Controversial Pulp Mill Bill Passes Tasmanian Parliament's Lower House

The Tasmanian Labor Government has managed to get a controversial Pulp Mill Assessment Amendment Bill 2014 (the Bill) through the Legislative Assembly on 28 January 2014. The Tasmanian lower house was recalled by special proclamation from its summer recess specifically to pass the legislation. The Bill having cleared the lower house after Labor and Liberal members combined to pass it, now moves on to the Legislative Council.

Background

The Bill is an attempt to prop up and extend the pulp mill permits for the Tamar Valley pulp mill project originally proposed by collapsed timber company Gunns, and follows just two weeks after the Tasmanian Premier formally ended Labor/Greens power-sharing arrangement.

What the Bill does?

Primarily the Bill amends the Pulp Mill Assessment Act 2007 (Tas) (the 2007 Act) by extending the period in which the Pulp Mill Project must be substantially commenced.

Key aspects of the Bill are:

• to provide certainty to any new proponent that the Pulp Mill Permit is still in force by extending the time during which the Pulp Mill Project (the Project) must be substantially commenced from four to 10 years (that is by 30 August 2017).
• to makes it clear that the Pulp Mill Permit cannot be taken to have lapsed at any time during the new 10 year period.
• to alternatively provide that the entire Pulp Mill Permit lapses if the Project is not substantially commenced before the end of the period of 10 years from the Pulp Mill Permit coming into force.
• finally to also provide that the permits, licences and other approvals contained in the Pulp Mill Permit, that are taken to have been issued under other Tasmanian legislation, will not lapse unless the Pulp Mill Permit lapses.

Of note is also the fact that the amendments proposed by the Bill are to apply retrospectively.

At a mechanical or legislative level, the Bill:

• confirms the operation of Section 8(1)(c) of the 2007 Act to make it clear that every permit, licence or other approval relating to the Project can be enforced, varied, suspended or amended by the person responsible for enforcing it, as if it were a permit, licence or approval that had been issued under the relevant legislation that usually applies to it.
• removes Section 8(3) of the 2007 Act, which provides that if the proponent does not comply with a condition of the Pulp Mill Permit, the entire Pulp Mill Permit is automatically suspended until the condition is complied with.
• provides a power for the Minister for Economic Development to terminate a permit, licence or other approval.
• amends the 2007 Act to explicitly provide for the transfer of the Pulp Mill Permit, in whole or in part, to a new proponent.

Reaction to the Legislation

The Tasmanian Greens (the former minority Government partners) responded by pushing the Government on its plans for the project and attempting to delay the debate by moving a no confidence motion which was voted down. The Greens Tasmanian leader called for a referendum on the Bill saying "the project has divided Tasmania for nearly a decade" - a call rejected by the Tasmanian Premier. The Greens also used the parliamentary debate to attack the legislation and its timing, questioning why the Government did not introduce the Bill last year.

The receiver appointed to Gunns the former permit holders have indicated that of six investors interested in buying Gunns assets "only two" were interested in the pulp mill permits.

Protests outside Parliament were reported as loud, being addressed by the Wilderness Society, activist Peter Cundall and the Tasmanian Conservation Trust's. The Trust is reported by the ABC as having launched legal action against the mill in 2011 a case that is still before the Tasmanian Supreme Court.

The ABC also quotes constitutional law expert Michael Stokes as indicating ". . . he was opposed to the process of the legislation" and saying further that a "fundamental principle of equality before the law was at stake". He was also reported as being critical of special deals and changes in the law because particular special interest groups wanted it.

Environment Tasmania is reported as saying:

This was a proposition responded to by the Tasmanian Deputy Premier who claimed that under the changes made by the Bill it would be up to the Economic Development Minister to enforce conditions of the permits.

Given the wide spectrum of interest and the relevance of the Bill to the struggling Tasmanian economy and its potential to create jobs it will be interesting to see how quickly this legislation proceeds and passes through its remaining stages.

TimeBase is an independent, privately owned Australian legal publisher specialising in the online delivery of accurate, comprehensive and innovative legislation research tools including LawOne and unique Point-in-Time Products.

• Pulp Mill Assessment Amendment Bill 2014 and Second Reading and as reported for the TimeBase LawOne Service.
• Pulp Mill Assessment Amendment Bill 2014 - Fact Sheet
• Tasmania's Lower House passes pulp mill legislation after protesters rally outside Parliament (ABC News - 29 January 2014)