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The Australian Government gave approval yesterday to a controversial Tasmanian timber pulp mill which critics say will devastate the island state's forests and pollute the environment.
Federal environment minister Malcolm Turnbull gave the A$2 billion ($2.3 billion) project the go-ahead but imposed what he said were strict regulations.
But environmental groups said the 48 conditions - double the previous number imposed by the Government - were "a joke".
They said that regardless of guarantees on air and water quality the mill would devour seven million tonnes of timber from Tasmania's untouched old growth forests.
The plant, to be built in the Tamar Valley of northern Tasmania by timber giant Gunns, has also run into fierce opposition from the region's tourism industry, farmers and vineyard owners. Fishermen fear it will pollute the waters of Bass Strait, the channel between Tasmania and mainland Australia, compromising the region's reputation for high quality scallops and lobsters.
Award-winning Tasmanian author Richard Flanagan said the drawn-out approval process between Gunns and the Government had been marked by "a level of deceit that has stunned even Tasmanians".
Opinion polls have shown that a majority of Tasmanians oppose the pulp mill, and it is likely to be a key issue at the federal election.
Turnbull said he granted approval on the basis of recommendations from the country's chief scientific officer, Jim Peacock.
Controls on the level of dioxins that could be discharged into the sea would now be four times more stringent. The federal Government will appoint an inspector to make sure the conditions are being met. If effluent levels are exceeded, the mill will be shut down.
Gunns says the mill, near the town of Launceston, will create more than 3000 jobs during construction and 1600 when it becomes operational.
Greens Party leader, Senator Bob Brown, branded the timber firm an "environmentally evil company" and said he was appalled by the Government's decision.
Virginia Young, the campaign director of the Wilderness Society, said the mill would hasten the destruction of Tasmania's virgin hardwood forests, including some of the tallest trees in the world. "If it is left to the Tasmanian Government to regulate Mr Turnbull's decision and see that those conditions are met, then any conditions will frankly be a joke."
More than 64,000 litres of effluent would be pumped into the ocean each day, she said.
The Wilderness Society is planning a legal appeal and Geoffrey Cousins, a millionaire businessman who has spearheaded a campaign against the mill, said there were "many other avenues we can follow".
