Prior to the AGM a team of burly crew cut gentlemen in suits and carrying radios were noticeable additions to the hotel lobby. Our well dressed and conservative middle aged group were not sure whether to feel flattered or offended by this. Several bags containing our handouts were spirited away by them before the meeting.
During the meeting the Board used a number of methods to control questioning. A couple of plants brought up Dorothy Dixers, one making such a mess of it that he aided our cause and raised a good laugh.
They also indulged in some nice 'greenwash' to influence the those attending. Each time a greenish question was asked the enormous video monitors on both sides of the podium showed a picture of forest as loggers like to see it, 35 year regrowth.
To urban people this looks green, natural and pleasant. As 'forest' it has little diversity of species and age. It hasn't the untidy 100+ year old trees and the fallen stags which provide the essential food, security and housing for the birds, animals and insects which are themselves essential to the long term health of the forest.
Imagine what our society would be like if there were no middle aged or older people, if there were few homes and most of us reduced to living in the open?
Preamble to the Resolutions:
Since Europeans arrived in the 18th century, Australia has lost approximately 60% of its native forests.
Our public native forests are logged by the clearfelling method. Coupes of 30 - 40 ha are demolished with chainsaws and bulldozers, and then allowed to regrow for 50 - 80 years before being clearfelled again.
These rotation times are too short to allow forests to mature to 'old growth' where old trees have hollows that provide homes to a great range of species. Thus our forests are being turned into tree farms, with declining biodiversity.
Our native forests are logged for hardwood sawlogs for timber production, and for pulplogs for paper production. The hardwood sawlog industry is in decline as softwood plantations provide the more popular pine timber, and as the greater volumes being woodchipped generate few jobs. Although AMCOR protests that it "only cleans up the waste after logging", it is well established that AMCOR's demand for woodchips is what drives the clearfelling of our Central Highlands forests.
Without AMCOR, the native forest loggers would have to move to plantations, where job prospects are much higher. Australia has massive reserves of plantations, and AMCOR is Australia's largest private plantation owner, as well as having access to other supplies of plantation hardwood and softwood.
AMCOR is also Australia's biggest paper recycler, with massive reserves of stored paper. AMCOR's demand for woodchips is driving the destruction of the old Ash forests of our Central Highlands. And in a dry continent where native forests are an essential part of water catchments, AMCOR massively logs the Thompson catchment. The value of water lost is greater than that of the wood extracted.
Other paper makers make fine copy paper from recycled and plantation pulp and AMCOR could do the same. It could choose to strategically market environmentally friendly products rather than destroy our few remaining native forests. In so doing, it would provide an Australian alternative to imported environmentally responsible papers
THAT THE BOARD REINFORCE AMCOR'S COMMITMENT TO GOOD ENVIRONMENTAL PRACTICE BY ENDING ITS RELIANCE ON NATIVE FOREST WOODCHIPS AS SOON AS PRACTICABLE, AND PUBLISH IN THE NEXT HALF - YEARLY REPORT A DETAILED PLAN AND TIMELINE SHOWING HOW THIS WILL BE ACHIEVED.
SIGNED..............................................................
THAT THE BOARD INVESTIGATE THE FEASIBILITY OF AMCOR MAKING AND MARKETING A RANGE OF OFFICE PAPERS WITH NO NATIVE FOREST CONTENT. A REPORT TO SHAREHOLDERS IS REQUESTED IN THE NEXT HALF- YEARLY REPORT.
SIGNED..............................................................
NAME.................................................................
ADDRESS............................................................
The Board recommended shareholders vote against both resolutions, although they seemed very modest to us, and could readily have been accepted as an opportunity to communicate further with shareholders on the subject, without any heavy commitment.
Between a quarter and a third of the people present at the meeting held up their cards in support for the motions. This was very encouraging.
The Chairman announced the votes received by proxy form, 26 million shares for the resolutions, 156 million against.
The Green Shareholders' Group held about 200,000 shares at that time, worth about $1.2million.
We were delighted to find that so many shareholders must have read their papers and taken the trouble to post back their votes. Roughly 130 shares for every one held by the group!
We presume that the Chairman held the votes of many of the larger institutions and that these tended to toe the Board's line.
Regrettably only the Chairman's address gets published after the AGM.
In the interests of shareholders we believe that the Chairman's report should include a statement of the results of voting on such resolutions.
Most shareholders have superannuation these days, and much of this is invested in shares. There is room for the holders of superannuation to write their funds managers and to suggest they consider the views of Green and Ethical shareholders' groups.
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