FORESTS VANDAL, ELECTION LIAR
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THE WHOLE WORLD WATCHES THE GUNNS
BULLY
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News Photo by Gordon
Craven - CopyFREE
INSTANT RALLY AGAINST GUNNS AT FRANKLIN SQUARE HOBART - 15 December 2004 |
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| AUSTRALIAN APATHY AND HOW SOME TASMANIANS ARE BOUGHT | |
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Is this the end of dissent in Australia?
December 16, 2004 Gunns' action in suing activists could have sinister ramifications, warns Martin Flanagan. .......No doubt there are people in the hierarchy of Gunns with a genuine interest in football. But, again, I cannot think of a quicker path to broad public acceptance in Tasmania than by becoming associated with bringing AFL football to the island. ........ Once again, I am urging Australians to become more interested in what is happening in Tasmania. In Shakespearean terms, Tasmania is the play within the play; it always has been. Tasmania is now a corporate state. It has a supine government and an opposition that is an opposition in name alone. Its Labor Premier, Paul Lennon, demonstrated during the recent federal election campaign that his loyalty to the logging industry outweighed his commitment to a national Labor victory. If Tasmanians opposed to Gunns are silenced, all who challenge the rich and powerful in this country are vulnerable. MELBOURNE AGE...
16 December 2004 GRANT Maddock has become the face of the anti-Gunns protest after he symbolically held up a log truck in central Hobart...... HOBART MERCURY... ================== 600 protest over writs from Gunns By CHRIS JOHNSON , Thursday, 16 December 2004 High-profile Tasmanians yesterday condemned the decision by Gunns Ltd this week to serve writs on 20 environmental campaigners and seek damages totalling more than $6 million. ........... Mr Flanagan said that where freedom of expression was denied, and freedom of association was punishable, freedom died. "Who gets the next writs? Who is next to have their lives destroyed because they cared enough about this beautiful island home to say something, to do something?" he asked. "This is how the rich and powerful defend their interests in numerous Third World countries, because ordinary people cannot afford to fight in court." Senator Brown earlier described the Gunns move as the biggest legal attack on the popular environment movement in Australian history. "This is an attack not just on our forests but on democracy and freedom of speech," he said....... LAUNCESTON EXAMINER... ================== Shake, rattle and rights SEVEN hundred sets of keys jangled in anger yesterday as protesters used non-verbal means to send a message to timber giant Gunns. ........ "The right to protest peacefully is a universal right," he told the crowd. "To quote Voltaire, I may not agree with what you are saying but I will defend to the death your right to say it." Mr Flanagan said "fear was abroad in Tasmania" and the writ put the state "on the path to tyranny". "This is how the rich and powerful protect their interests in third world countries," he said. "It is a fundamental assault on our liberty." He called on those in the park to jangle their keys "so they can hear them in the Gunns boardroom in Launceston and in their barristers' chambers in Melbourne." "I've asked you to be silent for one minute for what those bastards want to do to our democracy," he said. HOBART MERCURY... ================== Team of heavies on case 16 December 2004 GUNNS Ltd has retained some of Australia most eminent industrial lawyers to prosecute its case against 20 green protesters and environmental groups...... HOBART MERCURY... ================== Road rage: Gunns writ sparks rally and direct action, suit sends Gunns soaring ........He said the price of $4.56 yesterday morning was a record high for the company. Lucaston resident Lew Geraghty said she faced the prospect of losing the house she had lived in for 20 years. Mrs Geraghty took part in blockades at Lucaston, and said she had no financial means to defend herself in court. "I'm a parent and a wife, I have four children and a grandchild ," she said. "My husband works and I spend my day driving my kids to sport. "I'm just an everyday person trying to protect the area I live in." HOBART MERCURY... ================== Gunns sues 15 December 2004 TIMBER giant Gunns Ltd is suing a group of environmentalists, protesters and Green MPs for $6.3 million. The company has lodged a writ alleging a group of 20 individuals and groups damaged its business. Green MPs Bob Brown and Peg Putt and a number of members of the Wilderness Society are among those named in the writ, lodged in the Supreme Court of Victoria. The company is claiming damages for financial loss allegedly suffered as a result of protest actions. Examples cited include: * The Styx