COMMUNITY HEALTH DATES TO REMEMBER ... - Platypus Country

The Cabanandra-Avonleigh PlantationsFrom the road, nothing seems to have changed in theplantations on McKillops Road apart from a missing gate at themain entrance near the former house. In fact, a great deal hasbeen happening although the effects of these changes are notyet visible.When Willmotts was put into receivership /liquidation inSeptember 2010, management of the plantations went intolimbo. Gates were opened to ensure access for emergencyvehicles and weed and other pest control ceased. There wasno maintenance of firebreaks, declared noxious weeds, fencesor other infrastructure, although some locals say there waslittle enough of that when Willmotts was solvent.The job of selling Willmotts’ assets went to liquidators PPBAdvisory. The process was slowed by a court action fromWillmott Action Group (WAG).“Investors who pumped about $150 million into forestryschemes run by the failed agribusiness group Willmott Forestshave launched a class action against the company, itsdirectors and the Commonwealth Bank. In court documentsfiled in the Federal Court …, lawyers for the investors havealleged that documents spruiking three forestry managedinvestment schemes failed to disclose all the risks attached tothe investments.The investors have also alleged that Willmott overstated thevalue of assets including land and future wood sales andunderstated its liabilities '’by failing to provide for the cost offuture plantation maintenance work’''.http://www.smh.com.au/business/forestry-group-faces-classaction-20111223-1p8fu.html#ixzz21h4NuGTkThe judgement of the Federal Court failed to fully satisfy WAGwhich launched an appeal against the February decision. Thelatest news on the court process is bad news for WAG: thegroup has been ordered to pay the legal costs of theliquidators after Justice Davies’ decision on June 27 th thisyear.WAG explained its reason for its appeal against an earliercourt decision as follows: “The WAG Executive is of the viewthat what is happening so far is an improper and courtendorsed transfer of wealth from investors to Banks (andothers) and this cannot be allowed to be successful if at allpossible. There are, in our view, a host of improper andunconscionable conflicts between banks/liquidators/courtofficials/lawyers/Forestry Players all to the detriment ofgrowers WHO HAVE DONE NOTHING WRONG IN THISWHOLE PROCESS AND WHOSE INVESTMENTS WERENEVER IN LIQUIDATION.” (Capitals in original on WAG’s website) http://www.willmottactiongroup.com/Action_updates/actionupdate21042012.htmlWhile WAG was fighting in the courts, another group callingitself Willmott Growers Group (WGG) was negotiating to retaincontrol of those plantations planted for them by Willmottbetween 1996 to 2000, in hope of recouping some of theiroriginal investment.“It is WGG’s view that, with the collapse of Willmott ForestsLimited (WFL), the Project is no longer being adequatelymanaged. In order to restore the Project as close as possibleto its original status, it is necessary to appoint a newresponsible entity (Trustee) and also to provide amechanism whereby ongoing and future maintenanceand management costs will be funded by Growers.Converting the Project to a contributory scheme is thebasis of the WGG Proposal. In addition, there will bean initial management fee to pay for the costs ofsaving the Project as well as to cover any requiredforestry remediation costs.”Their efforts resulted in the appointment by CourtOrder in late-December last year of Primary SecuritiesLtd to manage the Willmott 95-99 Project, the Treerights for almost 5000 hectares of their plantationtrees, though management really only becameeffective from early April this year. The Cabanandra-Avonleigh plantations make up 20% of the total.Primary Securities is the ‘responsible entity’ (Trustee)managing the land on behalf of the lessee Treegrowers.John Byrne, a forester from Bathurst NSW, iscontracted by Primary Securities Ltd to provide theday to day management of these particularplantations. [Note that the growers only lease the landon which the trees are growing, for 25 years from theirplanting date, but not the actual land. on which thetrees are planted. There are, however, moves afoot totry to purchase the land from the Liquidator.The balance of the Willmott Forests’ of the Bombalaregion plantations – 10,000 hectares – both land andtrees - is now owned through Global Forests PartnersLP which has set up a new company called SnowyMountains Forests. Most of those plantations wereestablished between 2000 and 2008, though GFP alsonow owns a number of the older Bendoc plantations.I recently spoke to John Byrne who tried to make thecurrent situation clear to me so that I could report inthe Tubbut Tattler. He has been down to look at theAvonleigh/Cabanandra plantation twice this year, andplans to be in this region again for a week from August12th. He tells me that there have already beenenquiries from neighbours adjoining the 95-99 Projectplantations. Primary Securities will not be taking onemployees at this stage; all work initially will beperformed by contractors. A contractor has alreadybeen hired to slash the perimeters and major roadswithin plantations, but wet weather has delayed thiswork. Weed-spraying, particularly on the boundaries,has also been arranged. Issues like fencing are out ofhis ambit however, and should be reported directly tothe landowner (currently PPB Advisory).John Byrne will be available at the Tubbut CommunityCentre from 4pm to 6 pm on Thursday 16 th August toprovide additional information and answer yourqueries.Information for this article has been taken from theweb sites of WAG, Primary Securities Ltd and theSMH. Thanks to John Byrne for his time in providinginformation and checking its accuracy.Deb