Rise And Fall Of Gunns Ltd

Author: Quentin Beresford

Stock information

General Fields

  • : $32.99 AUD
  • : 9781742234199
  • : NewSouth Publishing
  • : NewSouth Publishing
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  • : 0.59
  • : January 2015
  • : 234mm X 153mm
  • : Australia
  • : 39.99
  • : February 2015
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  • : books

Special Fields

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  • : Quentin Beresford
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  • : Paperback
  • : Feb-15
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  • : 338.763
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  • :
  • : 288
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Barcode 9781742234199
9781742234199

Description

At its peak, Gunns Ltd had a market value of $1 billion, was listed on the ASX 200, was the largest employer in the state of Tasmania and its largest private landowner. Most of its profits came from woodchipping, mainly from clear-felled old-growth forests. A pulp mill was central to its expansion plans. Its collapse in 2012 was a major national news story, as was the arrest of its CEO for insider trading. Quentin Beresford illuminates for the first time the dark corners of the Gunns empire. He shows it was built on close relationships with state and federal governments, political donations and use of the law to intimidate and silence its critics. Gunns may have been single-minded in its pursuit of a pulp mill in Tasmania's Tamar Valley, but it was embedded in an anti-democratic and corrupt system of power supported by both main parties, business and unions. Simmering opposition to Gunns and all it stood for ramped up into an environmental campaign not seen since the Franklin Dam protests. Fearless and forensic in its analysis, the book shows that Tasmania's decades-long quest to industrialise nature fails every time. But the collapse of Gunns is the most telling of them all. 'This is a tale that needed telling. It is an important case history in environmental campaigning and a must-read for anyone interested in fairness and transparency in government.' - Geoffrey Cousins AM, businessman and president of the Australian Conservation Foundation

Author description

Quentin Beresford is the author or co-author of numerous books on Australian politics and public policy, including Rob Riley: The Life of an Aboriginal Leader and The Godfather: The life of Brian Burke. Quentin is professor of politics at Edith Cowan University, Australia where he has taught for more than 20 years. Born and educated in Tasmania, he was a journalist on Hobart's The Mercury in the early to mid-1980s.