Valley tree-sit campaign last year. * A protest and "lock-on" at the Triabunna woodchip mill. * A letter-writing campaign which saw more than 7000 people write to Japanese woodchip customers urging them not to buy Gunns woodchips. * A media campaign urging four major banks to end their association with Gunns. * A lobbying campaign to have Gunns removed as a finalist from the Banksia Environmental Awards. * A claim by the group Doctors for Forests that the Burnie woodchip pile could harbour legionella. .......... Premier Paul Lennon would not comment, nor would Liberal leader Rene Hidding. But Denison Labor MHR Duncan Kerr said the writ was a "grievous wound on democracy". "It is an extraordinary step in Australia for a major corporation to claim millions in damages from politicians, community groups and individuals protesting against current forestry practices," he said. "It is a very dangerous precedent." Mr Kerr said if citizens did not have the capacity to campaign against practices that were lawful but offensive to many in the community, the asbestos industry would probably still be in operation and restrictions on tobacco advertising and smoking would never have been implemented. ......... Tasmania's leading writer Richard Flanagan said the Gunns writ was "an appalling abuse of power by the most powerful in Tasmania". "If Gunns' tactic was to succeed there would effectively be no right to dissent and free speech would exist in name only," Flanagan said. "In Tasmania we have a state government that uses the political process to intimidate any who question, and we now have Gunns using the legal process to attempt the same end. "Tasmanians ought be frightened because Gunns' greed seems to know no limits: they want not only our forests, but now our very silence. "It is time decent Tasmanians stood up against this culture of fear and intimidation." HOBART MERCURY... ================== What Crikey said 1. Lawyers, Gunns and money Political Editor Christian Kerr writes: Readers know yours truly is no shrubhugger - but you have to ask if the chairman of tree-loppers Gunns Limited, John Gay, is as thick as the tallest tree in what Iron Mark still pathetically refers to as the "mighty Tasmanian forests". Politically, he must be about the most naive corporate chief going around. By launching a $6.3 million Supreme Court action against the Who's Who of environmental activists he has broken one of the of major tenets of political warfare - don't give the opposition oxygen. Gay, a corporate cowboy worth about $70 million, just doesn't get it. The Greens, politically, gain their support largely on pandering to public emotion. To be really successful they need a cause celebre around which to gather a broader vote then their hard-core supporters can provide. Premier Paul Lennon has already served up a major issue in putting a pulp mill back on the agenda, but now John Gay has trumped that. Gay might be right to an extent. There is not be much sympathy in Tassie for militant environmentalists - but here is also not much sympathy for corporate thugs. He has now given the Greens an opportunity to play David to Gunns' bullying Goliath. As Crikey has repeatedly said in the past, when it comes to politics in Tasmania the Hare Clark electoral system means that a candidate only needs sixteen percent of the vote to get elected in State parliament. Over the past 20 years the Greens have only managed to get this type of support when they have had a rallying call to pull middle of the road voters over to their side; for instance, a major damn or pulp mill proposal. Just have a look who are named in the writ here. There are 20 defendants including the Wilderness Society, its State campaign coordinator Geoff Law and national campaign director Alec Marr; Doctors for Native Forests; Huon Valley Environment Centre and 13 individual campaigners, along with state Greens leader Peg Putt and Senator Bob Brown - who has already fired off a salvo in response, as the ABC reports here. Gay has not only given the greenies a dream campaign issue. He has also managed to unite a motley crew who often fight amongst themselves as much as anyone else. Good one! He obviously hasn't heard of divide and conquer. And the $6.3 million? Even if Gay is successful in all of his claims - and just on reading the early press reports some look so ridiculous they should be laughed straight out of court - that sort of money might easily be raised from a nation-wide call to the faithful. This is all about John Gay's ego and his hatred of the Greens. He wants to teach them a lesson. The irony is that he is the one who needs to learn from the history of environmental politics and to understand that he has probably given the shrubhuggers their biggest electoral leg-up in a decade. CRIKEY... ================== Mock funeral over Gunns writs By David Crawshaw - December 15, 2004 ENVIRONMENTAL activists today