GUTWEIN MOVES TO JAIL ENVIRONMENTALISTS.

The RSPCA should follow WWF and review its endorsement of the controversial Tasmanian Atlantic salmon producer, Huon Aquaculture, the Bob Brown Foundation said in Hobart today.

“The RSPCA is highly respected and its good name is being used by Huon Aquaculture to cover a multitude of sins,” Bob Brown said. “For example, the faecal pollution from industrial fish farming is impacting the marine ecosystems and that means a range of native fish and other species. The companies themselves admit that faecal pollution causes damage to the ecosystems below the Atlantic salmon fish pens. Stories of seal cruelty by rival, unendorsed, company Tassal continue to go public and it’s questionable about how much the public differentiates between companies,” Brown said.

“Woolworths and Coles and other marketers of Atlantic salmon should treat the RSPCA endorsement with caution. It may look good but does not alter the serious concerns there are with environmental impacts,” he said.

“The real problem for all concerned is the lack of environmental rigour by the Gutwein government. Instead of improving environmental standards Gutwein’s Minister for resources has revealed, overnight, new legislation to punish peaceful environmental protesters, including those protesting on or near industrial fish farm pens in public waters or other installations, with jail sentences. It is the CEOs who allow environmental destruction who should be jailed but there is no hint of that occurring,” Brown said.

The Tasmanian Government has called for public submissions on its failed anti-protest laws in another attempt to breathe life into the most draconian anti-protest laws in Australia.

“Neither the Premier nor the Minister can ban human nature and people’s love for nature but that is what they aim to do with these nasty laws. A better strategy would be to outlaw the progressive destruction of Tasmania’s natural beauty by profiteers, who are increasingly out-of-state and with no regard for Tasmanians. These laws will end up putting good, sincere people, from all walks of life, in jail. They will not stop peaceful protests against the invasion of rainforests and other ecosystems. I, for one, have no intention of abandoning our forests and wildlife to needless destruction for the publicly-subsidised and job-sparse export woodchip industry," Bob Brown said.

"The Tasmanian people, through the State Parliament, have rejected these laws twice. Tasmania’s Liberal government’s first attempt was knocked out by the High Court and cost the taxpayer more than $100,000. The government needs to stop wasting time and money on laws to protect their ruthless destruction of Tasmania’s wild places. Premier Gutwein needs to give up on threatening our democracy. We are urging Tasmanian Labor and independents to continue to oppose this attack on our democracy," said Jenny Weber.

“A critical question to Premier Gutwein – will this bill allow right-wing groups opposed to vaccinations to protest outside hospitals but not allow forest savers the same rights in Tasmania’s native forests, oceans and iconic kunanyi / Mt Wellington?” said Jenny Weber.

Conservationists have this morning returned to protest at the Riley Creek mine in Tasmania’s takayna.

Tasmania Police have arrived on site at a protest in Tasmania’s north-west where Bob Brown Foundation is demonstrating against the mining of takayna / Tarkine.

“Tasmania’s takayna is under a new assault by the mining industry and it’s going to get worse if not halted. Environmental science student Laura Vermeersch is joined by ten citizens while closing down the entrance to the mine with a non-violent direct action this morning at Riley Creek mine,” Bob Brown Foundation’s Campaign Manager Jenny Weber said.

“One of the last wild places on Earth, takayna is home to endangered species, but mining is destroying the place while governments fail to protect the globally significant values,” Jenny Weber said.

“Venture Minerals is scraping the Earth back for iron ore to export to China. All the material being trucked out of this mine to export to China is for a monster mine in Australia’s largest temperate rainforests at Mt Lindsay. A mine at Mt Lindsay, inside a reserve, would annihilate a mountain of rainforest and the Huon pine-clad lower Wilson River,” Jenny Weber said.

“There is still time to prevent destruction of takayna by mining. Tasmania’s takayna is a World Heritage Area in waiting and when protected will provide an essential role and make a direct positive impact in the climate emergency,” Jenny Weber said.

Also this morning in Hobart’s Magistrates Court, nineteen takayna defenders will attend court on charges related to protests against the Chinese state-owned miner MMG proposal to build a heavy metals mining waste dump in takayna just 8km east of where the Riley Creek mine is.

Environmentalists are calling for Premier Gutwein to give up on undemocratic, unjust and dangerous attempts to silence and imprison protesters in Tasmania after logging and mining Minister Guy Barnett announced today that the Tasmanian Government would seek to re-introduce its failed Workplace Protection Bill.

“Premier Gutwein’s government needs to stop wasting taxpayers money and parliamentary time with attempts to pass draconian anti-protest laws. Thankfully the Tasmanian parliament has voted down these laws, yet the government continues to push the logging and mining industry's agenda to imprison anyone who challenges their destructive activities,” Bob Brown Foundation’s Campaign Manager Jenny Weber said.

