[Muanet] FW: Uni Super and woodchips (just delete if you don't want to read yet another campaigning email)

[peta bowden]

I thought that some members might be interested in the following 
which has been sent to me by a colleague at ANU.

Cheers,
Peta

>
>  Hi all:
>
>Apologies in advance to those not interested - but if you are a 
>Unisuper member, you might like to read further. This was sent to me 
>by a colleague at La Trobe, and I believe that all of us who care 
>about both the performance of our super fund AND the ethical value 
>of what it does with our money should be taking an interest.
>
>As you may be aware we [the Wilderness Society] have been able to 
>force Australia's biggest woodchipper, Gunns Ltd, into holding an 
>extraordinary general meeting (EGM) to investigate its logging 
>practices.
>
>UniSuper is one of the big investors in Gunns and we are hoping if 
>enough pressure is exerted on UniSuper by its members they will vote 
>with us at the EGM. If enough of the big super funds and banks vote 
>with us...
>
>If you are an employee of a university you are a member of UniSuper. 
>So, hassle UniSuper, hassle your lecturers, tutors, admin staff, 
>anyone you can think of and get them to hassle UniSuper.
>
>Good Luck, fingers crossed. The EGM is on the 29th of August. 
>
> 
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
>Personal letter from Daniel Beaver, UniSuper member (sample letter) 
>
>  Dear fellow UniSuper member,
>
>I was shocked to learn that UniSuper, through its funds 
>managers,invests in the biggest woodchipper in Australia, Gunns Ltd. 
>This company clearfells and woodchips Tasmania's old growth forests 
>and poisons native animals with 1080 poison as part of its 
>operations - a practice banned in most places in the developed world.
>
>Despite community concerns, Gunns has refused to move out of old 
>growth forests, even though financial modelling has shown that 
>long-term earnings growth of the company will not be affected.
>
>See:
>
>http://www.wilderness.org.au/act/banks/Edwards_report.pdf
>
>As unitholders in UniSuper, we have the power to insist that 
>UniSuper reflects our values. The Wilderness Society, ethical 
>shareholders, has been successful in calling an Extraordinary 
>General Meeting (EGM) of Gunns Ltd on Aug 29 asking them to stop old 
>growth logging. You can help save Tasmania's forests by emailing 
>UniSuper and asking them to support the ethical 
>shareholders'resolution. For more information, see:
>
>http://www.wilderness.org.au/projects/Forests/EGM.html
>
>This page also lets you send emails to UniSuper and other financial 
>institutions that have shares in Gunns Ltd.If you want to contact 
>UniSuper directly, write to or call:
>
>Brian W Smith, Chairman UniSuper
>Level 37, 385 Bourke Street
>Melbourne, Victoria 3000
>1800 331 685
>email: wendy.williams at unisuper.com
>
>
>---------------------------------------
>Dirk Platzen
>School of Botany and Zoology
>Australian National University
>Canberra ACT 0200
>Australia
>
>phone:	++61-2-6125 5647
>fax:		++61-2-6125 5573
>mobile:	++61 421 798 238
>email:	d.platzen at anu.edu.au
>---------------------------------------
>

-- 
^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^
Peta Bowden, Philosophy Program, School of Arts, Murdoch University,
Murdoch, Western Australia  6150

Telephone: +61-8-9360 6328      FAX: +61-8-9360 6571     
email: pbowden at central.murdoch.edu.au
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