28 November 2007
The public meeting about Gunns' pulp mill took place at George Town. The first motion urged the meeting to encourage the council to continue to support the mill. The vote was tight but the motion was lost. (Note the Examiner reporter has used the word “tight” some what loosely as the motion was lost 200 votes to 80.) A motion that the council actively oppose the mill was carried (200 votes to 80). (Not reported was that 8 speakers supported the mill proposal and 21 speakers were opposed.)
Read The Examiner.
26 November 2007
Stephen Mayne’s blow by blow insider account of the recent Gunns annual general meeting. Gunns got plenty of stick and when the history of this federal election is written, the cowboy antics of pulp mill proponent Gunns Ltd will surely rate more than a passing mention.
Go to www.maynereport.com.
26 November 2007
The future of the $1.9 billion pulp mill planned for the Tamar Valley may be less certain following Saturday's federal election. Bob Brown said Labor should review Mr Turnbull's earlier decision to approve the pulp mill, but also take into account the mill's impact on Tasmania's native forests and tourism businesses. Outgoing federal forestry minister Eric Abetz lashed out at Senator Brown's immediate calls for a review.
Read The Mercury.
25 November 2007
All five federal electorates in Tasmania were won by ALP candidates. A major feature of the election results was a strong Greens vote of between eight and 18 per cent on the back of a big backlash against the planned $1.9 billion pulp mill in the Tamar valley. Political analyst Richard Herr said "like everywhere in Tasmania, it was the significant vote against the pulp mill that won Bass for Labor, as they did for Julie Collins in Franklin. That means Labor will have quite a debt to the Greens. If they can't get the pulp mill stopped, I am sure we are going to see them extract a strict adherence to the environmental guidelines.”
Go to The Mercury.
23 November 2007
A dissenting Federal Court judge has ruled that Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull failed to properly consider the environmental impact of a pulp mill planned for Tasmania's pristine Tamar Valley. The Wilderness Society seized on the minority judgment, vowing to continue its campaign against the mill proponent, Gunns, after losing an appeal to the full bench of the Federal Court that sought to overturn the Environment Minister's approval for the $1.7billion mill.
Read The Australian
23 November 2007
Gunns has confirmed it has finance for its Tasmanian pulp mill and asserted that it will proceed with the $1.7 billion project despite opposition. Gay said he was not concerned at all by the opposition. "This is not a pulp mill issue going on in Tasmania," Mr Gay told a noisy annual general meeting, it's a forestry issue."
Go to The Sydney Morning Herald
23 November 2007
Besieged Gunns directors yesterday faced a barrage of questions from shareholders about its planned $1.7 billion pulp mill, forcing an agitated chairman John Gay to close its annual meeting before embarrassingly admitting he had to re-start it to allow shareholders to vote on the last resolution. Shareholder Steven Mayne described the company's corporate governance as "hopeless".
See The Daily Telegraph
22 November 2007
By Stephen Mayne, owner of 61 Gunns shares.
The Gunns Ltd AGM in Launceston this morning was one of the most extraordinary I’ve ever seen.
Cowboy executive chairman John Gay once again demonstrated how unfit he is to chair a major public company when he prematurely closed the meeting to avoid further questioning without dealing with resolutions four and five – resolutions involving a pay rise for directors and approving the recent issue of 25.7 million new shares.
After I protested about missing resolution five, he consulted lawyers and then re-opened the meeting two minutes later and dealt with that – but the recording of the meeting which ASIC will have to inspect will show that the $300,000 pay rise for directors was never mentioned.
The meeting was just the latest PR disaster for Gunns, with even institutional investors voting against resolutions for the first time.
The remuneration report received 142 million proxies in favour and 49 million against, meaning at least one of Perpetual (52.5 million), Concord Capital (43.4 million), Capital Group (21.6 million) or Schroders (21.3 million) voted against.
The longest serving director, 69-year-old Richard Holyman who has been on the board since 1983, also received only 158 million votes in favour and a hefty 37 million against – the biggest ever protest against a Gunns director.
Former Tasmanian Premier Robin Gray was better supported with 190 million in favour and only 5 million against but even the newest director, Mr Millar, copped a protest vote of 15 million shares, probably because he’s a local car dealer who provided $367,000 worth of goods and services to the company in the 5 months to 30 June after joining the board in January this year.
