Here we go again
HEN the drought broke in autumn farmers with their eternal optimism decided to take the punt and go for winter crops. Convinced by long term weather forecasters that the long term drought was finally over, the banks were more than willing to lend farmers the necessary funds to plant crops and so the parched landscape in western Victoria – and of course beyond – turned to bright green. Post plant rains had the rural communities feeling confident that not only was the memory of that horrid drought rapidly disappearing, but the forthcoming harvest might reach record high tonnages.
Now that dream is rapidly fading as rains anticipated in August and September have failed to materialise. Front after front rolls in but fails to deliver the falls of 25 mm or more that are required with the result that farmers are having to make the decision whether to take a chance on rain and thus a harvest, cut the crop for hay or just put the stock in to save some precious feed elsewhere.
I was reflecting on this as I was trying to extricate myself from a nasty bogging on a plantation I have been trying to get on to fertilise. Reaching for the long handled No 4 square-mouth shovel caused me to question why the rains that have fallen around Heywood in SW Victoria had to fall on this particular property. This country will be okay, but the further north you go the worse it becomes. Predictions of Victoria’s grain crop are being downsized from 13 million tonnes to currently ten and possibly as little as five million tonnes.
The price of grain has rocketed to around $400/ tonne which means that the feed lot operators can’t afford to buy it. By Christmas feedlot capacity may be reduced to around 50 per cent of capacity. Meanwhile the construction industry is furiously constructing or planning pipelines to move water about or better utilise scarce reserves. Desalination plants are now very much in vogue with the South Australian government being the latest to announce the construction of a plant – of similar size to Melbourne’s – to drought proof Adelaide.
As the song says, “the times they are a’changing. ”What’s not changing is the debate about Gunn’s proposed pulp mill in the Tamar Valley in Tasmania. Increasingly questioned by a sceptical – and largely green mainstream media – the future of this project must be in doubt and of course with it the two year construction phase with up to 2,500 construction jobs.
The main opposition comes from the wine, fishing and tourist interests in the Tamar Valley who fear water quality will be polluted by effluent dioxins and odours from the mill will impact on grape quality and tourist visits. Although the mill site is beside two woodchip mills in a designated heavy industrial region the Tamar Valley has gone from a muddy estuary with a heavy industrial presence among farming areas to a valley with numerous vineyards, restaurants and a dedicated tourist trail. The Tamar River has been progressively cleaned up and now produces good fishing.
The involvement of Telstra director and PM Howard “friend” Geoffrey Cousins in the debate has been an excellent example of media manipulation and may yet help unseat Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull in the Sydney seat of Wentworth. When Cousins placed an advert in the local paper, the inner city darlings became instant experts on environmental impacts of the mill to the extent that a recent poll shows that 98 per cent of Wentworth voters oppose the mill. Tasmanians would prefer the Sydney darlings minded their own business. I have seen the little Sydney darlings led off to the paddywagons in forest disputes back in the mid 80s.
Interestingly, even the forest industry’s No 1 enemy Green senator Bob Brown has endorsed this mill if it is moved to a forest site at Hampshire, south of Burnie on the north west coast. The local community would welcome the mill the site which would be about 40 km south of the deepwater port of Burnie which has had pulp and paper mills since 1938. The site would be where Gunns has a woodchip mill in a 50,000 ha forest estate it owns with ample water reserves – and no neighbours.
The answer seems obvious doesn’t it? The only problem is the stock to feed the mill comes from the two woodchip mills on the Tamar River and Gunns claim that transport costs would add too much cost. However, I haven’t mentioned that a rail line runs past the Hampshire site.
I have a sneaking suspicion that the federal government will make a contribution that Gunns can’t refuse to go to Hampshire, save Turnbull’s seat and placate all of the Tamar dissidents.
Doug Huett was National Executive Director of the Civil Contractors Federation from 1988-2002. He is now an industry commentator.
Source: Construction Contractor
31-Oct-2007