The Habitat Advocate

Why did Gunns abandon its respected local north coast hardware business to greedily exploit Tasmania’s irreplaceable natural forests?

Gunns board’s single decision sought to selfishly exploit Tasmania to its core and will go down in Tasmania’s history as the worst for all participants and for all Tasmania and Tasmanians.  Gunns only divided a community that traditionally has sought subsistence from its valuable natural asset…because Gunns was greedy, not responsible, not acccountable to Tasmania or Tasmanians!  Now the Board says its proposed Bell Bay Pulp Mill in the Tamar Valley “is critical to any strategy for achieving a modern Tasmanian forest industry.”  [Gunns media release 25-November 2010].  High values forestry is not about woodchips to Asia.  How does woodchip commonity distinguish the Tasmanian export product?  Small selected timber for custom crafted timber furnitur, but this is not an industrial scale business model.

If Gunn’s has access to $2.5 billion to build a destructive and unwanted pulp mill, think of the lost opportunities of that $2.5 billion to other investment projects that could instead make a genuine difference to Tasmanians and their Island State.

“Even if Gunns gets its pulp mill, we will stop them selling their pulp by uthe same method we stopped them selling their woodchips. We will badger the buyers and embargo goods all the way down the product line. After a while no one will touch it.”

Hale Peter Cundall!