loss of 70 jobs. The sackings broke an agreement with the federal government, leading to the cancellation of substantial funding assistance. 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. Victoria In 2009, the company was awarded a contract to operate a new woodchip processing facility at Portland. The woodchipping mill was later sold off to Australian Bluegum Plantations in 2012, for $61.8 million. South Australia In South Australia the company managed blue gum plantations on Kangaroo Island. In Jamestown Gunns was a major customer of Morgan Sawmill. Gunns bought the Tarpeena softwood sawmill from the now failed Forest Enterprises Australia, and which was later sold on to Timberlink. Western Australia Gunns operated three hardwood sawmills in Western Australia. Their nationwide product line of timber flooring included the hardwood, jarrah, found in the southwest of the state. The timber is reddish-brown when hewn and is, "renowned for its beauty, warmth and durability". Their environmental initiatives included achieving certification under international standard ISO 14001:2004. Gunns supplied local trade and retail markets from its distribution yard in Welshpool, near Perth. Criticism 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. Green groups claim that native forests are harvested specifically for woodchipping, whereas Gunns claim that the majority of their chips come from residue from their sawmilling and veneer operations. Gunns' major customers are paper producers in Northern Asia, mainly Japan, including Mitsubishi, Nippon and Oji Paper. Gunns has also been criticized for its logging operations in the Styx Valley and for its use of 1080 poison to kill wildlife including protected species (baiting and particularly aerial spraying of forest prior to clearfelling). In 1989, the chairman of Gunns, Edmund Rouse, unsuccessfully attempted to bribe a Labor Party member, Jim Cox, to cross the floor, which would have allowed the pro-logging Tasmanian government of premier Robin Gray and the Liberal Party to resume power. A Royal Commission followed and convicted Rouse. Robin Gray became director of Gunns Limited on 21 February 2000. He retired from the position in 2010. 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