Bob Brown, Kristy Lee Alger and Karen Lynne Weldrick plead not guilty to trespass charges

Environmentalist Bob Brown will take his fight to save the swift parrot to a hearing, but says the real criminals are those in power “aiding and abetting" the extinction of wildlife. Latest from court.

Bob Brown and Tasmania Police. Picture: Bob Brown Foundation

Environmentalist Bob Brown will take his fight to save the swift parrot to a hearing, but says the real criminals are those in power “aiding and abetting" the extinction of wildlife.

Dr Brown appeared in Hobart Magistrates Court on Thursday for the second mention of his matter where he pleaded not guilty to a single count of trespass.

The charge stems from protest action Dr Brown took on November 8 last year, where he had been defending swift parrot habitat from logging activity, inland from the Freycinet Peninsula.

In court, lawyer Roland Browne told Magistrate Jackie Hartnett that while they had not yet received any disclosure from prosecutors, they knew “enough about the prosecution case” to lock in a hearing date.

Activists Kristy Lee Alger and Karen Lynne Weldrick, who were arrested as a result of protest action on the same day, also appeared in court and pleaded not guilty to single counts of trespass.

Kristy Lee Alger (L), Bob Brown (centre) and Karen Lynne Weldrick (R) outside Hobart Magistrates Court after pleading not guilty to a single count each of trespass.

It is alleged Alger and Weldrick chained themselves to a piece of logging machinery.

Mr Browne asked that the hearing be jointly held with Alger and Weldrick’s matters.

It is expected the hearing will run for two days on a yet to be set date in December.

When Mr Browne raised the issue of police disclosure, Ms Hartnett said it was “not unusual” and that police needed that time to “be prepared”.

Dr Brown, Ms Alger and Ms Weldrick were bailed to appear on September 7 for another mention of their matter.

Speaking to media outside of court, Dr Brown said he believed they were on the “front foot” in the legal fight.

“ … We believe we were wrongly arrested in our forests, protecting our wildlife, for our descendants, our future generations,” Dr Brown said.

Dr Bob Brown pleaded not guilty to a single count of trespass.

Dr Brown said the September 7 mention date was one of historical significance as the day the last thylacine died in Hobart in 1936.

“We have cabinets in Canberra and Hobart that say keep logging; [well] we aren’t going to accept that,” he said.

“ … And here we have the swift parrot on the same trajectory, with the same deliberate process by politicians.”

He said he was “appalled” that logging was continuing in the same area where he had been arrested.

“ … Premier [Jeremy] Rockliff has a lot to answer [for] that,” he said.

“He is in the process of deliberately aiding and abetting the extinction of the swift parrot, no less than the tiger went to extinction in 1936 as a result of parliamentary processes.”