Blue Derby Wild wins temporary halt against logging in two north-east coupes

An environmental group has won a temporary injunction against the logging of two north-west forestry coupes – in the wake of revelations Tasmanian logging may have been illegal for decades.

AN ENVIRONMENTAL group has won an injunction over the logging of two forestry coupes just outside the north-east township of Derby.

Blue Derby Wild, co-ordinated by resident Louise Morris, appeared in the Supreme Court of Tasmania on Monday – successfully arguing that logging at the two coupes be temporarily halted until a full hearing is thrashed out in May.

However, the court heard that one of the coupes – with an area of 43 hectares – had already been logged, potentially rendering the injunction futile.

Louise Morris from Blue Derby Wild.

The other coupe in question is 37ha in size and is believed to have been already partially logged.

Lisa De Ferrari SC, acting for Blue Derby Wild, said Sustainable Timber Tasmania (STT) did not have legislative authority to log the coupes.

“Unless an injunction is given, we’ll have a trial that is moot,” she said.

“The subject matter of the dispute is going to be destroyed.”

Bruce McTaggart SC, acting for STT, said the organisation disputed that it didn’t have legal authority to log the areas in question.

“Ultimately what this dispute is about is a philosophical dispute of native forest logging in principle,” he said.

Justice Robert Pearce said there was a serious question to be tried, and that the status quo should be preserved in the meantime.

“It raises real arguments that ought to be considered by the court”, he said, adding he only had limited evidence from each side at the current, interlocutory stage of proceedings.

“The possibility of irreparable damage favours preservation of the status quo.”

The substantive matter, which the not-for-profit Blue Derby Wild will wage against STT and the Forest Practices Authority, is likely to be held in May.

The organisation filed an application for an interlocutory application on Friday last week, in the wake of revelations that all logging in Tasmania since the 1980s may have been illegal due to regulatory deficiencies.

Following Monday’s court hearing, Ms Morris described the upcoming trial as a “test case for all native forest logging in Tasmania”.

Calls for protester compo after decades of ‘illegal’ logging

THERE must be a Royal Commission into the decades-long “illegal” logging of Tasmanian forests — and compensation for those arrested when they tried to stop it, conservationist Bob Brown says.

The state government is scrambling to draw up retrospective legislation after it was revealed regulatory deficiencies may have cast a question over the legality of all logging since the mid-1980s.

Dr Brown, a former Australian Greens leader, whose foundation is active in forest protection, said thousands of people arrested at protests over the last four decades were deserving of exoneration and compensation.

He called for all logging to stop and for Resources Minister Guy Barnett to resign. .

“Minister Guy Barnett, has presided over this mess, can say it’s a highly technical matter,” Dr Brown said. “Well, tell that to the courts.”

‘You can’t say that you didn’t know, or that it was highly technical, or was obscure or whatever, when you’re charged with a crime.

“To engage improperly or unauthorised logging is a criminal offence under Tasmanian law.

“It needs not only to stop, I think there should be a Royal Commission into the whole affair.’

No detailed explanation of the deficiencies of adherence to the 1985 Forest Practices Act has been given by the government, but Mr Barnett on Wednesday announced retrospective legislation would be drafted to fix the problem when state parliament resumes.

Bob Brown presser

Sustainable Timber Tasmania General Manager Operations Greg Hickey said other action had already been taken.

“Late last week, the Board of the Forest Practices Authority reissued delegations to all Sustainable Timber Tasmania Forest Practices Officers,” he said.

“Sustainable Timber Tasmania has proactively reviewed all active Forest Practices Plans, and where necessary, they have been reaffirmed.

“All current plantation and native forest harvesting activity is continuing.”

Dr Brown said there was a need for people who have been convicted for protesting against logging to be compensated.

“The government now has a moral duty to compensate everybody who has fallen foul of this system since 1985,” he said.

He said three protests had taken place in logging areas on Thursday and loggers had withdrawn when activists arrived and police did not attend.

The state government issued a statement criticising the Labor Party.

“The government’s position is that industry should not be brought to a halt while this technical administrative matter is dealt with,” he said.

“The last thing industry and Tasmanian workers need is Labor playing political games with their jobs.

“Labor should step away from the Greens and back Tasmanian workers.”

Greens MP Rosalie Woodruff said decades of native forest logging had turned out to have been illegal.

“Not only was it a crime against nature, to be logging Tasmania’s beautiful native forests, it’s also a criminal act that this government continues to perpetuate today.

She called for payouts for those convicted of protesting against logging.

“They have to be paid compensation, not just for the costs of fines that have been paid, but also for the mental anguish of putting their lives on the line, being badly treated by a state which is perpetuating criminal acts.”

And Greens Senator Peter Whish-Wilson said Mr Barnett — a vocal opponent of forestry protesters — had been left with egg on his face.

“There’s a delicious irony to the fact that these forest protesters are in the forests, upholding the law, I mean, that’s all you need to know,” he said.

“And they should be feeling good about what they’ve done.”

Claims logging ‘illegal’ as industry under spotlight

All logging in Tasmania has been carried out illegally for decades, casting doubt on the convictions of hundreds of people charged in conservation protests, the Bob Brown Foundation says.

A deficiency in a delegation made under the Forest Practices Act came to light during court action against nine anti-forestry protesters over the past fortnight.

Dr Brown was one of those who had charges against them dropped.

Resources Minister Guy Barnett on Wednesday announced retrospective legislation would be drafted urgently to fix the problem when state parliament resumes.

The legislation has been in place since 1985.

Bob Brown Foundation protesters attached to logging equipment at Wentworth Hills on Tasmania's Central Plateau.

Section 43 of the Act allows the Forest Practices Authority to delegate “any of its functions or powers other than this power of delegation”.

It was not clear what problem has been identified with the delegation, but Dr Brown said it was an embarrassment for a government which accused others of breaking the law.

“This outrageous Minister and government has crowed week-in and week-out about the need for harsher laws to stop forest protests when, all along, it has been his logging which has been illegal,” Dr Brown said.

“The protesters were upholding the Tasmanian laws which governments, including Minister Barnett, were breaking.

“All logging should cease until this bungling Minister has been replaced and the mess sorted out.

“The government should prepare to compensate hundreds of good people who have been wrongfully charged, convicted and even sent to jail for obstructing this illegal logging.”

Mr Barnett said in a statement the government would act swiftly.

“A highly technical administrative matter relating to the issuing of a delegation made under the Forest Practices Act 1985 has recently been identified,” he said.

“I am advised that similar delegations have been issued since the commencement of the Act in the mid-1980s, including under both Labor and Labor-Green Governments.

“To be clear, this matter relates to the construction and form of the delegation instrument and does not go to the safety or appropriateness of forestry operations undertaken on-ground.”

Mr Barnett said that to “to provide certainty for our industry and to remove doubt”, the government would introduce validating legislation when parliament resumes.

Greens leader Cassy O’Connor called for an immediate end to all logging.

“It’s not just a ‘technical detail’, it’s the law. Illegal logging cannot be allowed to continue,” she said.

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Originally published as Blue Derby Wild wins temporary halt against logging in two north-east coupes