“The anti-protest laws would be the worst in the country, making everyday Tasmanians criminals just for standing up for the environment and social justice issues. Tasmania has a long, proud history of non-violent protests, both for human rights and for the protection of Tasmania’s wild places. Sadly, under the Liberal government we have a drawn-out attempt to introduce laws that shield business from public criticism and rule economic interests of corporations over the civil liberties of individuals,” Jenny Weber said.

“These anti-protest laws will jail the citizens of the Clark electorate who will join non-violent direct actions if the cable car proceeds on kunanyi / Mt Wellington. Meanwhile, Government still hasn’t ruled out special legislation to allow the cable car to proceed.

Their draconian anti-protest legislation appears to be designed to facilitate major developments like the cable car, expansion of fish farms and ongoing forest destruction while attempting to silence Tasmanians who want preservation of our natural assets.“ Jenny Weber said.

"Premier Gutwein needs to give up on threatening our democracy. Bob Brown Foundation is also urging the Labor party and independents to continue to oppose this attack on our democracy," said Jenny Weber.

"Clearly Minister Barnett has been prodded into action by the release of the Invasive Species Council and Bob Brown Foundation report, Feral Deer Control: A Strategy for Tasmania, but his action is entirely in the wrong direction," Christine Milne of Bob Brown Foundation said in response to Minister Barnett’s pledging $50,000 to a socio-economic study of hunting.

"Feral deer are causing upward of $100million damage a year to Tasmanian farmers and land managers and they need recreational shooters and pest controllers to take action to significantly reduce the numbers. They do not need the Government to justify on going partial protected status of feral deer to keep the numbers increasing.

The very landholders to whom the Minister refers, are the ones saying that the current management of browsing animals is failing. The Legislative Council and the Federal Senate agree that feral deer are out of control and radical action needs to be taken now.

Deer hunters, recreational shooters, and conservationists agree that deer should be eradicated from the TWWHA and areas where there are satellite populations like Bruny Island. Recreational shooters are all for ending the partial protected status of feral deer. Only Minister Barnett and the trophy hunters are out of step with 21st century thinking on biosecurity," said Christine Milne.

Conservationists have recorded the endangered Tasmanian Masked Owl in the takayna/Tarkine high conservation value forests targeted for a toxic waste dump by Chinese state-owned mining company MMG.

Bob Brown Foundation researchers have also confirmed the presence of a critically endangered forest community in the area.

"The world's largest barn owl, the endemic Tasmania Masked Owl is threatened by a toxic proposal to dump 25 million cubic metres of mine waste into a remarkable world heritage valued site in Tasmania's northwest. As the world is suffering from the dual climate and biodiversity crises, here in Tasmania, alternatives must be used for mines," Bob Brown Foundation's Campaign Manager Jenny Weber said.

“MMG surveys of threatened species were grossly insufficient when the company commenced its destruction for the project. It’s high time this project was ruled out. Until it is ruled out, our Foundation is planning to return to frontline protests if the miner returns to continue the destruction of forests and wildlife habitat at the site,” Jenny Weber said.

“The Minister for the Environment, Sussan Ley, recently released a statement of reasons for declaring the waste dump proposal as a controlled action. It said the heavy metals waste dump is likely to be a significant impact on the Tasmanian Wedge-tailed Eagle, Tasmanian Devil, and Tasmanian Forests and Woodlands dominated by Black Gum or Brookers Gum ecological community,” Jenny Weber said.

“We are not going to leave the assessment of impacts to the mining company that wants to demolish 140 hectares of primeval rainforests and endangered species habitat in takayna/Tarkine. Our Foundation has engaged scientists who will lead expert assessments of the flora and wildlife in these world heritage value forests, while also hosting citizen science trips into the ancient forest landscape,” Jenny Weber said.

“The Federal Department of Environment noted that the company referral did not include analysis of potential impacts to listed threatened species and ecological communities as a result of a major dam failure. Our requests to MMG to give us their flood mapping and analysis in the case of a major dam failure went unanswered. The 2020 United Nations Environment Program's Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management, developed following dam failure in Brazil, aims at zero harm to people and the environment. There is no rhyme or reason where a new tailings waste facility in Tasmania's takayna rainforests, with critical habitat for the endangered Masked Owl, and the long list of other endangered species can be measured as zero harm to the environment," Jenny Weber said.

Bob Brown Foundation has condemned the recent move by Federal Environment Minister Sussan Ley to abandon takayna / Tarkine heritage listing to the mining and logging industries. Expert advice by the Australian Heritage Council in 2012 state that it deserves national heritage protection. Since 2012, the globally significant values have also been expertly identified as having world heritage value.

