Rip-rip – Toodle-pip – Going … going … Gunns
We don’t often get such pleasure but it’s been delightful to watch. Stephen Mayne described it as “Australia’s most ethically challenged company”. Gunns’ planned pulp mill is all but on the scrap heap. Borrowing money or finding a backer is going to be impossible – no matter how many officials they bribe.
Its shares dropped 30%, then it requested a trading halt. It is $1 billion in debt, spent $400 million on a dodgy take-over of Auspine and was trying to get finance to build a $200 billion pulpmill. This big Tasmanian has blundered and bullied and is now about to go for a big spill. Even its old mates in Canberra and Hobart are turning their backs on Gunns’ dilemma.
These are the good things that we can anticipate happening with the global credit crunch. As governments tippy-toe around the big polluters, the global finance strife could possibly be the best way to slow down climate chaos and environmental destruction.