The Gunns board is Australia’s oldest and most entrenched – six blokes in their sixties, with a collective 92 years of service and an average of 14 years on the board.
They all sit back and let Australia’s most inarticulate chairman run the joint like it’s his own company.
John Gay even needed five executives up the front to answer most of the 20 different questions from anti pulp mill shareholders and proxies.
The five pro-speakers were also an embarrassment, with one bloke Harry Stockpoole claiming Tamar Valley locals “won’t even notice the mill is there” and another talking about remembering the protestors like war veterans remembers Japanese beheaders during World War 2.
Most of the questions were quite specific and politely posed and most of the answers were short but also quite civil. About 80 of the 100 attendees who got through the boom gates and tight security were Gunns loyalists but the cat-calling was limited to a few “sit down” and “what’s the question” type interjections.
It was only when Gay shut down questions after 70 minutes that it got rowdy as another 3-4 Greens wanted to ask some more. Gay then panicked and prematurely shut the meeting and the status of that board pay rise will now be an interesting question for ASIC.
For more and extraordinary audio (available to subscribers) go to www.crikey.com.au
22 November 2007
The Gunns Ltd AGM ended in chaos today when executive chairman John Gay closed the meeting before official business had been finished after a barrage of questions from anti pulp mill shareholders. A kill threat was made to a member of the meeting who reported it to police. Mr Mayne said outside the conduct of the meeting was a disgrace.
Read The Mercury
22 November 2007
200 shareholders attended the Gunns AGM which turned into a slanging match. John Gay shut the meeting down after critics became too vocal. One person asked "how can we trust the advice of the chief scientist, Jim Peacock, who told the Federal Government it's alright to build this pulp mill, when he's a man who thinks it's a good idea to have nuclear power stations across Australia?" Former premier of Tasmania and Gunns director Robin Gray, retorted with, "Well, we need nuclear power because we don't have the Franklin Gordon Damn," which of course he wanted to see built. The meeting kind descended into chaos.
Go to the ABC World Today
22 November 2007
The Full Bench of the Federal Court dismissed the Wilderness Society's appeal against the Commonwealth's approval process for the Gunns pulp mill. TWS was appealing a dismissal of its original application in August. However, the dissenting judge accepted that the federal minister had not properly understood or complied with his obligations and that his decisions were invalid.
Go to The Mercury.
21 November 2007
Opinion piece on the anti pulp mill rally in Franklin Square, Hobart. "A protest against the controversial pulp mill showcased the Apple Isle's determination, diversity and activist eloquence…"
Read more at The Bulletin.
21 November 2007
Tim Flannery, Australian of the Year, said Gunns is unlikely to find anyone willing to finance the pulp mill.
Go to The Australian.
20 November 2007
Kevin Rudd’s $110 million gift to Gunns pulp mill
Richard Flanagan in his “Stop the Pulp Mill” rally speech last Saturday in Hobart, seems to have been the first to notice the extraordinary subsidy Kevin Rudd’s ALP has given to Gunns pulp mill, hidden in the form of Martin Ferguson’s recent announcement of a supposed transport package to Tasmania, but which on close examination would appear to be yet one more extraordinary gift to Gunns in excess of $100 million. What was missed by all the media was that Martin Ferguson had simply given Paul Lennon exactly what he had asked the Federal Government for back in June — all in order to get logs by rail from the southern forests to the northern pulp mill.
While the improvement of the rail network may arguably make it a more viable alternative to roads for a range of freight, there is no doubt the aim of the package is to help Gunns first. The commercial viability of Gunns mill is often publicly questioned, but with subsidies like this (on top of the $1 billion of subsidies the Tasmanian forestry industry has already received over the past twenty years), Gunns could be running a T-Model Ford factory and still making a fortune out of taxpayers’ money.
This gift to John Gay and Robin Gray is known to have caused consternation privately in some parts of the ALP growing concerned at the increasing public outrage at the proposed pulp mill. As Flanagan argued, ‘How can Kevin Rudd claim to be fair dinkum about climate change when he is promising more money to support a pulp mill that will burn half a million tonnes of forest a year in the monstrosity of its electricity generator? ‘
The total cost of improvements to the rail network to benefit Gunns is $110 million, and it is revealed in an examination of the following articles and media releases.
