Gunns Pulp Mill will be creating. In fact, I went looking on Gunns website myself to see if your department’s figures on employment estimates at the Gunns pulp mill were backed up by Gunns themselves. Do you know I found the strangest thing. Your department’s estimates and Gunns’ estimates as seen on their website are exactly the same – right down to the last zero.
In fact the statement contained in your press release “Construction of Gunns’ pulp mill will create 8000 direct and indirect jobs and 1500 jobs during operation of the mill” is almost
the same as the one I found on Gunns’ website “Construction of the mill and flow-on investment would create some 8,000 direct and indirect jobs spread across the trades and other areas. Another 1,500 jobs would be created during operation”.
Amazing.
Clearly your department is working closely with Gunns. Good for you.
I don’t know whether you’re aware of this Mr Burke, and of course it’s not me saying this, but I did read in the press where Gunns stated that they weren’t going to be able to employ that many people after all. In fact did you know Mr Burke that in March 2008 Gunns slashed their employment estimates for the pulp mill construction period by 60% – from 3000 to 1250? http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/03/20/2195328.htm
Did you also know Mr Burke, that Gunns tell us on their own website that they only expect 40% of those construction jobs to go to Tasmanians, which according to my calculations is around 500.
Look, Mr Burke I know you probably employ some pretty highly trained advisors and what-not to tell you all this stuff, and I’m sure you already know it, and again I’m not saying what I think, but you know some people and…I’m telling you there a few down here in Tasmania, who know a bit about this subject, might accuse you of being a bit misleading with those job figures. Once again, not me saying it. So maybe just double check those figures…can’t hurt can it? You can never be too careful.
The other thing is everybody down here is talking about the skills shortage. And once again, not me, but some people down here are saying that they can’t pin Gunns down on exactly how many Tasmanians are going to get jobs at the pulp mill. Your department seems to be working fairly closely with Gunns – what with your matching job figures and all – I just wondered whether you might be able to get Gunns to tell us down here how many of us can expect to get a job at the pulp mill. Because when you say ‘8000 direct and indirect jobs’ well that sort of comes across as a bit fuzzy. It would just be nice if someone would just say for example – you know we’re going to need 1000 plumbers, 1000 electricians, 1000 tea-ladies. That sort of thing. Then you’d shut the whingers up, and all the people who want jobs would know where they stand. I mean 9500 jobs is almost double the amount of people who are currently employed in the Tasmanian forestry industry. Did you know that?
So I suppose I’m just saying that if you’re going to make those sorts of claims that one project is going to triple employment in one industry in one state, well I just want you to be sure, because there are a lot of whingers out there and some people will ask questions. In fact did you know that some people are actually suggesting that the federal government are considering subsidising the Gunns Pulp Mill? I told them they were crazy. I said how can the federal government be assessing the pulp mill and at the same time paying for it! Ha. That would be an obvious conflict of interest. As if they would do that. Not to mention the fact that those pesky Green groups like GetUp and The Wildernesss Society have done all that polling which unfortunately showed that most Tasmanians and Australians would be pretty pissed off if their tax dollars were given to Gunns pulp mill. Not saying I feel that way. Just saying.
Anyway. Leave it with you.
Best of luck with it all
Rick & Anna Pilkington
And,
Today the Federal Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry the Hon Tony Burke MP made a Ministerial Statement on forestry.
The Greens’ response is outlined below.
Rudd ready to subsidise Gunns pulp mill
Greens Leader Bob Brown
Wednesday, 24 June 2009
http://bob-brown.greensmps.org.au/content/media-release/rudd-ready-subsidise-gunns-pulp-mill
The blitz on Australia’s native forests and woodlands is to be extended, according to the Rudd government’s Minister for Forests Tony Burke in today’s Ministerial statement.
“This is an effective go ahead for the pulp mill, with consequent taxpayer subsidies,” Australian Greens Leader Bob Brown said today.
“In the statement the Minister promises millions more to the industry. He is diverting taxpayer dollars to pay forest-destroying corporations to lobby himself. Get ready for much more money to be siphoned across to Gunns Ltd and other woodchip corporations.”
“This is a chainsaw-led statement promising logging supremos a new Ministerial Roundtable on top of the multi-million dollar Pulp and Paper Industry Strategy Group set up last week,” Australian Greens Leader Bob Brown said today.
Senator Brown said the statement is a direct challenge to Australians who want the nation’s native forests and wildlife protected to vote against Labor at the next election.
“The announcement comes on top of science-based evidence from Australian national University that forests marked for logging are the largest carbon stores in the Southern Hemisphere.”
“This will also increase the campaign to save Australia’s forests and to stop Gunns destructive pulp mill project in the Tamar Valley,” Senator Brown said.
Ministerial Statement – Main Points
Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, the Hon Tony Burke MP
· Regional Forest Agreements strike “the right balance between conservation and sustainable production in native forests”.
· Government “remains fully committed to RFAs as the primary mechanism to sustain jobs and support industry, to ensure high conservation values, and for the protection of biodiversity and threatened species.
· 23 million hectares of Australia’s native forests are protected in formal nature conservation reserves; there has been a 10% increase in the area of protected forests since 1998 – 16% of Australia’s total native forest estate is now formally protected in reserves; 4.6 million hectares of native forests are within World Heritage areas; more than 73% of “known old-growth forests” are protected within reserves.
· The interim report from the Hawke review of the EPBC Act will be released next week and will discuss RFAs.
· Australia’s plantation estate now stands at around 2 million hectares; plantations account for around two-thirds of Australia’s log production.
· The economic benefits for Tasmania of Gunns’ planned pulp mill should not be underestimated. The mill will add an estimated $6.7 billion to Tasmania’s economy.
· Construction of Gunns’ pulp mill will create 8000 direct and indirect jobs and 1500 jobs during operation of the mill.
· The Gunns pulp mill will not result in increased logging.
· “As the Minister for Forestry, let me state quite clearly that I want to see the Gunns Bell Bay Pulp Mill built – provided the requirements of federal environmental law are met.”
· Forestry sector directly employs 76,800 people.
· The government will establish a Forest Industry Leaders Ministerial Roundtable which will focus on “government–industry collaboration to secure industry investment and jobs at a time of global recession.”
· The roundtable will include representative from the native forest and plantation sectors, the wood processing sector, the pulp and paper sector, the skills and training sectors and workforce.
· The government has allocated $8 million towards projects which address major knowledge gaps about the impacts of climate change on forestry and the vulnerability of forest systems.
· “In 2007, forests provided a net sink of 21.1 million tonnes of CO2 and the increase in the carbon stock of harvested wood products was 4.4 million tonnes.”
· Australia wants the Copenhagen negotiations to recognise the mitigation potential of forests, including recognising stored carbon in harvested wood products.
