Rushy Revolt - Anger at $8.8m plantation grant

By Rachel Williams

The entity behind the $142m Rushy Lagoon project received more than $8.8m from a Federal Government forestry grant months before it had approvals in place to buy the property.

The North-Eastern Advertiser can reveal the Tasmanian Natural Asset Trust (TNAT) received funding in the latest round of the Support Plantation Establishment Program, announced by the Federal Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Julie Collins, in May 2026.

Grant applications for the funding round closed on November 5, 2025.

But the Federal Treasurer only signed off on the Foreign Investment Review Board’s recommendation to approve the sale of Rushy to TNAT on July 8 this year.

The organisations behind TNAT were also not officially revealed until July 8 - when the Clean Energy Finance Corporation announced the TNAT project would proceed as a partnership between itself, and UK based Gresham House and Aviva Investments.

Ms Collins’ office and her department was contacted for comment. They were asked whether it was a prerequisite of the grant program to own the land on which the grant money was being used on.

TNAT has not yet settled on the Rushy sale.

The Government says the program was demand driven, rather than competitive, meaning applications were funded if they met the eligibility requirements and funding was available. 

All applications were reviewed by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry against the eligibility criteria outlined in the program’s Grant Opportunity Guidelines.

The Support Plantation Establishment program requires grantees to demonstrate they have long-term access to land, and is conditional on the applicant maintaining a recognised interest in the site.

Foreign Investment Review Board processes are managed by the Treasury and are independent of grant assessments under the Support Plantation Establishment program, the government said.

A TNAT spokesperson confirmed it undertook a range of activities in parallel to the FIRB process.

“It should be noted that the FIRB process was extended multiple times and was originally expected to be finalised last year,” the TNAT spokesperson said.

“The nature of plantation establishment, including the long lead-in time to establish seedlings, meant we needed to commence this process while the FIRB was underway.

“As part of this process, our forestry manager made an application to the Support Plantation Establishment
program – a publicly open and competitive grant round established to support softwood plantations and meet growing demand for domestic timber supply. A number of Tasmanian businesses successfully applied for the most recent round of grants.

“The grant will be matched by TNAT as planting activity commences, in accordance with the program’s conditions.”

 TasFarmers President Nathan Cox said the growing number of serious unanswered questions surrounding the Rushy Lagoon project could no longer be ignored.

“It is now obvious the project had guaranteed support and funding before the Foreign Investment Review Board and the Treasurer approved the sale of Rushy Lagoon,” Mr Cox said.

“We want to know whether this new $8.8 million in funding is additional to the $69 million in taxpayer-backed finance already committed, and what other government commitments were made before the sale was approved.

“What else don’t we know about this deal? This latest revelation is deeply concerning. Australian taxpayers deserve to know the full story. As we’ve said before, silence is not good enough. The use of public money must stand up to public scrutiny.”

Minister for Primary Industries and Water, Gavin Pearce, again called on the Prime Minister to intervene.

“Blind Freddy can see what’s gone on here,” Mr Pearce said.

“The federal government has completely undermined this process, blocked out the community, and thrown our farmers to the wind. It’s absolutely ridiculous.”

Revelations of the Support Plantation Establishment Program comes on the back of a packed public meeting in Scottsdale
on Friday.

Gresham House is set to hold public meetings in Gladstone and Scottsdale to answer questions this weekend.