PULP PLANTATIONS: Tax Breaks Under Examination

Readers of the Examiner probably won't know this, but there is a new and very viable threat to the proposed pulp mill that Gunns Ltd is, hopefully, starting to get a little bit nervous about. A report in yesterday's Sunday Tasmanian informs us that federal government moves to reduce tax breaks for plantation investors, who sink money into plantations in managed investment schemes on which Gunns Ltd relies rather heavily.

Put simply, and I won't pretend to be any sort of expert on taxation matters, people are enticed to invest in plantations because of the tax breaks attached to doing so. As a result investment in plantations have increased dramatically over the last few years, and of course Gunns has stated loudly and often that it needs a secure supply of plantation stock to feed the ravenous mill. To keep its filthy hands off native or, Heaven forbid, old growth forest.

If the tax breaks are reduced, investment in plantations also reduces as the incentive to do so is taken away. Federally, the Nationals would seem to support a tax break reduction as plantations have had, to put it in the nicest possible terms, a rather adverse effect on farms and other small communities. That effect has been well documented in Tasmania of late.

Of course, there was nothing about this in The Examiner today, and don't hold your breath waiting for the front page splash. No doubt our fine local journal will continue its robust and very informative weekly series on why we'll all go the dogs if this mill doesn't get up. The instalments on effluent outfall and transport have been fascinating.

No recognition at all that there is a viable alternative point of view, but then that's hardly news is it? And the Examiner rarely bothers itself with anything so inconvenient as the news.

I hope Media Watch is paying attention.



Salvation Jane