The News Review:
- Experts warn Gunns pulp mill may hurt Tas economy
- Escape from devil’s island: the plan to save a species
- Eco-champs’ development plans attacked
- Councils’ viability questioned
- Kids and guns: time for commonsense action
Experts warn Gunns pulp mill may hurt Tas economy
ABC nline – ABC nline – Sep 21, 2007
Beyond the environmental debate about the pulp mill lies an assumption that the mill will be good for the Tasmanian economy. Premier Paul Lennon is among those who voice that view. “Tasmanian can have the best of both worlds a pulp mill that is good for our economy and safe for our environment” he said. Prime Minister John Howard and Federal pposition Leader Kevin Rudd also back the project subject to environmental requirements. But on closer inspection it is not universally agreed that the pulp mill will be a money-spinner. The company behind the mill Gunns is a woodchip exporter. It sells Tasmanian native forest woodchips to Japan where the chips are turned into pulp then made into paper… But on closer inspection it is not universally agreed that the pulp mill will be a money-spinner. The company behind the mill Gunns is a woodchip exporter. It sells Tasmanian native forest woodchips to Japan where the chips are turned into pulp then made into paper. But with its Japanese woodchip market in decline the company is being forced to take a step up the production line to make its own pulp. Unlike every other pulp mill in Australia this one will not run its own paper mill. Instead it will sell its pulp straight onto the world market – and therein lies the risk. Economic viabilityThis has never been done before in Australia and the economic viability of the mill depends on the price at which Gunns can make pulp and what price it can get on the market.
Escape from devil’s island: the plan to save a species
The Age – Sep 21, 2007
With no sign of a slowdown in the transmissible cancer that iskilling the devil the urgency is rising. Leading devil biologist Menna Jones said it was “a race againstextinction”. Almost a year ago 48 healthy young devils left Tasmania as thenucleus of an “insurance” population spread around four mainlandzoos including Victoria’s Healesville Sanctuary and the AustralianReptile Park at Gosford NSW. Since then devil deaths in the island state have continuedunabated and the official Save the Tasmanian Devil SteeringCommittee now predicts the animal will be extinct in its naturalhabitat within 25 years. Most concerning is the evidence that the disease persists evenwhen a population has been reduced to small numbers. “It’s notshowing up like a typical infectious disease that dies out at lowdensity” Dr Jones said. There is already anecdotal evidence of extinction in some areasof Tasmania and at long-term study sites the population is down to10 per cent… “There is no precedent for this with Australian animals” MsLees said. “There are global programs for species survival forexample with the red panda or golden lion tamarin but there hasn’tbeen a project set up at a global scale to save an animal from adisease before and we haven’t had to sustain a species incaptivity for such a long time. ” An urgent search is under way inTasmania to capture 150 wild “founders” of the insurancepopulation. Devils live fast and die young and before the diseasestruck they rarely reached eight years in the wild. The Tasmanian Government’s manager of the devil disease programDr Steve Smith said a stud book of the animals would be developedto ensure the already impoverished genetic diversity of devils wasmaintained as widely as possible. Most of the zoos are likely to bear the costs of their part inthe strategy themselves. In NSW the Western Plains and Tarongazoos will be building facilities to eventually hold about 120devils.
Eco-champs’ development plans attacked
The Australian – Sep 21, 2007
Tasman Peninsula residents have begun a push to find private or government backers to purchase two adjoining properties from Dick Smith and Geoffrey Cousins. The two men have created controversy over plans to develop their adjoining coastal properties at Crescent Bay on Tasmania’s southeast tip. They are before Tasmania’s planning tribunal fighting local residents opposed to their plans. Mr Smith is appealing against the Tasman Council’s rejection of his family’s plan to build an exclusive eco-tourism lodge at the remote bay.
Councils’ viability questioned
ABC nline – ABC nline – Sep 21, 2007
The State Government is negotiating with the Local Government Association about reforming water and sewerage infrastructure in Tasmania. The chairman of the Southern Tasmanian Councils Authority Rob Valentine says for some councils water and sewerage account for up to 40% of their activity. “You’d have to question how viable a council could be if that activity was taken away from them” Alderman Valentine said. “The inevitable consequences could be that fixed costs would have to be distributed over the smaller number of functions that remain. A report before the Launceston City Council has recommended that the eight northern councils form a regional water body. Tags: government-and-politics local-government water programs-and-initiatives australia tasSearch for news.
Kids and guns: time for commonsense action
ABC Regional nline – ABC Regional nline – Sep 21, 2007
The increasingly shrill voice of the anti-gun lobby tells us this will put a gun in the hand of every child and cries of ‘God Bless Aus-merica’ on every lip. Questions of whether Tasmanian laws should reflect other states’ legislation have been obscured by a campaign of misinformation as has the fact that nobody is proposing to alter the stipulation that under 18s are not permitted to own a firearm or use a firearm without strictest supervision. There is no evidence-based justification for opposing the controlled introduction of juniors to legal shooting activities. The only excuse given is a vague muttering about tough gun laws being a moral imperative for avoiding “US gun culture”. An increasing body of peer-reviewed research including by the Australian Institute of Criminology shows the 1996 gun bans and $500 million buyback scheme did not impact on the pre-existing decline in firearm homicides. The majority of firearm homicide perpetrators are unlicensed.