Pulp Mill Back In Spotlight After Election

28 November 2007
The future of the $1.9 billion pulp mill planned for Tasmania’s Tamar Valley may be less certain following Saturday's federal election landslide win to Labor, according to industry observers.
Australian Greens leader Bob Brown has called on incoming Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to review the pulp mill's federal approval by former environment minister Malcolm Turnbull.
Brown said the electorate had clearly expressed a desire for no pulp mill in the Tamar Valley, particularly through the historically high Greens vote in Tasmania and the vote against government members. He claimed that the incoming government had only been elected on Greens preferences, and that the pulp mill was now "the target" of voters nationwide.
Labor maintained a position of support for the mill throughout its election campaign.
Outgoing Forestry Minister Senator Eric Abetz lashed out at Senator Brown's immediate calls for a review. "This pulp mill will be built," Abetz said.
Rudd will selected his new frontbench in Canberra on Thursday. The Opposition leadership is up for grabs after outgoing treasurer and deputy Peter Costello removed himself from the running. Outgoing Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull is the only contender so far for the position.
Tasmanian senator Kerry O’Brien, former Shadow Minister for Primary Industries, Forestry and Fisheries, is expected to take responsibility for forestry in the new Rudd team.
Both the National Association of Forest Industries (NAFI) and Australian Plantation Products and Paper Industry Council (A3P) agreed election of the new Government marks the beginning of some major policy initiatives that will require different approaches, hard work and a cooperative relationship between industry and government.
“We want to move away from the politics of confrontation and controversy that have plagued the native forest industry in recent years,” A3P CEO Neil Fisher said.
NAFI CEO Catherine Murphy said Labor’s forest policy contained new initiatives and NAFI looked forward to working with the Government in seeing them through.
Both organisations welcomed Labor’s $9 million Forest Industries Development Fund, which will help address the $2 billion trade deficit in forest and wood products by encouraging value adding for export opportunities.
Other Government initiatives include a further $8 million to explore the impacts of climate change on forestry.

If you would like to submit a news item to be considered for inclusion on Inwood Today, please email the text to: Australia, Jim Bowden, and all other countries to info@inwoodmag.com

All news on this site is compiled by Inwood Today and may be subject to international copyright.
News Archives