mourned the death of free speech as they protested against what they said were moves by Tasmanian forestry giant Gunns Ltd to silence its critics. About 30 people held a mock funeral outside the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) in Sydney after Gunns this week served writs in the Victorian Supreme Court on 20 people and groups, claiming their campaign against logging had harmed its business...... THE AUSTRALIAN... ================== Timber giant sues Brown December 14, 2004 TASMANIAN timber industry giant Gunns is suing Australian Greens leader Bob Brown and several environmental groups over "ongoing damaging campaigns and activities" against the company. Gunns executive chairman John Gay said in a statement that writs had been served on a number of groups and individuals to protect the interests of its employees, contractors and shareholders. Mr Gay said the civil action was over allegations made about risks to health and safety of Gunns employees and contractors, unauthorised entry to private property and damage to Gunns equipment. "Gunns Limited and the majority of Tasmanians are sick and tired of the misleading information being peddled about our industry and our state," he said. Comment was being sought from Senator Brown. THE AUSTRALIAN... ================== Brown slams timber giant suit December 14, 2004 AUSTRALIAN Greens leader Bob Brown reacted angrily today to a multi-million dollar damages action launched against him and other environmental campaigners by Tasmanian timber giant Gunns, calling it a "broadscale attack" on the right to protest. Gunns has served writs on 20 individuals and groups, including Tasmanian Greens leader Peg Putt, the Wilderness Society and Doctors for Forests, citing their "ongoing damaging campaigns and activities" against the company. The writs, which environment groups say seek a total of $6.3 million in damages, were lodged yesterday in the Victorian Supreme Court. Senator Brown said he would not be cowed by the wealth and "power of destruction" of Gunns chief executive John Gay and Robin Gray, a Gunns board member and former Tasmanian premier. "This is a broadscale attack on our Australian right to protest for the nation's heritage," he said. "It is a US-style writ to hector the strongholds of the popular environment movement into silence and submission as Gunns' chainsaws and poison destroys the Tasmanian forests and their wildlife at the greatest rate in history...... NEWS.COM.AU... ================== Timber giant sues Bob Brown December 14, 2004 Tasmanian forestry giant Gunns Ltd has launched a multi-million dollar damages claim against environmentalists including Australian Greens leader Bob Brown, arguing their protests hurt the interests of its employees and shareholders. The timber company lodged a 216-page writ in the Victorian Supreme Court yesterday seeking compensation from 20 individuals and groups it said conspired to unlawfully interfere with its business at logging sites and through "corporate vilification". The writs total $6.36 million in damages. ,The Wilderness Society and its staff face a total compensation claim of $3.5 million after being accused of organising the campaign against Gunns. Individually, Senator Brown ($305,000), Tasmanian Greens leader Peg Putt ($95,000) and Wilderness Society national campaigns director Alec Marr ($280,000) are accused of "publicly denigrating, vilifying and criticising" Gunns, and encouraging others to boycott or protest against it. ........ The writ was lodged four months after Gunns was the target of public outrage after a helicopter accidentally dousing a north-east Tasmanian farm with the potentially carcinogenic herbicide atrazine while spraying a forestry plantation....... THE MELBOURNE AGE... • GUNNS SPRAYING CONTAMINATED DRINKING WATER... • GUNNS ELECTION LIES... • POLITICIANS GUNNS & MONEY... (19 June 2001) • THE BOOK OF GAYGUN... • GUNNS, PROFITS, MATES and the NATIONAL TRUST... • GREEN LEFT... Royal commissioner William Carter confirmed that Robin Gray, the then Liberal premier of Tasmania, had acted “deceitfully and dishonestly” and had been "misleading and deceptively evasive." (Robin Gray is a current director of Gunns Ltd.) • FORESTS UNDER THE GUNNS... (22 July 2001) • THE HUBRIS THAT BROUGHT AN ISLAND DYNASTY UNDONE... (Melboune Age, August 4 2002) • GUNNS Ltd, THE FIRST FINALIST TO BE KICKED OUT OF AWARDS IN 15 YEARS... • ABC - 4 CORNERS LORDS, OF THE FORESTS... • CHANNEL 9 TV / SUNDAY SHOW - TASMANIA FIRE SALE... • CHANNEL 9 TRANSCRIPT - JOHN GAY: "Well, there's too many of them [wombats and ring-tailed possums] and we need to keep them at a reasonable level." • CHANNEL 9 TV / SUNDAY SHOW - NAME YOUR POISON... • THE RAPE OF TASMANIA at the BULLETIN... • THE SELLING OUT OF TASMANIA at the MELBOURNE AGE... • GUNNS SEARCH at ECO PORTAL... 345 matching documents • GUNNS DIRECTORS at the Australian Stock Exchange... |
