ANZ pulls the plug on Gunns’ funding
Gunns Ltd’s banker of 15 years, the ANZ bank, has pulled the plug on financing the timber giant’s proposed pulp mill.

The bank has confirmed it won’t fund the northern Tasmanian mill, issuing a statement citing tight credit conditions, which confirmed an earlier report on the Business Spectator website.

A week or so before announcing its decision, the ANZ said it had still not yet made a decision on whether to finance the mill. The bank said the timing of its decision depended on “Gunns Ltd completing a number of steps and providing us with further information to enable us to complete our ongoing assessment of the mill”.

Conservationists had long pressured the ANZ not to fund the project. Senior forest campaigner with The Wilderness Society, Vica Bayley, said the ANZ had taken a leading position on environmental and social responsibility. After the ANZ’s announcement, the society called off a proposed rally outside the bank’s headquarters.

The Tasmanian Greens welcomed the ANZ announcement, with leader Peg Putt saying being forced offshore to seek finance would expose Gunns to international exchange rate fluctuations.

Reports have Gunns approaching some Asian banks, the Macquarie Bank, the Royal Bank of Scotland and Deutsche Bank.

Gunns’ CEO, John Gay, insists there’s strong international interest to back the project, and that he is still finalising finance.

Putt said any potential investors had to take community opposition to the project into account, because the project would destroy high conservation forests.

Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett has since announced he had approved a plan to manage some of the mill’s environmental impacts. In a statement, Garrett said constructing the accommodation facility on the outskirts of George Town could now begin. But a water pipeline to complement the mill would not be built because it had failed “a public benefit test”.

Tasmanian Premier David Bartlett (who succeeded mill champion Paul Lennon) has said his government would not build the pipeline, although he didn’t say how or when the test was applied.

He told Business Spectator, “There you go, I’ve just applied it. I don’t believe the public benefits from public investment in a pipeline that goes to one company.”

Despite the ANZ’s decision, Gay has said that it will not impact Gunns’ other dealings with the bank, and that Gunns “has a long-term and continuing corporate banking relationship with ANZ”.

And while the Tasmanian Government wouldn’t comment on the ANZ’s decision, Jeremy Rockliff, deputy leader of the Opposition, described it as a minor hiccough.

“Our understanding is that through reports, that Gunns are still accessing finance for the project internationally. We have always been a strong supporter of the value adding.”

Both the rumoured ANZ pull out, plus the announcement of such, saw Gunns’ share price fall. At the beginning of the month, the ANZ share price dropped, while Gunns had made a slight recovery to $2.45.

Focus on saving endangered rainforests
Environmental quiet achiever Focus Press is now using FSC-accredited paper where it can’t use recycled. CEO David Fuller says if very printer did the same, rainforests would no longer be threatened.

Sydney-based green printer Focus Press has updated its paper policy to use FSC-accredited papers where recycled grades can’t be used.

David Fuller said, “We have always used recycled papers, because we see them as being the most responsible paper purchase. However, there are times when recycled papers can’t be used – – sometimes a client’s budget just doesn’t allow for that. But rather than say ‘oh well, environmentally this job is lost’, we head for the next best alternative: FSC-accredited stock.”

Fuller says using FSC-certified papers is a responsible policy, particularly in the face of shrinking global forests.

“Papua New Guinea is a classic case. PNG’s main export is timber, and while exports officially decreased from 1998 on, when the government increased the log export tax, this only accounts for legal exports. The thriving timber black market drives demand so much that overall logging volumes are most likely increasing.”

Fuller said that PNG’s greenhouse emissions just from deforestation were about 25 per cent of Australia’s total, and sadly, environmental groups estimate less than five per cent of proceeds go back to tribes who own the harvested land – – the rest piles up for the logging industry and government.

“And don’t think the mostly laudable Kyoto Protocol is the whole answer; curiously, it doesn’t include a device to protect old-growth forests,” Fuller said. “So the only way to prevent rampant rainforest destruction, particularly in less developed economies, is to religiously use certifications such as FSC.”

Focus chose FSC because its suppliers use that certification. “There are several good certifications; the point is to use one. Focus’s policy means any paper we use does not emanate from threatened areas. If other printing companies adopted the same practices, the demand for paper made from endangered rainforests would disappear, and the threat of global warming would be reduced.

“While Focus will always suggest recycled papers as the first choice, FSC is a responsible alternative that doesn’t cost any more to buy and yet environmentally achieves so much. All this without quality loss.”

ISO-certified Focus has been following this thought line for some time, but has now officially updated its purchasing policy regarding all virgin-fibre paper, guaranteeing it to come from FSC source.

“That guarantee is important to clients looking to green their supply chain.”

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