Read more at www.tasmaniantimes.com.
20 November 2007
The Launceston City Council has withdrawn support for Gunns' controversial pulp mill proposal because of "an unknown risk to the public health, safety and future well- being" of residents. Voting to withdraw support were: Jeremy Ball, Albert van Zetten, Rosemary Armitage, Ted Sands, Frank Nott, Ian Norton and Ray Shipp. Voting to maintain support were: Ivan Dean, Tony Peck, Robin McKendrick, Annette Waddle, Graeme Beams. Ex Mayor Ivan Dean and mill supporter was jeered by the large crowd at the meeting.
See The Examiner.
20 November 2007
Launceston City Council has withdrawn its support for Gunn's pulp mill because five major issues (transport, air quality, health, water and compliance) had not been thoroughly investigated. The pulp mill posed an unknown risk to the public health, safety and future well-being of the citizens of the Launceston municipal area.
Read the Herald Sun.
18 November 2007
Financial analysts predict that the proposed pulp mill will not be economically viable due to pulp prices falling $260 a tonne as the mill comes on stream in 2010. The lead financier, ANZ, is believed to have begun phone-polling customers to gauge what damage it would do to the bank's reputation.
Read The Age.
18 November 2007
The commercial logic of Gunns’ proposed pulp mill is crumbling by the day. Since Turnbull’s announcement, bankers to the mill have yet to decide and the builder doesn't think it will go ahead. Some stockbrokers now say the mill could be a flop because current high pulp prices cannot be sustained. The rising dollar makes pulp exports dearer, while rising interest rates and a credit market crisis increases the cost of finance. Aracruz, the world's biggest pulp company is gearing up production.
Delays prior to Turnbull's approval will cost Gunns an extra $200 million, say stockbrokers UBS.
Read The Age.
18 November 2007
Anti pulp mill campaigners to boycott lead financier ANZ, close their accounts and withdraw superannuation funds from major shareholders Perpetual and AMP if they continue to support the project. Police estimated between 10 000 and 12 000 attended a rally in Hobart. A voter's block against candidates who support the pulp mill and a potential class action have been announced in recent weeks. High-powered businessman Geoffrey Cousins stirred up a chant of "Pulp the mill, we can, we will" which resonated across the CBD.
Read The Mercury.
17 November 2007
Almost 15,000 protesters rallied in Hobart to show their opposition to a controversial pulp mill, despite Liberal/Labor support for the controversial plan. People were still hostile to the Government's decision to support the pulp mill said Greens leader Bob Brown.
Read www.news.com.
17 November 2007
Between 10 000 and 12 000 people attended the anti pulp mill rally in Hobart. Richard Flanagan called for the biggest civil disobedience campaign in Australian History since the Franklin blockade if ANZ, Perpetual, AMP and the Commonwealth Bank don’t take action now.
Go to the ABC.
17 November 2007
Opinion piece on the dislike of Tasmanians for the mill. In April, 45 per cent of voters in Bass were against the mill. By September, that number had risen to 53 per cent. This week an EMRS poll showed opposition across Tasmania at 54 per cent, including 34 per cent of Liberal voters.
Read The Sydney Morning Herald.
16 November 2007
New Alderman Jeremy Ball has listed a motion for the Launceston City Council meeting recommending that the council withdraw its support for Gunns' pulp mill because the five key issues of transport, air quality, health, water and compliance that were identified in the council's RPDC submission, have not been addressed.
In September 2006, the council's submission said that the mill should not be approved if its issues were not thoroughly investigated and addressed.
Read The Examiner.
13 November 2007
Gunns could be hit with a $1.5 to $2 billion class action. TAP has begun a register of potential litigants against Gunns, its shareholders and its financiers. Property and business evaluations could be used as evidence in "thousands'' of potential claims.
See The Courier Mail.
13 November 2007
Tasmanians Against the Pulp mill TAP, have voted to launch a $2 billion-plus class action against the Gunns proposed pulp mill. Claims could include loss of property and housing values in the Tamar Valley, loss to businesses, loss to public amenities and potential threats to public health and safety.
