Gunns loses ANZ backing

Sydney Morning Herald
May 28, 2008

THE $2 billion Tasmanian pulp mill has lost its key financial backer, the ANZ bank, finance industry sources confirmed yesterday, but the Environment Minister, Peter Garrett, has not been briefed by the developer, Gunns.

"He hasn't been formally advised nor would he need to be," a spokesman for Mr Garrett said yesterday. "The financing of the mill is a matter for Gunns, and the minister's role is to ensure Gunns complies with national environmental legislation."

Environmental groups have lobbied ANZ intensely to pull out of the mill, which became a focus of protests during the federal election when both Labor and the Coalition backed the Tasmanian Government's support for the project.

On Monday, the Tasmanian Premier, Paul Lennon, a passionate backer of the mill, resigned but his successor, David Bartlett, has in the past backed the mill.

Yesterday Mr Bartlett told ABC radio: "I believe this project, largely now, will stand or fall on the basis of whether the company can get finance for it. That the Government, in fact the Parliament, through its approvals process, has done pretty much all that it can, some would argue more than it should have, and really it is down to the company and their financiers now."

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