[2] Gunns operated sawmills across the state, as well as three woodchipping mills: Longreach, near Bell Bay; Triabunna, on the east coast; and Hampshire, near Burnie.

[10] In the same year, around 135 workers at another Auspine sawmill at Tonganah lost their jobs after a softwood timber contract had gone to a competitor.

The company has been the focus of criticism from environmentalists, primarily for its four woodchip mills which produce 4 million tonnes of chips for export annually.

Gunns has also been criticised for its logging operations in the Styx Valley and for its use of 1080 poison [1] to kill wildlife including protected species (baiting and particularly aerial spraying of forest prior to clearfelling[4]).

Further allegations of corruption appeared when Paul Lennon, Premier of Tasmania, had his heritage home renovated by a Gunns-owned company at the height of Gunns' push for the Bell Bay Pulp Mill.

The proposed mill would have used the Kraft process, Elemental Chlorine Free (ECF) bleaching, and been fed with plantation eucalypt forest timber.

The project was supported by the State Government for the perceived economic and employment benefits which were said to include $6.7 billion in spending over 25 years and 2000 temporary jobs created during the construction phase,[19] but was opposed by environmental and social activist groups.

[20] This decision was however challenged by The Wilderness Society and later overturned on appeal due to alleged flaws discovered in the approval process.

[26] Gunns has maintained the position that they are merely trying to prevent parties enjoined to the writ from undertaking unlawful activities that disrupt their business.

[27][28] At a hearing before the Supreme Court of Victoria, an amended statement of claim lodged by the company and served on defendants on 1 July 2005 was dismissed.

Wood and Cameron, both wealthy environmentalists, planned to redevelop the site as an eco-friendly tourist resort or theme park.

To forestall this plan, Alec Marr secretly recruited three ship welders and an electrician, and they smashed up the control room and other critical infrastructure, so that the mill could never be in operation again.

[31] In August 2013, the former CEO John Gay, who had presided over much of Gunns' latter years (1986 to 2010) including its disastrous demise, was convicted of insider trading relating to his sale of company shares in December 2009 just prior to a shock announcement of a half-year profit collapse of 98%.