Paul Oosting Wildernes Society MR

“The Wilderness Society calls on Mr Gay to retire sooner rather than later and allow for new company leadership which can fully appreciate the environmental, social and economic problems associated with their operations—particularly now the government has announced an end to the Lennon regime’s unlimited support to prop up the project.”
MEDIA RELEASE – 1st July 2008

WILL GAY BAIL ON GUNNS BEFORE PULP MILL OPERATIONAL?

Article identifies no pulp mill money, no government support and soon no John Gay

In a frank interview with Tasmanian daily newspaper The Examiner, Gunns CEO and Chairman John Gay has revealed his retirement is imminent and could potentially occur prior to the pulp mill becoming operational, should it manage to be financed and ever be built.

On the day the Tasmanian Government effectively turned its back on unlimited political support for Gunns and its pulp mill by issuing a limited extension to the wood supply sovereign risk compensation deal, Mr Gay also acknowledged that finance for his pulp mill project is becoming increasingly difficult to obtain, even internationally.

“John Gay has indicated that he won’t be around to see his pulp mill dream fully operational and is having a tough time convincing international banks that the project is worth funding,” said Paul Oosting, spokesperson for The Wilderness Society.

In the report Mr Gay is quoted as saying:

• “Retirement is coming around the corner in the next one, two or three years.”
• “I don’t believe that me being at the helm of the company to see the pulp mill built is important.”
• “Obviously the debt market…which is very, very bad with a lot of things not getting financed in Australia and around the world …has slowed our job down”
• “Money in the world market for large projects is virtually … dried up since November.”

The Wilderness Society also notes that questions have been raised about Gunns’ failure to properly inform the ASX after it was informed that its banker, the ANZ, were not interested in leading the finance for the pulp mill.

“Gunns’ lack of disclosure to the ASX after the ANZ walked away from the pulp mill calls into question its reliability to properly inform the market of significant shifts in its financial situation,” continued Mr Oosting.

“Even with John Gay at the helm and the unlimited political support of ex-Premier Paul Lennon, Gunns has repeatedly failed to meet deadlines or demonstrate that they are able to produce accurate, up-to-date and acceptable project information to the assessment process, the public or the financial markets.”

“These repeated failures call into question the company’s ability to properly manage a fully operational, chemical-based pulp mill and adequately protect the environment.”

“Now John Gay has flagged his imminent retirement and is unlikely to be around to see the pulp mill running, the time has come for Gunns to abandon the project and deliver Tasmania the certainty that its environmental, social and economic health won’t be threatened by this pulp mill.”

“The Wilderness Society calls on Mr Gay to retire sooner rather than later and allow for new company leadership which can fully appreciate the environmental, social and economic problems associated with their operations—particularly now the government has announced an end to the Lennon regime’s unlimited support to prop up the project.”

“An early retirement would give Gunns the space to move forward into more environmentally friendly and open operations better suited to the 21st century,” concluded Mr Oosting.