Gunns courting private pulp mill partner
In early November, native logging lobbyists, NAFI (National Association of Forest Industries) released speculative figures they claimed pointed toward a bright future for all timber-related industry in Australia. On the same day, timber giant Gunns held further conversations with media to insinuate that financing, probably Swedish, has almost been secured for their Tasmanian pulp mill.
Sources close to the process, however, think that the constant talk of finance from Swedish pulp cooperative Sodra may be a smokescreen hiding an approach made to potential equity partners at Japan’s Nippon Paper Group.
Although no information about possible negotiations with Nippon Paper Group has been forthcoming from Gunns Ltd, economic activists and environmental documentary makers are contacting the potential Japanese investors to discuss the risks of partnering with Gunns in a very unpopular $2billion piece of infrastructure with serious environmental implications.
On hearing about the prospect of these negotiations, sources in the Tasmanian environmental movement speculated that the announcement of successful negotiations for pulp mill financing would be held up until the Tasmanian Labor government were closer to announcing an election date. As they have all along, the Tasmanian ALP would assume such an announcement would bring joy and public celebration, speculated the sources.
Bob McMahon, spokesperson for Tasmanians Against the Pulp Mill (TAPvision.info) spoke openly on hearing of the speculation, contacting media to pose questions about the hypothetical partnership. In particular, he wanted to know what level of Federal Government accommodation would be needed to secure a high level of Japanese investment in the project, and whether further guarantees of access to forests, private property, water supplies, and publicly-funded infrastructure had been given by the Tasmanian state government.
Although these questions are yet to be put to the Nippon Paper Group, they have already been put to Gunns Ltd. No response was forthcoming.
