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Tim Thorne President TAP, TAP Into a Better Tasmania
16.10.14 5:44 pm

The Board of TAP Into a Better Tasmania, elected at the Annual General Meeting on Tuesday 14 October, is planning a more positive focus for the organisation over the coming year.

“We are not just a protest group,” the incoming President, Tim Thorne, said.  “While we must keep a watching brief in case there is an attempt to revive the dead Tamar Valley pulp mill proposal, our main focus is on investigating more appropriate possibilities for truly sustainable development.”

The Board believes that there is a need for a non-party political, non-single issue organisation to raise awareness of, and to foster discussion about alternative industrial models suitable for Tasmania in the 21st Century.

“TAP is in an excellent position to be such a group,” Mr Thorne said.  “We are looking at activities such as workshops to encourage vibrant, innovative approaches to building a better Tasmania for the next generations.”

   Tamar Natural Resource Management

                      and TAP into a better Tasmania

            invites you to a very special presentation with

  Kathleen Draper

   from Finger Lakes Biochar

   Tuesday 9th September 2014 7.15pm - 9.00pm

   Windsor Community Centre

   1 Windsor Drive, Riverside

    RSVP: Friday 5th September

    tel: 6323-3310 or email:  

    amanda.bruce@launceston.tas.gov.au

     refreshments provided cost: pay what you think it is worth      

 Left: Abandoned Pulp Mill Site Community Forest Restoration Project by TAP March 2011.

TAP Media Release July 10 2014

TAP Into a Better Tasmania has suggested a use for the Long Reach site where Gunns Ltd had once planned to build a pulp mill.
At its July meeting, TAP declared that the site could be used to build a prison in which to lock up the thousands of Tasmanians who would be prepared to infringe the State Government’s new anti-protest legislation.

TAP’s media spokesperson, Tim Thorne, said, “The Liberal Party’s rhetoric before the last election said, nonsensically, that they would bring in a law against illegal protests, while lawful protests would continue to be allowed.
“The bill rushed through the House of Assembly goes much further than this, providing for powers of arrest without a warrant, and making it possible to interpret anywhere in the state as a ‘workplace’,” Mr Thorne said.

“History has shown that Tasmanians in their thousands have been prepared to do what this bill is trying to prevent.  TAP believes that they will do so again where necessary to prevent the destruction of our environment, our rights and our democracy,” he continued.  “The Legislative Council should have the common sense to throw this ridiculous, but dangerous, bill out.”

TAP Media Spokesman Tim Thorne.   

The announcement that Gunns Ltd's receivers, KordaMentha, have sold most of the failed company's remaining assets to New Forests for a price reported to be $330 million reveals a telling feature of how big business operates. When Gunns went into receivership it owed secured creditors (of whom the ANZ bank was the largest) $635.9 million.  Last year Anchorage Capital bought 70 per cent of this debt at a price believed to be between 40 and 45 cents in the dollar, an outlay of approximately $189 million.  Seventy per cent of the sale price is $231 million, which would leave Anchorage with a tidy $42 million profit, less whatever fees they paid KordaMentha.  Nobody as yet has secured the pulp mill site or permits.  New Forests obviously wasn't interested, despite the unseemly haste with which the State Government and the then Opposition (now the Government) rushed to pass legislation designed (at KordaMentha's request) to enhance the value of those assets.  Anchorage Capital might still want to squeeze more profit out of these, but even if they lie idle until the permits run out and the site reverts to bush, $42 million is not a bad profit after six months.  It makes John Gay's gain from insider trading look like chickenfeed. And what exactly did Anchorage do to earn this?  They didn't employ a single Tasmanian.  They didn't create a single product or provide a single service.  The kindest thing to say about them is that they got lucky.  Not so lucky were the Tasmanian contractors, small investors and other unsecured creditors who have no hope of ever seeing the $170 million owed to them when Gunns Ltd collapsed.

This whole saga has not been primarily about a pulp mill, nor even about the plantations.  It has been about the timber industry being used as a front for the transfer of wealth from ordinary Tasmanians to the coffers of international finance corporations.  It has also been about how both major political parties have aided and abetted this transfer.  Don't forget that a considerable proportion of Gunns' assets were provided in various ways by the State and Federal Governments.  This means that some of your money, as a taxpayer, now belongs to the shareholders of Anchorage Capital.
Yours in the hope that we can do better than this in the future
Tim Thorne

On January 29, 2014 the Legislative Council ignored TAP's letter (below) and passed the KordaMentha bill that enshrined perverting the course of justice, conflicts of interest and destroying the 'separation of powers' between the state and the legal system.
This is another watershed moment in a corrupt process spanning almost a decade. It doesn't matter how hard they try to pervert justice and ethical values, all they  ever end-up with is a vacant lot a Longreach.

Who supported the corrupt bill? Left to Right top. Ruth Forrest, Ivan Dean, Leonie Hiscutt, Greg Hall, Paul Harriss (accepted gifts from Ta Ann), Tania Rattray, Craig Farrell (ex-Dick Adams staffer), Vanessa Goodwin, Adriana Taylor and 'The Flying Dutchman' Teunis (Tony) Mulder. It's not only TAP who has slammed this law. Law lecturer Michael Stokes has called the law is illegal.

Dear Honourable Member of the Legislative Council,

The Membership of TAP into a Better Tasmania respectfully request that you will reject the Pulp Mill Assessment Amendment Act 2014 .
As a non-party political community group, we are opposed to the Act because

• It corrupts the proper relationship between the legislative and judicial arms of Government.

• It turns the legislature into an instrument of offshore business interests instead of an instrument of the will of the people of Tasmania.

