Gunns - Criticism

Criticism

The company has been the focus of criticism from environmentalists, primarily for its four woodchip mills which produce 4 million tonnes of chips for export annually. Green groups claim that native forests are harvested specifically for woodchipping, whereas Gunns claim that the majority of their chips come from residue from their sawmilling and veneer operations. Gunns' major customers are paper producers in Northern Asia, mainly Japan, including Mitsubishi, Nippon and Oji Paper. Gunns has also been criticized for its logging operations in the Styx Valley and for its use of 1080 poison to kill wildlife including protected species (baiting and particularly aerial spraying of forest prior to clearfelling ).

In 1989, the chairman of Gunns, Edmund Rouse, unsuccessfully attempted to bribe a Labor member, Jim Cox, to cross the floor, which would have allowed the pro-logging Tasmanian government of premier Robin Gray and the Liberal Party to resume power. A Royal Commission followed and convicted Rouse. Robin Gray became director of Gunns Limited on 21 February 2000. He retired from the position in 2010.

Further allegations of corruption appeared when Paul Lennon, Premier of Tasmania, had his heritage home renovated by a Gunns-owned company at the height of Gunns' push for the Bell Bay Pulp Mill. Lennon refused to disclose how much he paid for the renovations.