IF THE government wants a Tamar Valley pulp mill it should fund and build it itself rather than wait for a private investor, Rumney MLC Tony Mulder has said.

Speaking on a motion for the Legislative Council to reaffirm its support for the stalled project, Mr Mulder said it was not enough for the government or the opposition to say they supported the project.

``The state should step in, get an equity partner, take up the licences and build a mill and when it's built they should release it to the market,'' Mr Mulder said.

Mr Mulder said 80 per cent of lower house MPs in Tasmania were elected in 2010 on a platform of supporting the pulp mill, but private companies still appeared reluctant to support it due to lack of ``social licence''.

``Eighty per cent of voters . . . I think that's a social licence,'' he said.

Fallen timber company Gunns received final approvals for the Long Reach project last year before going into administration. Receivers KordaMentha formally put the site on the market this month. 

Windermere MLC Ivan Dean brought the motion, saying independent members of Parliament  should reaffirm their support for the project to give confidence to any potential investors.

Mersey MLC Mike Gaffney accused Mr Dean of wasting time in the last parliamentary sitting week of the year, ``for a  maybe project that might occur at an undetermined time at a predetermined site that has already failed once''.

``Maybe the honourable member should put more interest in what was happening in the house than gaining publicity points with popular issues like forestry, foxes and pulp mills,'' Mr Gaffney said.

Mr Dean said the multibillion-dollar project was of extreme interest to his electorate and he was entitled to raise it in private member's time.