Gunns pulp mill again

[miriam_e]

GetUp have asked people to write to Tony Burke. He is an MP who has shown that he's either corrupt or incompetent by misleading Parliament about the pulp mill.

Go to http://www.getup.org.au/campaign/SetTheRecordStraight to send one off yourself.

Here is the one I sent:

Dear Mr Tony Burke MP,

It is a pity that you either don't keep up with the facts surrounding the Gunns Pulp Mill or else you hope the community won't.

You quoted Gunns propaganda verbatim when you incorrectly stated that Gunns' disastrous mill would bring "8,000 direct and indirect jobs spread across the trades and other areas. Another 1,500 jobs would be created during operation." Even Gunns themselves no longer believe this. Their own figures revise this to a much, much lower figure (about 280 jobs). However even this is wrong. As Minister for Fisheries and Agriculture, if you did your work properly surely you would be aware that the Tasmanian fishing industry is expected to lose something like 700 jobs and around $690 million because of the mill. Even worse, more than $840 million of taxpayer subsidies to Gunns should be added to that cost. In fact Dr Peter Brain, from the National Institute of Economic Industry Research (NEIR) found that, far from contributing $6.7 billion, it will actually cost $0.3 billion. The future is not looking brighter either. The cost of building the mill has more than doubled since the original estimates, the price of pulp has dropped through the floor, and Gunns' share price has fallen by around 75%. In any case, the mill would not be able to compete with cheaper products from South America anyway.

It has been shown many times that tourism is one of Australia's best money earners. With China's and India's growing, affluent middle class, we would be mad to get rid of the potential money-tree that old forests represent. They are a vanishing resource. As such, their value continues to sky-rocket.

Sincerely,

Miriam English