As a self-funded retired couple who moved to Tasmania for lifestyle, we are concerned that the Tasmanian environment is being raped by self-interested greedy individuals.
We are contacting members of the Tasmanian Legislative Council, to highlight our concerns at the manner the Gunns Pulp Mill development has been and is being handled by the Tasmanian Labour Government.
There is a sense of OUTRAGE in the community that the promised RPDC process has been side-stepped in what looks like a backroom deal.
We are now told that this huge project can be assessed properly within 4 or 5 months when Ex-RPDC Pulp mill expert and scientist Dr. Warwick Raverty is on record as saying it was RIDICULOUS to suggest it would only take 6 months.
Why is there ONE rule for Gunns and ANOTHER for everyone else?
We have no confidence in the Tasmanian Government assessment process. Recent news of interference in the RPDC’s activities by Tasmanian Government instrumentalities simply emphasises this.
Friends in the UK sent us the following which you may be interested in it. These friends lived in Deviot on the Tamar for 3 years coming over here from the UK every summer; they sold because of the Pulp Mill and have taken their money back to England!
They recently started getting "The Economist" weekly on subscription and in the issue dated March 17th there is an interesting article on page 88 headed "flat prospects" which deals with the worldwide slowdown in paper and pulp production. The USA's 2 biggest manufacturers are merging, International Paper has sold ALL its forests (5.7 million acres, an area larger than Massachusetts) Weyerhauser, Smurfit-Stone and other "majors" are getting out of the paper/pulp business to concentrate on tissue papers, corrugated cartons for shipping, etc --- Brazil, China and Russia are flooding the market with cheap cheap eucalypt pulp.
Why should Gunn’s be allowed to ruin Tasmania? - ALL Australian pulp mills are likely to be redundant in a very few years.
It is interesting to note that no-one in the Tasmanian Government has had to justify the promised boom to jobs and the economy. Do we need to have most of northern Tasmania covered in tree farms? Do we want to see hundreds of loaded log trucks clogging our highways?
Frankly the more news that comes out about the whole affair, the more it appears to be highly dubious.
It is YOUR responsibility to keep the Government honest.
Ray & Lyn Chaplin
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