Federal Minister for the Environment, Malcolm Turnbull, has given himself a 6-week extension to decide on the Gunns’ pulp mill in Tasmania. He says he’s going to use this time to get a scientific assessment (something Gunns has tried to avoid) and go through the public submissions from activist groups.
The way I see it, he’s got 3 choices from here:
- override Tasmania’s state government and prevent the mill from being built because it doesn’t meet Federal environment guidelines;
- allow the pulp mill to go ahead because they think the economic/electoral benefits outweigh the damage to the environment;
- stall until after the election because then they’ll either be able to do whatever they like, or it will be Labor’s problem instead; this works best if Howard calls the election right after the APEC summit finishes.
Each of these options means something different for the Liberal government in terms of which seats they might win or lose at the election. Insiders (video) on ABC and Larvatus Prodeo discuss this in detail. I realise that politics rather than good environmental management will probably decide the fate of the mill, but it’d be nice if *someone* were to discuss whether or not the mill is actually a good idea. Although 1 would be the best outcome in my opinion, I’m guessing they’ll go for 3. My fingers are crossed, anyway.
Federal Labor’s position on the mill is opaque, at best, or spineless, at worst. Peter Garrett (Shadow Minister for the Environment) has been questioned by Crikey and Insiders (video and transcript) but it’s a strictly non-committal party line all the way. I suspect (and again, fingers crossed) that they’re simply not being drawn on an issue they currently have no control over. As long as they’re in Opposition, there’s no gain for them in committing either way. This is frustrating, but unless they win the election later this year I doubt we’ll find out any more from them.
Also: I’ve previously mentioned Richard Flanagan’s excellent articles on the Gunns’ situation in Tasmania. You can read his article in May’s issue of The Monthly here (no direct link available, look for the link Richard Flanagan, Out of Control, May 2007).
