Gunns mill battle 'economic sabotage'

30 Apr 2009, 2:04 pm   -   Source: AAP
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Part of the anti-Gunns Pulp Mill advertisement, printed in a British newspaper by activist group Get Up!

Part of the anti-Gunns Pulp Mill advertisement, printed in a British newspaper by activist group Get Up!

A leading environmental group has taken its fight against the Gunns pulp mill to Europe, where the company is hoping to secure finance for the $2.2 billion project.

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A leading environmental group has taken its fight against the Gunns pulp mill to Europe, where the company is hoping to secure finance for the $2.2 billion project.

The Wilderness Society has placed an advertisement in Britain's Financial Times warning European banks they will be "pulping their profits" if they finance the controversial mill proposed for Tasmania's Tamar Valley.

Gunns is looking for overseas finance after its Australian banker - ANZ - withdrew its financial support.

Funded by Get Up!

The advertisement was funded by Australian lobby group Get Up!, which notes the Financial Times is read at all major banks in Europe every day.

"We thought it was really important that our members and the Australian public could have an opportunity to voice their opposition to the mill," Getup's campaigns coordinator Ed Coper told ABC Radio.

The Wilderness Society says a number of overseas banks already have shunned Gunns.

"In the last week, Deutsche Bank, who was widely rumoured to be the bank that Gunns had engaged in Europe, have now committed not to being involved in the project," the society's anti-pulp mill campaigner Paul Oosting said.

'Economic sabotage'

"Likewise, we've had commitments from the Royal Bank of Scotland and many others - UBS, Bank of China - that they won't be involved in the project."

The Tasmanian Forest Industries Association has described the society's action as "tantamount to economic sabotage".

"The advertisement ... is filled with misinformation and untruths," association spokesman Julian Amos said.

The society's "most appalling behaviour" was doing damage to the Tasmanian economy.

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