Alliance forms to save Tasmania from Gunns Pulp Mill

A diverse collection of groups, individuals and businesses from around Tasmania and Australia have come together in the Tamar Valley this weekend and agreed to the formation of a cohesive working alliance to stop the Gunns pulp mill.

The two day strategy meeting involved representatives from Tasmanians Against the Pulp Mill, The Wilderness Society, GetUp, The Tasmanian Greens, Environment Tasmania, Lawyers for Forests, Future Tasmania, Timber Workers for Forests, Students Against the Pulp Mill, Tasmanian Conservation Trust, local residents, community leaders and health professionals.

Participants agreed to the formation of an alliance to galvanise, coordinate and strengthen the community movement opposing the mill, and are inviting others concerned about the issue to join the alliance.

Tamar Valley resident and a spokesperson for Tasmanians Against the Pulp Mill Rick Pilkington said, 'We have had to put our lives on hold to protect the future of our home. The community deserves a well-thought, unified campaign to counter the rich and the powerfully bound pro-mill forces wanting to recklessly exploit our State for their own personal benefit.'

'Politics in Tasmania has sunk to a new low this week, and it seems the mill was again at the heart of the scandal. We've had enough. It is increasingly falling to the community to defend our shared values and future,' said Tamar Valley resident Judith King.

'This is a national issue, one of concern to all Australians,' said GetUp spokesperson Ed Coper.

'This new alliance will make sure all the voices of well-founded concern around the nation will be effectively heard and represented.'

'We will stop this mill,' said Environment Tasmania spokesperson Phill Pullinger, 'The campaign is far from over. Key alliance members will intensify public awareness and advocacy efforts, and there will also be a co-ordinated community response to highlight the role of Gunns' banker - the ANZ bank.'

With the Federal Government yet to fully approve Gunns' mill, the alliance will be doing everything in its combined power to convince the Federal Government and the financial sector that the mill is not worth the risk, and will have many negative impacts on the community and the nation.

The alliance expressed confidence that the pulp mill will be stopped and that the benefits of cooperative campaigning will be used to ensure Tasmania's unique values are protected into the future.

'The pulp mill debacle has been a sorry blight on Tasmania's political and democratic record and the community needs to work together to ensure that this situation never happens again,' concluded The Wilderness Society spokesperson Vica Bayley.

For more information or comment please contact Ed Coper on 0408 662 575 or Rick Pilkington on 0437 365 265.

Fossil Fools Day Media

Call to punish ANZ for backing mill
The Mercury - April 02, 2008

HOBART university student Alby Dallas closed his bank account with ANZ in opposition to the pulp mill yesterday after leading a protest march to Elizabeth Mall.
The Students Against the Pulp Mill organiser asked more than 100 students gathered for the protest to follow suit.

Gunns has said it is expecting finance for the Tamar Valley project from a consortium of banks led by ANZ.

Protesters, including SAPM, Young Greens and Socialist Alliance members, walked from a rally on Parliament House Lawns shortly after 1pm waving placards in opposition to the Gunns development.

Mr Dallas, 21, of West Hobart, then walked into the ANZ on the corner of Collins St and the mall an closed his account after eight years with the bank.

"We are doing this to express our concern over the pulp mill approval process and the type of mill that's being proposed," the government and philosophy student said.

"As long as they support this project, they are not going to get support from us."

He said the proposed pulp mill would produce unacceptable levels of greenhouse gases from its pulping process and wood-fired generator.

Protesters from the Huon Valley Environment Centre and high schools also marched.

"Others have said they will close their accounts and we also encourage students to consider supporting Students Against the Pulp Mill when they initiate their blockades," Mr Dallas said.

The rally was the start of a month-long campaign that would see weekly rallies each Friday outside the Town Hall in Macquarie St.

ANZ and Gunns declined to comment on the protest.

On its website, ANZ said it had not made a decision on whether to finance the project and would only do so once it had considered its client's proposed compliance with all government conditions.

Education Minister David Bartlett said he couldn't stop students from protesting, but he would prefer they stayed in school.

"But ultimately parents who have provided notes for young people to be out of school in a situation like this are free to do so," he said.

ABC Online article
Students in pulp mill protest

Around 100 young people have gathered at Parliament House to protest against timber company Gunns' plans to build a pulp mill in the Tamar Valley.

High school and university students walked out of class to take part in the rally.

The students wearing yellow bandannas and chanting slogans in protest at the ANZ bank's potential backing for the pulp mill project rallied on the Parliament House lawns at lunch time.

Four students gave speeches, all with the central message that Tasmanian students do not want the pulp mill.

The rally marched to the ANZ bank in Hobart's Elizabeth Street Mall, where one protest organiser, Alby Dallas planned to close his account with the ANZ.

He urged other students to do the same.

Mr Dallas says he does not want the mill and closing his account gives him a voice.

"I will be one of hopefully a few people who will be closing their ANZ account in protest of the possibility that ANZ will fund the mill," he said.

"Hopefully this sends an inspirational message to other youth, this way it shows them a way that they can be positively and active and campaign against this pulp mill."

ABC Online Article
No fallout for pulp mill protest students

Tasmania's Education Minister, David Bartlett, says high school students who left class to attend a protest in Hobart today were within their rights.

About 100 students marched to the ANZ bank in Hobart's Elizabeth Street Mall to protest against the ANZ's potential backing of Gunns' Tamar Valley pulp mill.

Mr Bartlett says the students won't be in trouble.

"Well I would much prefer that they were in school, I believe that every day lost to learning is a day that can't be given back.

"But ultimately parents who have provided notes for young people to be out of school in a situation like this are free to do so," the Minister said.