Thanks for the thoughtful article James.

Its a pity that the shortsighted rape and pillage attitude of Gunn's is going to lead to loss of timberworkers jobs but its madness to chip old growth forest and send it to overseas to be turned into paper. The exported wood chip earns Australia a third of the cost of the paper we import.

And don't let mainlanders be sanguine as the timber jinkers roar into Geelong and Eden with logs to be chipped for export.

As the saying goes, you can have an environment without an economy, but you can't have an economy without an environment. When you destroy an environment for economic gain, your burning down your own house and destroying your future.

As Tasmanian, I say give nothing to these people, they've been fully aware of whats been going on over the years, as forestry jobs have been disappearing whilst clearing increases. The morons running this state are introducing smoke police, who will fine people who allow smoke from their chimneys to be seen more the 5 metre from the chimney, yet forestry operations brown out the state continuously with their huge scorched earth policy, with no control on the massive air pollution they create. Why, because forestry has been made exempt form environmental requirements.

Now they're going to build a huge polluting pulp mill in the same basin as Launceston, requiring more water than is available and no markets. But we shouldn't worry, our state and federal governments have already given Gunns more than 100 million dollars to support its mill as well as what the coward Howard threw at them during the election campaign.

This is a prime example of how the economic rationalist approach is destroying the country and the lively hoods of the people. Drive round Tas and see what its like, the towns are dying as farm land is turned to plantations and coles/Woolworth destroy small business across the state.

Tasmania is a microcosm of what is about to happen to the rest of Australia, collapse from incompetent management and incessant greed by the elite.

Why say I told you so, those supporting the despotic practices are deaf to everything but their insatiable economic ego's. First thing to do is shoot all the economists, its their irrational, ignorant attitudes and forecasts that are driving us to a this sticky end.

Then we have the immoral destruction of our wildlife by these practises, which will see the extinction of many species and more environmental collapse

All spin no substance! [Deleted for flaming.] I kept looking for some facts but all I saw was waffle and navel fluff. But standard green fare after all. If it sounds like you want it to sound just sling it in there to masquerade as information. At least the bimbo with the aliens lovechild will take you seriously.

-Got a question about your car , ask a mechanic .

-Concerned about an ailment , ask a doctor .

-Problem with a powerpoint , call an electritian .

-Buying a house , see your solicitor .

-Waterpipe leaking , get a plumber .

-Concerned about forests , talk to a forester .

-Worried about agricultural land use , get advice from a farmer .

The seven points above are all equally correct as they all suggest gaining advice from experts practising their trade .

However two of the above never seem to happen .

Is this because some tend to see only what they want to see & believe only what they want to believe ?

Don't believe corporations when they start whinging about loss of profit. They are the new dole bludgers of the new milleneum. Yes, you heard it. Dole bludgers. Its called corporate welfare. They claim more welfare from our Government than the unemployed. Gunns is already being subsidised with millions of tax payer funded corporate welfare. That is not enough. Whinge, whinge, whinge, and they squeeze and squeeze more money out of tax payers. Got the picture now?

Meanwhile, pensioners can't even afford to go to the dentist. What is welfare now?

If they can't run their business under the generous Howard deal, then they don't deserve to be businessmen. They are inefficient, lazy, sleazy, taxdodging, welfare mongering, greedy money grabbing mungrels.

If any of you believe a word of this article, then you deserve to pay high taxes to subsidise multi-national corporations to thieve our national treasures away from our grand children.

Of course the workers should be compensated and given better opportunities than the ones they have now. It is time for them to move on. Sooner or later, their industry is doomed. The corporation can go to hell. Welfare from tax payers is for the poor, this is, citizens of Australia, not for non-Australian multi-national corporations.

What a shame the author could not check his facts first. Not only was he 1000% on the amount reserved (170,000ha not 17,000ha) as a result of the Howard agreement but he completely forgot to mention the world wildlife fund proposal that was put up early in the election campaign and not torn down by the Government nor Gunns but by the Wilderness Society. This addressed the three major issues of clearing native forest for plantation, stopping the use of 1080 and the transition to regrowth forest harvesting while still maintaining access to some old growth for specialty timbers and high-quality sawlog production. It also proposed reservation of the important areas of the Styx and the Tarkine. Yet it was the conservation group infighting that tore this proposal down despite support from Australia's leading forest ecologist and leading forestry professor.

Now we have TWS and their mate BB claiming their campaigning overseas did not lead to the reduction in woodchip exports OS. One would ask why they did it and why they are now the mates of the timber workers.

Also worth noting the Howard election commitment has stopped the use of 1080 on public land, is phasing out clearfelling in old growth forest, did reserve the Tarkine and many key areas of the Styx. It did however leave some areas of native forest still available for conversion to plantations - not supported by most foresters but was a compromise to allow a larger editions of the reserve system.

Please James next time be a little honest with your reporting.

Frankie