2017-08-30 00:00:00 | Pulp Mill Permit has expired – Call To Repeal The Pulp Mill Assessment Act

Expiry of the Tasmanian Pulp Mill Permit today has been welcomed by Markets For Change, who called for the Tasmanian government to now repeal the Pulp Mill Assessment Act – enabling legislation that gave the project Parliamentary approval after it failed to meet assessment standards as a Project of State Significance under the state’s planning system.

2015-07-08 00:00:00 | Latest update

An announcement from KordaMentha, the receivers for Gunns Ltd, is pending regarding the outcome of their most recent efforts to sell the industrially-zoned land previously designated for the Gunns pulp mill development on the Tamar River in Tasmania. It is possible that the accompanying permits to build and operate the pulp mill could also be sold to the same buyer, although KordaMentha was unable to find a bidder for both land plus permits last year. This year the land and pulp mill permits have been offered separately.

KordaMentha claimed in June 2015 to have received several bids, including one for land plus permits, and were to enter negotiations with bidders.

A new round of expressions of interest was initiated in April 2015, at which time KordaMentha announced that they were splitting the land and the pulp mill permits, making it possible for a buyer to purchase the land without the permits. This followed failure of a previous call for expressions of interest in 2014, when land and permits were on sale as a single lot.

Following years of intense community opposition, opponents of the pulp mill project are speculating that a sale of land without permits would finally herald the demise of this loathed project almost a decade after it was launched.

Forico, a subsidiary of New Forests which bought the Gunns eucalypt plantations and woodchip mills in 2014, has ruled out owning, operating, or supplying the Tamar Valley Pulp Mill (formerly known as Gunns pulp mill). This means that the proposed pulp mill does not have access to a plantation grown wood supply. Current permits include legal provisions set in May 2011 at the request of Gunns Ltd that enforce the project to use only plantation grown wood supply.

Fears are held for native forests if a sale of land together with pulp mill permits eventuates. Concerns centre on the possibility that a new proponent could seek to change the permit conditions to enable a native forest wood supply. Such a wood supply would be very contentious after the Tasmanian government repealed legislation that provided for protection of 400,000 hectares of native forest in secure reserves under the Tasmanian Forest Agreement, and instead allocated those high conservation value forests as production forests.

2014-02-28 00:00:00 | Latest update

When the land and pulp mill permits were put on sale in February 2014, the following RESOLUTION was unanimously approved on 27th February 2014 by a public meeting of 250 people at the Tailrace Centre, Launceston, Tasmania:

‘This meeting does not support the Tamar Valley pulp mill project because of its many unacceptable environmental impacts and the process by which our community was excluded from involvement in the assessment and approval. Critical non-compliance of the project with formal assessment requirements led to that process being dispensed with in 2007 and a legislated ‘fast track’ approval that also removed our rights was substituted.

We also strongly oppose the most recent legislative intervention in Tasmania which in January 2014 lengthened the life of the Pulp Mill Permit, alleviated repercussions for failure to observe environmental conditions under the Permit, and prevented a court case regarding the validity of the Permit from proceeding.

Further, the proposed pulp mill jeopardises other business and industry reliant on a clean unpolluted environment, thus hazarding existing and future employment and wealth creation in Tasmania.’

The Tasmanian Parliament in January 2014 was convened at the request of Gunns’ receivers KordaMentha specifically to approve fast track legislation that extended the life of the pulp mill permit from 4 years to 10 years, stymied a current court case over the validity of the permits and watered down penalties for failure to observe environmental conditions. This was yet another disgraceful episode of many in the history of this project in which the Parliament acted to shore up the financial interests of proponents of this pulp mill proposal against the will of the community. 

2014-01-27 00:00:00 | Latest update

The following ‘Joint Statement to the Parliament and people of Tasmania’ by 28 non-government organisations from Asia, Europe, North and South America and Australia attending an international meeting in the Netherlands on Stopping Irresponsible Investment in Pulp and Paper Mills organised by the Environmental Paper Network (EPN & EEPN) was issued on 27th January 2014:

‘We are deeply concerned by the re-emergence of the Gunns pulp mill project in Tasmania, Australia for well documented environmental and social reasons.

