Corrupt assessment process

Tasmanians protesting against Gunn's proposed Tamar Valley pulp mill

Ever since Gunns announced its plans to build a pulp mill in Tasmania’s Tamar Valley, experts have been warning of trouble. Devastating impacts have been predicted for Tasmania’s economy, tourism, human health, marine life, the fishing industry, and of course, Tasmania’s forests.

Before it could be built, Gunns’ mill had to be assessed by the independent Resource Planning and Development Commission (RPDC). Expert after expert raised major concerns with the mill, saying it would be critically non-compliant with environmental rules.

But in 2007, Gunns pulled out of this assessment process.

According to Gunns, the process was taking too long. But the RPDC showed that it was in fact Gunns’ own inability to provide accurate information that was causing most of the delays.

The real problem for Gunns was the fact that experts had shown that if the pulp mill was built, it would permanently damage Tasmania’s economy, community and environment. 

After they withdraw from this assessment, Gunns struck a dodgy deal with Tasmanian politicians. New laws were written allowing the project to be fast-tracked through a parliamentary approval process. Many of the project’s major impacts were ignored and it was assessed with much less rigor than the Planning Commission had used.

Several independent Members of the Legislative Council said it was not appropriate to use the Parliament to assess a major development project, and voted against the mill. And even under the Parliament’s ‘fast-track’ process, the pulp mill still failed to meet key requirements.

The so-called ‘approval’ of Gunns’ pulp mill by the Tasmania State Parliament is widely seen as a corrupt process that put the interests of the company ahead of those of ordinary Tasmanians.

Levelling the playing field

In January 2010, recently retired justice of the Supreme Court of Tasmania, the Honourable Justice Pierre Slicer, wrote the foreword to Levelling the playing field, a major new report into governance of the forestry sector in Tasmania. The report, commissioned by Environment Tasmania, pays particular attention to the pulp mill assessment process.

According to the authors: “Researchers anticipated highly critical attitudes towards the pulp mill approval process from the conservation and academic communities. What we did not anticipate was the extent to which interviewees within the forestry bureaucracy and industry acknowledged that good governance principles had been violated. Whether one uses the term ‘regulatory capture’ or ‘corruption,’ all evidence suggests that the pulp mill approval process represented a significant violation of due process.”

You can read the full report here. 

Further reading

Time to restore trust in democracy
The Wilderness Society has joined with other groups and individuals under the banner of Our Common Ground,  in an attempt to solve the conflict over Tasmania’s forests. Our Common Ground has released a series of television advertisements, including one highlighting the abuses of democratic processes which occurred in Tasmania as part of the shambolic pulp mill approval. Watch TV add >>