• It exposes Tasmania to unforseen and potentially endless litigation at public expense.

We appeal to the Legislative Council to uphold the dignity of the Tasmanian Parliament in the face of this attempt to debase our lawmaking process.

Yours sincerely

Ross Story
President of TAP into a Better Tasmania

The Launceston Examiner claims Gunns receiver KordaMentha asked Tasmanian Premier Lara Giddings to recall parliament to quash a legal challenge to Gunns pulp mill. This is a blatant attempt to 'pervert the course of justice' in our opinion. KordaMentha nearly always work with PPB Advisory as a 'tag team' specialising in the alleged theft of huge amounts of money owed to unsecured creditors. Now KordaMentha are trying to manipulate Tasmania's parliament and further corrupt the island's legal system. It can be revealed the 'Review Into Hardwood Plantations' chaired by Martin Ferguson was actually a diversion of public funds to assist KordaMentha sell Gunns permit. This is an attempt by KordaMentha to divert yet more public money into the pockets of the bloated bankers they work for. Bankers who make a profit of $4billion a year while many Tasmanians languish on interminable elective surgery waiting lists thanks to inept Premier Giddings and opposition leader Hodgman. TAP spent years warning ASIC that Gunns were trading while insolvent but were ignored. Now ASIC's 'sacred cow' KordaMentha is carrying on where the Gunns board left off. Writing legislation for the Tasmanian Parliament and faxing it to the salivating Hodgman and Giddings.

KORDAMENTHA'S AMMENDMENT TO THE PULP MILL ASSESSMENT ACT SECTION 11                                                                                                           KordaMentha has re-written legislation originally written by Gunns. Download their letter to Lara Giddings here.                 

Will Hodgman, the Hobart solicitor who has never had a real job in his life, is basing his 2014 quest for premier of Tasmania on a failed project by a failed company. Hodgman's best thinking is using Tasmanians as victims of a small-minded, corrupt plan to pretend Australia is still competitive in manufacturing. Let's hope Hodgman gets pressured by some real political competion in the 2014 election? Tasmania has been the victim of shallow, infantile policy of the kind peddled by Hodgman and his party of vacuuous yes-men for too long.

TAP's Christmas BBQ this year was held at 4pm Saturday December 7 2013 at Punchbowl Reserve Launceston at the BBQ area. The weather was perfect.

KordaMentha continues to pursue its goal of a very large chemical pulp mill in the Tamar Valley.

You are invited to register your interest in being part of a potential class action seeking compensation for damages arising from KordaMentha planned pulp mill should it be built.

Tasmanians Against the Pulp Mill (TAP) has initiated the register to collate details of interested parties and to determine the extent of possible damages to the community and businesses if the proposed pulp mill proceeds.

Damages could include, for example, losses in property values, losses in business income and harm to health. Preliminary estimates indicate losses of around $2 billion. Go to Pulp finance - the risks for more information.

The class action register prepares the way for a potential court action for compensation. Because of the diversity of opinion regarding Section 11 (Pulp Mill Assessment Act), a class action appears possible irrespective of the outcome of a current case over Section 11 by Environment Tasmania and three Tamar landowners in the Supreme Court.

See How to register for details on securely registering your information .

What is a class action?
A class action is when many different people with similar complaints arising from the same event combine to make the same legal argument in a court of law. Complaints could include the loss of value of your house, damage to your health, or your business has lost resale value.

A class action saves court time and allows a single judge to hear all the concerns at the same time, and come to one settlement for all parties. If the court agrees to certify the complaints as a class action, all class members should have equal say and rights to any monies or remedies ordered by the court.

Class actions are possible in the State of Victoria and under Federal Australian Law. They can include cases of false or misleading information, physical harm to individuals or financial losses as a result of unconscionable conduct.

Any proposed action would be under the Law of Torts. A tort is a wrongful act for which someone can be sued for damages in a civil court.

Record Keeping
Proof of damage is essential eg. suffering some loss as a result of the pulp mill. Please keep records of any activity, valuation information or events that may be of use should formal proceedings proceed against Gunns Ltd, and/or any other parties involved in the pulp mill assessment and approval process. Also keep records of any activity that you have undertaken to advise Gunns Ltd, the State and Federal Governments and/or Members of Parliament or local councils of your concerns, fears or objections.

Who pays the lawyers in a class action lawsuit?
Lawyers who represent a class for money damages are generally paid out of the recovery. This issue will be clarified prior to proceeding with any class action.

Purpose of the class action register
The purpose of the register is to compile a list of those who may join a class action, if the action proceeds and the variety of torts involved.

Registration of interest does not oblige any individual, company, business or organisation to proceed with the proposed class action.

A final commitment to joining the class action will be required only after all legal, financial and ethical issues have been identified and the basis for any proposed class action has been clearly established.

Security of personal information statement
We (Tasmanians Against the Pulp Mill Inc.) will not use or disclose (share, sell or divulge) any of your personal information to third parties unless we have informed you and have been authorised by you, or are required or authorised to do so by law.

All information will be destroyed once the pulp mill is stopped or a decision not to proceed with a class action is taken.

How to register

1. Download a pdf class action registration-of-interest form from below. Fill out the form and post to the Secretary, TAP Into A Better Tasmania PO Box 200 Exeter Tasmania 7275 OR email as an attachement to   contact@tapvision.info

Top

Since 1995, ANZ has provided crucial financial services to Gunns but after concerted public pressure, has refused to play the role of lead banker and finance Gunns' proposed pulp mill in the Tamar Valley.

See pulp finance for a list of the main risks of Gunns pulp mill to investors, businesses, the community and government.