We have been informed and are dismayed to learn of the efforts being made in Tasmania to revive this project, and of the secrecy surrounding the bidders for Gunns’ assets, including the Permit to build and operate the pulp mill.

This pulp mill project was never able to satisfy environmental assessment procedures, was withdrawn from the formal assessment process when the company was informed that they were not compliant with the environmental requirements, and instead a fast track approval via the Tasmanian Parliament overrode due process. The right of citizens to be heard and for environmental and social problems to be exposed and rigorously examined was denied.

An undertaking eventually made by Gunns Ltd to utilise only plantation resource for this project was unilateral and is not a condition on the Permit. Hence we also fear that this may lead to the use of native forest as feedstock for the mill by a different proponent, possibly including forests assessed and agreed as high conservation value.

Further, we are puzzled that the Tasmanian Parliament would intervene to negate a legal judgement on the continued validity of the pulp mill Permit.

We are also concerned to learn that the Tasmanian Parliament and people of Tasmania have no knowledge of which companies are to potentially benefit from the enactment of the proposed Doubts Removal Bill, and that the new law would allow the transfer of the Permit to any company, no matter their environmental, social or financial reputation.

Buyers and investors should be aware of the potential environmental and social risks connected to the Gunns pulp mill project.’

BankTrack was one of the signatory groups to this statement.

2011-05-05 00:00:00 | Latest update

In March 2011 the Australian Federal Environment Minister set new legal conditions for Gunns' pulp mill that enforce the project to only use plantation timber and to use the ECF Lite bleaching process.

In September 2010, the Chief Executive of Gunns announced that the company will move out of native forest logging and will work with the community and conservation groups to "find joint solutions to age-old conflicts and move beyond [to] a real, sustainable forest industry". These comments forecast a change in direction to the long running conflict over forestry in Tasmania and were welcomed by many Australian environmental groups.

In May 2010, John Gay and Robin Gray were forced to step down from the Board of Gunns Ltd and will no longer have any further involvement with the company or its subsidiaries. The Wilderness Society believes this creates the opportunity to achieve permanent and lasting resolution to the conflict over forestry in Tasmania.

On December 31, 2009 Gunns announced its plans for a restructuring of the company, by proposing the creation of a new corporate group, to be known as Southern Star Corporation (“Southern Star”). Southern Star’s principal assets will be a world scale bleached hardwood Kraft Pulp Mill in the Bell Bay Industrial Zone of Northern Tasmania and the highly prized Tasmanian land and eucalyptus plantation resource currently owned by Gunns Limited.
Gunns plans to isolate its native-forest logging operations from the pulp mill proposal, plantations and other more acceptable parts of its operations such as wine-making and retail outlets, is seen by NGOs as a vain attempt to hide its native forest logging operations from scrutiny by potential pulp-mill investors.

At the AGM of November 2009, Gunns announced that Swedish pulp and paper company Södra is one of the potential pulp-mill investors the company is in talks with. Södra has set minimum benchmarks for any pulp mill development in Australia, saying it would need to be totally chlorine-free (TCF), 100% plantation-based and Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified. Gunns current proposal doesn't meet any of the preconditions set by Sodra. Gunns will have to undertake major reforms to meet the preconditions set by Södra, such as ending the logging of native forests and not using litigation against community members standing up for the protection of their environment.

However, Gunns also indicated that they are in talks with other pulp and paper companies.

Gunns has not received approval from the Australian Federal Government to operate the pulp mill. Gunns evidence to the Federal Government on the mills impact on the marine environment was rejected and they have been given until March 2011 to complete further research. However, Gunns has indicated it will begin construction of the project as soon as it secures finance for the project. Gunns has not yet completed critical scientific work on how the pulp mill pollution will impact on marine life and the fishing industry.