Read The Mercury.
12 November 2007
If Australia wants to be a sustainable country, we need political leadership to set a clear agenda that will help us get there. Dr Paul Sinclair outlines Australia’s biggest challenge since the darkest days of World War II when Prime Minister John Curtin made a national radio broadcast asking the Australian people for maximum effort to protect the country.
Go to The Age.
12 November 2007
Opponents of the Gunns’ pulp mill are ‘disturbed’ by close ties between the ANZ Bank and the logging industry in Papua New Guinea. Geoff Cousins said "a senior ANZ executive has gone out of his way to defend the questionable record of the forestry industry in PNG. This will increase pressure on the bank by those who say it shouldn't be financing the pulp mill in Tasmania." A statewide poll found 54% of Tasmanians were opposed to the pulp mill and only 37% were in favour.
Read The Australian.
9 November 2007
Chief executive construction company Leighton Holdings, whose subsidiaries are contracted to build the pulp mill, says the project may never be built. He would not say why. Gunns are yet to secure finance but say construction will begin before the end of the year.
Read The Australian.
9 November 2007
Approval of a 110-hectare plantation near St Marys, is expected to lead to the flow of a creek stopping. However, a loophole in the Break O'Day Council's planning scheme means it can go ahead. The Director of Environmental Management is being asked to intervene.
Go to the ABC .
8 November 2007
“It will take lots of time for Gunns pulp mill to be built, if it is ever built” said Wal King
chief executive of Leighton Holdings, Australia’s largest construction company.
Read The Mercury.
8 November 2007
Greens Senator Bob Brown challenged John Gay to a debate after Gunns lodged advertisements in Tasmanian newspapers labelled "Inconvenient facts the Greens will not discuss". Gay refused saying a debate was “cheap politics”.
Read The Examiner.
8 November 2007
The Coalition could soon be blamed for the loss of hundreds of timber workers' jobs in the marginal seat of Bass. Auspine accused Liberal senators and ministers of failing to meet promises made in 2004.
Read The Australian.
7 November 2007
Police to review an email vilifying Bass member Michael Ferguson. Labor candidate Jodie Campbell refused to comment on a new opinion poll showing support for Labor in Bass fell by 9% since August. Greens support is up 8%.
Read The Examiner.
7 November 2007
Opinion piece on secrecy, lies and the government’s 20-year wood supply agreement between Forestry Tasmania and Gunns. Report of public forum on the pulp mill.
Go to the www.tasmaniantimes.com.
7 November 2007
200 attended a University forum of pulp mill experts and political speakers including Bob Brown (Greens), Ben Quin (independent) and Helen Polley (Labor). Liberals failed to show. Polley’s support for the mill was greeted with laughter
Read The Mercury.
6 November 07
Climate change expert says Tasmania's forests will decline rapidly if carbon emissions aren't reduced. Limits on carbon emissions for industry are required not just guidelines.
Go to the ABC.
5 November 2007
Peter Cundall, says Federal Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull told him that he "hated" the Gunns proposed pulp mill. Turnbull was unable to recall the comment.
Go to ABC
03 November 2007
Engineering firm Pitt&Sherry is seeking expressions of interest from "suitably qualified engineering design staff" who could start work on Gunns's proposed Bell Bay pulp mill. Gunns is expected to consider whether to proceed with the $1.9 billion development within weeks.
Go to The Examiner
03 November 2007
The Australian Electoral Commission has declared the names of candidates and their spot on ballot papers for the federal election. Danielle Ecuyer has top spot for Wentworth above incumbent Malcolm Turnbull. Research shows that candidates positioned on top generally gain an extra 1 per cent of votes.
Read The Australian
2 November 2007
Following criticism of his call for the community to accept the pulp mill decision, new Launceston Mayor Albert van Zetten assured the public that he was still against the Bell Bay project and did not agree with the approval process.
Go to The Examiner
1 November 2007
Pro Gunns pulp mill mayor Ivan Dean has been toppled and a number of anti-mill candidates elected to northern Tasmanian councils. In addition, a plebiscite held with the Hobart City council election showed 76 per cent opposition to the mill.
Read The Australian
