Dear Legislative Councillors,
Tonight (Wed) I attended a meeting in Launceston, with over five hundred other concerned citizens, to bring us up to date with current efforts in place to continue protesting against the development of a pulp mill in the Tamar Valley. I am contacting you as an independent member of the Legislative Council to suggest in the strongest possible terms that this project is no longer viable, if it ever was, and that to proceed with it in current global economic climates is an act of little more than foolishness.
It was highlighted at the meeting tonight that if (for argument’s sake) the mill is completed by 2017, as KordaMentha is currently seeking to facilitate, the permit for its construction will be ten years old, and the technology used in its development will be approaching fifteen years old—hardly an inspiring best-practice development, despite the bleatings of ALP and Liberal MPs.
I would like to remind you that the pulp mill project has never, at any time in its development, been properly and rigorously independently assessed. The Pulp Mill Assessment Act (2007) cannot by any measure be construed as an effective assessment, as it was drafted by lawyers acting for the proponent at the time, and shepherded through both houses of parliament with the help of lobbyists on the payroll of that proponent.
I am hoping it is no surprise that the strength of feeling against this proposal runs very deep in every element of the Tasmanian community; anyone who believes that such sentiment will simply evaporate has simply not been paying attention for the last eight years.
Finally, the pulp mill represents an outdated, inefficient approach to a resource-based economy from which this state has finally, one hopes, started to move on. Pulp is, to quote MP Kim Booth from tonight’s meeting, a pariah commodity in global markets. There is no demand for it, very limited markets for it, and on current forecasts it is difficult to see this situation turning around any time soon.
In particular, I urge you in the strongest terms to:
1. Completely ignore any deadlines KordaMentha/ANZ has imposed on the Tasmanian parliament for the passage of the ‘doubt removal’ legislation they recently asked Lara Giddings to introduce.
2. Completely ignore the forthcoming state election as any sort of deadline by which this legislation should be either passed or, preferably, referred back to the Lower House with amendments.
3. Suggest that, in line with the sentiment of the Tasmanian community, the George Town Council immediately and permanently dispense with any and all pulp mill permits, as is its right.
4. Undertake to refer the doubt removal legislation to proper and independent scrutiny, via either parliamentary committee or an external consultancy.
5. Impose any amendments to this legislation such that permits sold as part of the Gunns liquidation process must be enacted within clearly specified times (months, not years) or declared permanently and completely invalid. Extending the life of such permits until 2017 is, for reasons already stated, not only absurd but completely counter to the oft-stated ALP and Liberal claims that the pulp mill will be the ‘cleanest and greenest’ in the world.
I thank you for your time and I hope that you will find it in your capacity as a Legislative Councillor to finally expose this proposal to the scrutiny it needed six years ago—or, to realise that this project simply will not deliver the returns we have been promised, in addition to considerable environmental impositions it will deliver to its region—and, so realising, finally kill the project off once and for all. It is simply not the way forward for the Tasmanian community.
With best wishes,
Cameron Hindrum
• ABC: Anti-pulp mill campaign ramps up with hundreds turning out for first public meeting
• TT earlier: How Korda Mentha instructed Premier Giddings to act. Read the Legislation for yourself
• No Pulp Mill Alliance: Protest, Parliament House Lawns, Tues, Jan 28, 12.30pm
• Kim Booth: Greens support call for ANZ customers to walk away
• Geoff Law: Australia a traitor to the World Heritage Convention
• Christine Milne: Wrecking ball to Tasmania’s World Heritage is global embarrassment
• Nick McKim: Liberal threat to desecrate World Heritage-listed forests
• Sean Ford, The Advocate: Basic economics shred business case for mill
