Media reports re Gunn's pulp mill and related issues

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For earlier media stories by month and year on Gunns' planned pulp mill and related issues, go to the links at the bottom of the page.

For media releases from TAP Into A Better Tasmania see media releases.

Media reports for December 2009 to March 2010

26 March 2010 The Tasmanian Government has been criticised for announcing a plan to sell an extra 800,000 tonnes of woodchips to Asia, before the sale had been finalised. The Government said it would prevent an eight week shut down at two Gunns' mills, and save about 150 forest contractor jobs. But contractors say they were given false hope, because the shut downs are going ahead and people are losing their jobs.ABC

24 March 2010 THE Australian Stock Exchange has grilled Gunns on its profit drop and when the company first became aware of declining profits.
The "please explain" was issued on Tuesday afternoon and the timber company had until 9.30am today to answer questions about when Gunns knew its profit for the first half of the year would be 98.7 per cent lower than the previous corresponding period. Mercury

24 March 2010 Gunns hammered as profits dive
THE timber company Gunns has taken a half-year share price thumping that casts doubt on support for a group still to close on its pulp mill project. Gunns shares plummeted 21 per cent to 69.5c, the lowest level since the depths of the financial crisis, and a far cry from their 2005 high of $4.75.SMH

20 March 2010 KEY opponents of the Gunns pulp mill are ready to embrace the $2.5billion project -- if it meets conditions set down by potential Swedish joint venture partner Sodra.
A leading opponent of the proposed mill, Sydney businessman Geoffrey Cousins, told The Weekend Australian he was ready to swing behind it, if Gunns accepted Sodra's conditions.
These included that Gunns obtain top-flight environmental certification for pulp wood from the Forest Stewardship Council. Gunns would also have to address marine pollution issues by adopting chlorine-free technology or an equivalent.Australian

12 February 2010 TASMANIA'S forest contractors breathed a sigh of relief as the State Government yesterday announced an agreement to sell 800,000 tonnes of woodchips into Asian markets. Energy and Resources Minister David Llewellyn made the announcement, which is expected to save about 150 forestry contractor jobs, at a meeting of industry representatives at Campbell Town. Mr Llewellyn said a number of issues were discussed at the meeting and another meeting would be held next week.
The agreement came after the forestry industry was thrown into disarray when Gunns announced the temporary closure of its Tamar Valley mill at Longreach for up to eight weeks.Examiner

9 February 2010 THE State Government has compulsorily acquired land on the East Tamar earmarked for the Gunns Ltd pulp mill pipeline.
Documents obtained via the Freedom of Information Act reveal Gunns has been negotiating with the Department of Infrastructure, Energy and Resources for more than two years for the pipeline to be accommodated in the road reserve for the Dilston Bypass. The negotiations between DIER and Gunns continued despite Premier David Bartlett's "line in the sand" statement in July 2008 which indicated an end to Government support. Mercury

3 February 2010 Peter Cundall, the former host of the ABC's Gardening Australia program, has used the publicity surrounding his court appearance to accuse logging company Gunns and the Tasmanian Parliament of corruption.
Cundall says the proof that Gunns helped write the legislation is that they have not denied it. Gunns is not commenting on Cundall's claim that the company used corrupt means to get its pulp mill approved. ABC

30 January 2010 Tasmanian timber company Gunns has dropped legal action against a group of conservationists.
The company took action in 2004 against 17 environmentalists and three organisations, claiming they had hurt its business by protesting, trespassing and damaging machinery.
Now Gunns has announced it will pay $155,000 towards the legal costs of the four remaining defendants to end the proceedings. ABC

22 January 2010 The State Government paid $239,000 for an under-road crossing for Gunns Limited's pulp mill water pipeline shortly before Premier David Bartlett drew his "line in the sand" to end government support for the project by November 30 that year. Pulp mill project manager Les Baker asked Department of Economic Development secretary Norm McIlfatrick for help to pay for the box culvert under the Batman Highway-East Tamar Highway interchange in April 2008. Mr Baker pleaded that Gunns was under "extreme financial pressure". Gunns reported a $64.5 million profit for the 2007-08 financial year. Mercury

22 January 2010 Minister David Llewellyn's business trip to Japan has been labelled a mercy dash to keep timber giant Gunns' woodchip industry alive. And timber industry sources yesterday confirmed that the subject of discussion at meetings between Mr Llewellyn, Japanese business interests and Gunn's executive chairman John Gay would be woodchips. Industry sources say that Mr Gay would be trying to regain markets for his company's woodchips. Gunns refused to comment. Examiner

8 January 2010 The long-term wood supply agreement between Forestry Tasmania and Gunns will not be renegotiated to exclude native timber. Gunns announced that its proposed $2.5billion pulp mill would operate totally on plantation timber, sparking calls from The Wilderness Society to renegotiate the wood supply deal to exclude native forest woodchips. The Wilderness Society says the wood supply deal locks in more than one million tonnes of native forest wood for the next 20 years. Gunns spokesman Matt Horan said yesterday that operations outside of the pulp mill were reliant on the wood supply deal and that it would not be renegotiated. Mr Horan would not comment on the cost implications of the decision to make the pulp mill feedstock 100 per cent plantation wood. Examiner

7 January 2010 Up to one million tonnes of pulpwood a year could be shipped to Bell Bay from Victoria after Gunns announced yesterday that its controversial pulp mill would operate totally on plantation timber from managed investment scheme plantations formerly controlled by Great Southern. Gunns chairman John Gay told the ASX that discussions with equity partners and bankers for the mill were "continuing positively". Both the State Government and Liberals welcomed the announcement. The Tasmanian Greens and The Wilderness Society and lobby group Our Common Ground said more needed to be done to protect Tasmania's native forests. Examiner

19 December Japanese companies have demanded Tasmania provide them with Forest Stewardship Council accredited woodchips. Forestry Tasmania and Tasmania's dominant timber company Gunns Limited have previously shunned the internationally recognised FSC certification standard because of its close links with global green groups. Forestry Tasmania developed its own alternative, the Australian Forestry Standard, to prove to its customers that all timber logged and sold from the state came from sustainably managed forests. However, pressure from affluent Japanese and European consumers keen to buy only FSC-approved paper from Japanese manufacturers because of its top green credentials appears to have forced Forestry's hand. The FSC demand is crucial to Tasmania selling its native forest woodchips at good prices into oversupplied world markets. Mercury

1 December Gunns still has not secured finance. Now it looks as though the company may have another headache, trying to fulfil its commitment to use local workers to build the mill. When trying to sell the benefits of the proposal to the community, Gunns and the Tasmanian Government promised hundreds of local builders would be employed in the project's construction. But a boom in building work across the state is filling construction company books and soaking up the pool of skilled labour. The union's Tony Benson said Gunns would struggle to find a workforce if it started building the mill any time within the next two years. Tasmania's biggest construction company, Fairbrother, has confirmed it has not been contacted by Gunns about supplying workers. The state's other major labour supplier, John Holland, has previously raised doubts its four-year-old agreement to provide labour for the project still stands. Industry analyst Robert Eastment says the project has been run up and down the flagpole one too many times. He says construction companies are no longer willing to hold off on committing to other contracts. ABC

Click on the links for each month below to see a summary of media stories for that month.