VicForests Supreme Court appeal rejected

The final nail in the coffin of Victoria’s native timber harvesting has been hammered in by a Supreme Court ruling on Tuesday.

Details regarding the dismissal of VicForests’ Supreme Court appeal have been released following the decision earlier today.

The Court dismissed VicForests’ case, which comprises seven proposed grounds of appeal, stating Justice Richards had correctly interpreted the requirements of the Code during her initial judgement and that the declarations and injunctions were lawful.

The case was centred around regulatory framework, in particular the Code of Practice for Timber Production 2014 (as amended), which requires VicForest, during planning for harvesting, to assess “if there are threats of serious or irreversible environmental damage, lack of full scientific certainty should not be used as a reason for postponing measures to prevent environmental degradation”.

VicForests attempt to continue native timber harvesting has been rejected with its Supreme Court appeal dismissed at a hearing on Tuesday morning.

Contrary to VicForests’ submissions, the framework applies as it is expressed in the Code, requiring proper measures are taken to prevent environmental degradation and not merely requiring the adoption of a certain decision-making process when planning timber harvesting.

The Court also said Justice Richards was correct to conclude that the conservation of biodiversity values was a substantive obligation imposed by the Code.

The court said she was correct to assess, on the expert ecological evidence before her, whether VicForests’ harvesting operations sufficiently addressed the threats faced by the two glider species.

“Having done so, it was open to her Honour to determine what were the minimum measures necessary to protect against such threats,” the summary said.

TUESDAY JUNE 27, 11:40AM

VicForests’ final attempt to continue native timber harvesting has been rejected with its Supreme Court appeal dismissed at a hearing on Tuesday morning.

President Karin Emerton, Justice Cameron Macaulay and Justice Stephen Kaye rejected all arguments of VicForests’ appeal, upholding Justice Melinda Richards’ initial ruling from November last year.

Costs of the appeal were awarded to the community group respondents, Environment East Gippsland and Kinglake Friends of the Forest.

Full details on the judgement summary were not read out in court.

Last year Justice Richards ruled the state-owned enterprise’s pre-harvest surveys were inadequate and it was not doing enough to protect two possum species – greater and yellow-bellied gliders, with VicForests ordering stop work orders due to the injunctions.

Tuesday’s decision is the final nail in the coffin for the native timber harvesting industry which is set to close from January 1 next year after the Victorian Government’s decision to cut short its 2030 phase out.

When handing down the 2023-24 state budget Treasurer Tim Pallas said: “The courts have taken the decision out of our hands.”

Last week VicForests released an amended Timber Release Plan to support the new transition time frame out of native harvesting.

The approved TRP changes include 184 new coupes, 12 coupe boundary changes and two coupe driveway additions for previously approved coupes.

VicForests said they had opened the new coupes to create flexibility in the coupes available for harvest to provide supply and employment for industry during the government’s managed transition to January 1.

“In light of court orders, new reserves and species detections, there are currently significant constraints that limit the ability to plan a coupe to harvest stage,” VicForests said in a statement.