National News - November 2005
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18/11/05 - $650m pulp mill boosts minister - Verity Edwards
17/1//05 - SA pulp mill no threat to Gunns - ABC On-line
13/11/05 - Icons under threat: The Murray - By Melissa Fyfe - The Age
10/11//05 Plantation industry not to blame for rural decline, - By Catherine Clifford, NT Country Hour Summary- ABC Rural
$650m pulp mill boosts minister
A CONSORTIUM of developers will build a $650 million pulp mill in South Australia, in a project estimated to create 720 jobs in a politically sensitive state seat.
With the state election five months away, the decision to build the mill near the southeast town of Penola raises the profile of local member Rory McEwen, a former Liberal and now independent MP who is a minister in the Rann Labor cabinet.
The mill will process close to a million tonnes of woodchips a year when it begins production in 2009, using a chemithermomechanical pulp process, said to be more environmentally friendly than chemical pulping.
A poll this month showed the primary vote for the Agriculture, Food and Fisheries Minister had dropped 30 percentage points since December 2002. He trails the Labor candidate going into the March election.
Nearly 200 jobs have been lost across the region over the past 14 months, the majority at the Mount Gambier Carter Holt Harvey sawmill. It is hoped many of the workers will be re-employed at Penola Pulp.
Premier Mike Rann welcomed the plan, saying the mill would boost local industries and remove the need to import pulp from Indonesia and Brazil.
"This new mill will not only substantially cut our pulp imports, it will negate the need to export most of our woodchips," he said.
The Penola mill will mirror a similar plant being established in Heywood, Victoria, backed by industry heavies Timbercorp, Orica, CellMark, Andritz and Silcar.
Penola Pulp project director John Roche said the mill would be more environmentally friendly than other plants.
"It will be greener because it doesn't use as many intense chemicals and as much water to process pulp," Mr Roche said.
The new-style pulp is used to make soft and absorbent tissue, packaging, and paper for glossy magazines and brochures.
The plant will process woodchips from southeast blue gums, which are now shipped to Victoria for pulping. The processed pulp would be transported to Victoria, with hopes disused rail lines in the area could be reopened.
But the Construction Forestry, Mining and Energy Union questioned whether the consortium could realistically build two mills about 100km apart, worth close to $1 billion
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200511/s1509431.htm
Thursday, November 17, 2005. 9:46pm (AEDT)
Gunns chairman John Gay says a newly announced pulp mill in South Australia will pose no threat to the company's proposed mill in northern Tasmania.
The $650 million mill in South Australia's south-east would use South Australia's bluegum resources, which are due for harvest in 2009.
Mr Gay says there is no crossover in competition between the mills and the announcement is good for the Australian economy.
"They are building a pulp mill, a chemical pulp mill, where we're building a craft pulp mill and it's to produce a product into a different market," he said.
South Australian Premier Mike Rann says it will create 600 jobs during construction.
"Hundreds of permanent jobs and of course utilising a million tonnes of woodchips per annum by about 2010," he said.
The South Australian company hopes construction of its Penola mill can begin by the end of next year.
13/11/05 - Icons under threat: The Murray - By Melissa Fyfe - The Age
NT Country Hour Summary- ABC Rural
By Catherine Clifford, NT Country Hour Summary- ABC Rural
Thursday, 10/11/2005
New research from the Bureau of Rural Sciences says plantation expansion in regional areas is not causing towns to die. The five reports on the socio-economic impact of the timber industry look at case studies in Albany in Western Australia and the Tumut area of New South Wales. They found that if plantation growth takes place at a steady rate over time as part of a mix of land use changes, populations do not decline. Report author, Jacki Schirmer, says the results dispel the myth that the plantation industry is bad for rural environments. "What you've got to remember is that most rural areas in Australia are actually experiencing rural decline so there experiencing decline in populations," she says. "Between 1986 and 2001 Australia lost 22 per cent of its farming families from the land," says Schirmer. Minister for Fisheries, Forestry and Conservation, Senator Ian Macdonald, says the reports put to bed arguments that claim plantations harm local economies. The Senator says they're independent and will be used by the federal government to develop appropriate policy for local communities and the timber industry. "This report will certainly enable governments to carefully decide where the forests should be planted and to encourage expansion of forests and the wooden forests processing industry," he says.
In this report: Jacki Schirmer, social scientist, Bureau of Rural Sciences; Senator Ian Macdonald: Minister for Fisheries, Forestry and Conservation