“Minister Ley has joined the line-up of failed Federal Environment Ministers who ignore expert recommendations to grant National Heritage listing to takayna / Tarkine after rejecting Emergency National Heritage listing. Ley is now the sixth successive Federal Environment Minister to ignore Australian Heritage Council advice that 439 000 hectares of takayna / Tarkine should be national heritage listed. All of these six Ministers have failed in their primary duty to protect and preserve one of Australia’s national heirlooms,” Campaign Manager Jenny Weber said.

“Our Foundation wrote to Ley nominating takayna for Emergency National Heritage listing on May 20, 2021. The Emergency Heritage nomination came as Chinese state-owned mining company MMG turned to takayna for a proposed toxic heavy metals waste dump in the south eastern corner of takayna/Tarkine. National heritage listing would mean that as well as the usual environmental assessments, effects upon heritage values would be considered, essentially raising the bar,” Jenny Weber said.

"Minister Ley has defined her takayna legacy as someone who ignores recommendations for national heritage listing. It was recommended after its assessment in response to a nomination made in 2004 by Tarkine National Coalition and others, and a unanimous vote of the Senate to support then Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s decision to place the nomination on the priority assessment list in 2007. In 2009 Minister Peter Garrett placed the entire area subject to nomination under an emergency listing. Then in 2010 Federal Minister for the Environment Tony Burke allowed that emergency listing to lapse against the advice of the Australian Heritage Council. Then Burke in 2013 listed just 4% of the AHC’s 2012 recommended 439,000 hectare listing,” Jenny Weber said.

Correspondence with Minister Ley's office

BBF today announced it will apply to join and oppose any appeal brought by the Mt Wellington Cable Car company against the decision of Hobart City Council to reject the development.

"The Bob Brown Foundation will join the appeal because of its concern about the exploitation of public land for private profit, because of the horrific visual impact of the proposal, and because this development is offensive to aboriginal Tasmanians. kunanyi / Mt Wellington is a place of immense beauty, it's also an important conservation reserve in the Hobart region. A mega development like the cable car would destroy many of the ecological values which make the mountain unique," said  Bob Brown Foundation CEO Steven Chaffer.

Fallow deer were introduced to Tasmania in the 1830s and by the 1970s numbered 7,000-8,000. But that figure is now close to 100,000 and set to number a million covering 54% of the state by 2050 unless radical action is taken, Christine Milne of Bob Brown Foundation said today at the launch of ‘Feral Deer Control: A Strategy for Tasmania' new report by the Invasive Species Council commissioned by the Foundation.

“It is time for a major shift in direction with the regulatory protection of feral deer being removed and the deer being treated as a pest animal under the Biosecurity Act,” Christine Milne said.

“Feral deer have travelled well beyond the traditional range of the Midlands and are now in the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area including the central Plateau and Walls of Jerusalem and in the Douglas-Apsley, Ben Lomond and Freycinet National Parks. This is an ecological time bomb. Deer are grazing, trampling, ringbarking trees and natural vegetation on the Central Plateau, already under pressure from global warming.”

“The damage being done to the crops and fences of Tasmanian farmers is a huge burden. Recovery after fire in the bush and newly established regeneration areas is also hindered as deer graze the new shoots. The cost of feral deer to Tasmania is already estimated to be $100million per annum. It is only a matter of time before fatalities occur on Tasmanian roads as unsuspecting motorists encounter deer in peri urban areas.”

“Just because the Tasmanian Government wants to pretend we remain a far flung outpost of the Empire and copy the recreational trophy hunting habits of the 19th Century British aristocracy, doesn’t mean we should sacrifice our environment and farming community.”

“Recognizing feral deer as a pest under Tasmania’s Biosecurity Act means landowners and land managers like the Parks Service can put their business and biodiversity in front of preserving an expanding herd of feral deer. Establishing five biosecurity zones, from areas like the TWWHA from which deer will be eradicated to areas in which deer populations will be contained, provides a framework for getting this problem under control.”

“Shooters and conservationists alike agree that feral deer should be eradicated from the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area. Recreational hunters, shooters, and professional pest controllers, under the direction of a Biosecurity TaskForce, will all have a role to play in getting this problem under control.”

“We were prompted to commission this research after the Tasmanian Government refused to allow any consideration of the removal of the protected status of deer in its own consultation about future management. Peter Jacobs, the author of the report is a nationally recognised authority on deer management.”

“We call on Premier Gutwein and Minister Barnett to remove feral deer’s protected status and to adopt world’s best practice and a 21st century Biosecurity approach to the management of feral deer in Tasmania,” Christine Milne said.

Copy of report