Good one from John Gay (commenting on Don Berk’s support for the pulp mill):
“For him to come out and support the industry in this way is very good—he understands because he has been in Tasmania.”

http://www.buyselltrade.com.au
tasmania’s free classifieds

The Australian Environment Foundation is an eco
‘false flag’ operation. Check the media releases on
their site. They support GM plants, uranium mining and logging old-growth forest. And all in Tasmania
one assumes. What do they oppose? Who cares.

Burke by name, burke by selling out nature !

If Don Burke had any credibility to speak on such issues, it has now been shattered.  The organisation of which he is Chairman, the Australian Environment Foundation, has links to both right-wing think tank the Institute of Public Affairs and Timber Communities Australia.  On an interview with Triple J’s current events show Hack the head of the AEF admitted that the group had been established to protect timber interests.

So much for their claims of approaching the pulp mill issue in a balanced way. A representative from Gunns recently delivered a 45-minute presentation on the mill to a conference hosted by the AEF; in the interests of balance, where were speakers to put the issue into any sort of real perspective?

More propaganda, more nonsense, more obfuscation: but no balance.

That was Don, wasn’t it, not Brian?

I hope Joey doesn’t mind me quoting him, but

“interesting reading in Bob Burton’s book ” Inside Spin: The Dark Underbelly Of The Pr Industry”, specifically page 118 where Burton writes about John Roskam who is the Executive Director of the Institute of Public Affairs (IPA)(see right wing think tank), which founded the Australian Environment Foundation (AEF). Burton reveals that John Gay confirmed that Gunns gave funds to the IPA in 2005. Furthermore Burton reveals that when former IPA staff member Gary Johns was asked whether Gunns was still funding the IPA in 2006 Johns said, “I don’t think that’s inaccurate”. Generally speaking Burton reports that the IPA has a policy of not revealing who funds it but that the majority of it’s funds come from corporate donations. the AEF is essentially the ‘environmental’ arm of the IPA and Gunns has (and still may be) giving them money. this is basically sponsored comment by a group that is attempting (badly) to imitate an environmental group.

Posted by: joey 8:46pm September 13, 2007
Comment 70 of 80”
http://www.news.com.au/mercury/comments/0,,22405334-921,00.html

I hope Amanda can think of something original next time, like who funds the greens and why is the Wilderness Society giving money to a one sided argument. Perhaps she does not like it when some of the green propaganda is returned to make it a debate.
If the pulp mill does not proceed unemployment will, as sure as night follows day. So in essence we have green propaganda driving probable job losses in Tasmania. Interesting to see what comes out of all of this one way or another. If the pulp mill gets up, the greens are out of the argument and have to find something else. Like in Germany when the electorate discovered they have no viable answers they got rid of the greens.

I’ve been around the block
A couple of times or maybe more
I’ve have the right, to show my might
I’m feeling rather bored
But when rich mates all tell me
The place for mills galore
I tell them right away

Give me a home without the gum trees,
Without devils and wallabies.
No quolls cause they’re all barbecued.
Wedgetails with no habitat.
Can you imagine that?
And no one seems to care.

You can see me in the boardroom
I swagger and I boast
Charging for a toast
Just John and me, wine’s all free
And later on, we’ll wander off
And go out to the bush
And watch the possums die

Give me a home without the gum trees,
Without devils and wallabies.
No quolls cause they’re all barbecued.
Wedgetails with no habitat.
Can you imagine that?
And no one seems to care.

There’s no safe place for our fauna
And clear fell looks very neat
And a brand new coupe they’ve opened up
We’ve got the flora beat
But I’d trade my shares tomorrow
For a comfy boardroom seat
Where John is free to call

Give me a home without the gum trees,
Without devils and wallabies.
No quolls cause they’re all barbecued.
Wedgetails with no habitat.
Can you imagine that?
And no one seems to care.
Some people are in their houses
With smoke palls all around
While I live in a mansion
Napalm burns the ground
But me I like nitens you know
Wildlife nowhere to be found
And Tamar wine there is no lack.
Give me a home without the gum trees,
Without devils and wallabies.
No quolls cause they’re all barbecued.
Wedgetails with no habitat.
Can you imagine that?
And no one seems to care.

