Two women have been arrested today protesting and calling for protection of Tasmania’s takayna / Tarkine. Dr Colette Harmsen and Rose Sheehan were charged after halting a drill rig that arrived into forests threatened by mining company MMG’s proposal for a heavy metals tailings waste dump.

“It’s not good enough that we are losing such wild and biodiverse rainforests for the sake of a mining company’s profit. I grew up in lutruwita / Tasmania and was able to explore the forests and seas so I know what we are losing. I will stop at nothing to protect these beautiful forests regardless of the penalty for protesting. A fine or sentence will never outweigh my love and value for these forests and for the welfare of future generations,” Rose Sheehan said.

Dr Colette Harmsen has been held on remand in Burnie today after her arrest due to breaching bail conditions.

“I am defending takayna for the animals and the wildness. We are going to stop this corporation driven by greed. Our peaceful protest today halted the drill rig in the middle of Helilog Road among the critical breeding habitat of the Tasmanian Masked Owl.”

“Ever since I studied science at high school in the early 1990s, I have been acutely aware of climate change and the negative impacts humans are having on the environment and the lack of government action to respond to these impacts. Here we are 30 years later and nothing has changed. Governments are still refusing to act, industries are still given incentives to destroy wild places and pollute, and politicians do not look beyond the next election,” Colette Harmsen said.

“Citizens, including courageous Colette and Rose, are doing the work to protect wild places, intact nature and habitat for rare and endangered wildlife while governments fail to, and corporations continue their relentless destruction of the environment,” Jenny Weber, Bob Brown Foundation’s Campaign Manager said