I thought John Gay believed “know nothing” celebrities weren’t forest scientists and should butt out of Tasmania’s business?

I must have misheard or misinterpreted him and others over the years!

“Hilldweller” suffers from the “Chicken Little” syndrome. The sky will not come down if the mill fails to proceed. No jobs will be gained, but none lost either. The only pain to be felt will only be felt by Gunn’s.
Big business may think twice before investing in Tas, but isnt that a good thing for Tasmanians? The message sent to industry, if the mill is refused, is ‘invest in Tas, but only if it is quality and providing your homework is done’.
Fear of unemployment among poorly educated timber workers has been a useful tool for Gunn’s over the years. By cultivating this fear, they have succesfully won the hearts and minds of their workforce, who childlike, are spoonfed that “Mill is Good”.
The Nazi’s blamed the Jews, Alabamah the “Blacks”.
John Gay must thank the heavens he has the “Greens”.

I can assure Hilldweller that the Greens in Germany are very much still around.  Perhaps in return Hilldweller can explain which people will lose jobs they currently have should the mill not proceed.

Re #7:  “If the pulp mill does not proceed unemployment will, as sure as night follows day”.  Still living in 1989 in those hills are we?  That was exactly the argument of the proponents of the Wesley Vale pulp mill.  Suggest you come down out of them thar hills, Hilldweller, and study the employment growth in Tasmania since 1989.

Hilldweller #7 seems to have missed the point. Mindless employment does little for the well-being of the employed - they worry about constant increases in prices, longer hours, higher mortgages,  products that are so cheap they cease to be products (food, kids toys). They worry about being poisoned by the herbicides that they have to apply to get a paypacket - worry about the disappearing resource they have to split and truck away for chips… about the future for their kids.

And as for employment marching behind the mill ...well it will also follow the garlic industry - with a real return, instead of being a twice laundered dole payment.

Ideas that do not address issues of meaningful, sustainable survival and only sit within our standard corporate, profit-driven ideology are a waste of energy. And it doesn’t matter who funds the propaganda - red, pink, green, dry or wet! The trouble with conservatives (which include some conservationists and Don Berk) is that they wouldn’t recognise a threat if it bit them on the bum - they would just respond with more of the same old, same old. Hilldweller or pocket dweller?
NC

Hilldweller you have been in the hills too long.
Take a look at the employment figures for the beloved timber industry.
Before woodchipping began there were just under 300 sawmills in Tasmania, now there are 40.
Before woodchipping began we cut down 1.2 hectares of forest for each job now it is 5 ha per job.
In the last year due to overseas markets demanding real environmentally sound logging practices be used for woodchips they bought, Gunns sacked 20% of their contractors.
MIS Schemes that are in reality Tax avoidance schemes for rich city folk have bought up 15% of Tasmanian Farms and planted trees that have no real market signals saying they are needed.
Timbercorp is one of these MIS companies and it is about to harvest a crop of MIS oranges that will increase the output of Australian citrus by 6 times. Again they have no market as we cannot compete and never could with South America on price for citrus.
You have been duped
This mill cannot succeed without massive subsidies. There is enough plantation eucalypt in Tasmania to supply 3.2 million tons of woochip a year on a 15 year rotation, so Gunns could build a slightly smaller mill at Hampshire, using only plantation wood, Rail transport and not need to bleach the pulp.
Sounds slightly smarter than the current proposal.

Pete Godfrey said: “There is enough plantation eucalypt in Tasmania to supply 3.2 million tons of woochip a year on a 15 year rotation, so Gunns could build a slightly smaller mill at Hampshire, using only plantation wood, Rail transport and not need to bleach the pulp.Sounds slightly smarter than the current proposal.”

Pete, where do you live? That’s where a dirty pulpmill should go.  One that feeds off dirty industrial plantations that rely on heavily chemical cocktails that poison the environment and our bodies. That deplete the soil of fertility and fill the atmosphere with tons of CO2 and other greenhouse gases.  Right on top of your house.