In Hobart’s Supreme Court this afternoon a great victory was won for all Tasmanians by Bob Brown Foundation.

Our case in the Supreme Court has confirmed Sustainable Timber Tasmania doesn’t control access to our public forests. The outcome of makes it crystal clear there is no need for a permit on public land managed by STT for activities in the forests.

“In taking this case, we have won the right to have activities on public land. We have established for all Tasmanians that forestry can’t lock up the land and it can be accessed by all,” Jenny Weber said.

Acting Justice Martin today observed that aspects of STT conduct could be viewed with disfavour and determined it wasn’t unreasonable for Bob Brown Foundation to have commenced proceedings challenging STT’s refusal to grant a permit for the takayna Trail event.

Justice Martin ordered that each party pay their own costs.

In the Supreme Court, the Judge described STT treatment of BBF as 'cute’.

Outside the court, Bob Brown described STT as "despicable, tricky and misleading."

“For years STT has been telling the public a permit is required to go into the public forests and the court has found they were wrong all along,” Bob Brown said.

“We are looking forward to takayna Ultra and to the NPWS granting our permit for the event,” Jenny Weber said.

“Today our Foundation has lodged a special leave application for the High Court to hear an appeal against the Federal Court ruling in the Great Forest Case. While we are not guaranteed an appeal hearing in the High Court, we believe this case is of major public importance, dealing with a matter of national environmental significance and deserves to be considered by the nation’s final court of appeal.

We are determined to continue the fight for the protection of Tasmania’s wildlife-rich native forests. If we ultimately win in the High Court, the Great Forest Case will have far-reaching potential to protect native forests across Australia,” Jenny Weber said.

“The Federal Court decision went against us with the court ruling that the purpose of the Regional Forest Agreement Act was not to protect the environment. The Federal Court ruled that the protection of Tasmania’s forests and wildlife was ensured by the Forest Practices Code and other policies, which are written by the Tasmanian Government. However, these policies are not legally enforceable, and the court found that there is no need for them to be so. This means that there are no enforceable laws that are protecting threatened species’ habitat from destruction,” Jenny Weber said.

“The Federal Government’s own statutory review of the EPBC Act by Graeme Samuel’s found that the RFAs are not protecting our environment. Graeme Samuel recommended a complete overhaul of the Regional Forest agreements. This shows just how important our case is, as the RFAs are not protecting threatened species like the Critically Endangered Swift Parrot, which is facing extinction due to habitat loss from logging,” Jenny Weber said.

“We know there are no guarantees of success in our case reaching the High Court, or of winning if the case is heard. This is a risky, expensive strategy but the cost of doing nothing - of giving up now - is ultimately far, far greater. It is urgent that native forests are left standing and endangered species are protected from ongoing loss from logging," Jenny Weber said.

“Ultimately, we will stop the destruction of Tasmania’s native forests and wildlife and that day draws closer every time we take action in the forests and in the courts,” Jenny Weber said.

In Tasmanian Parliament today, Labor’s Shane Broad backed in the ongoing destruction of native forests and endangered species habitat this morning on behalf of all of the ALP with a number of misleading comments. In a repeated failure by Tasmania’s Labor and Liberal government to lead on a plantation industry and transition out of native forest logging, a move that would give job security to the 1100 people employed to destroy native forests.

“To counter some of the misleading comments today parliament, the native forests of Tasmania currently being logged in Wentworth Hills and supplied to McKay Timber, the site of a large protest yesterday, is ‘old growth’ according to the Regional Forest Agreement. The threat of imported timbers or contentious Asian logging practices to Tasmania is already here with McKay Timber importing highly controversial Merbau timber and two Borneo logging giants escorted into Tasmania and propped up by taxpayer funds by the Labor and Liberal parties. Shane Broad’s fudging of the ‘Tasmania has net zero emissions’ is also misleading while we import coal-fired power and log and then burn native forests at a cost to the climate,” Bob Brown Foundation’s Campaign Manager Jenny Weber said.

“Shane Broad represents all of the ALP when he backs ongoing native forest logging in a climate emergency and global extinction crisis. Shane Broad is a poor mirror image of Tasmania’s logging minister Guy Barnett. On forests, Labor is turning out to be a Liberal Lite and clawing back their place as the native forest destroying party. This is the ALP backing the destruction of Tasmania’s native forests exempt from national environment laws, an exemption system, the RFA that has been found ineffective at protecting threatened species,” Jenny Weber said.

“The McKay Timber family that Labor backs is one of the wealthiest logging empires in Tasmania, buying out the small sawmillers across the state. But there wasn’t a whimper from the ALP when the McKays closed their Tasmanian mills and stood aside its workforce for its own financial reasons in 2012,” Environmentalist Bob Brown said.

“Tasmania’s political leaders in Government and the ALP continue to lock in an environmentally and climate damaging logging industry at the cost to taxpayers when there is a viable alternative. Australia has more than enough plantations to meet its wood needs,” Jenny Weber said.

“Bob Brown Foundation advocates for a plantation-based forestry industry, using Australia’s vast plantation estate that already exists and no new plantations are established,” Jenny Weber said.

“Comments by the ALP’s Shane Broad that our Foundation wants to replace the Tasmanian native forest logging industry with timber from contentious logging practices in other countries is false. McKay Timber are already doing that for Dr Broad. It is McKay Timber that lists on their website they already import timber from SE Asia and Asia, namely the highly controversial Merbau timber that is “near threatened” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). It is up to McKay Timber to rule out sourcing their Merbau timber from Orangutan habitat and Indonesian forest destruction,” Jenny Weber said.

“It is also Shane Broad’s ALP and the Tasmanian Government who have backed in highly contentious Borneo logging giant’s Ta Ann and Shin Yang into the destruction of this island’s native forests. We have opposed this Tasmanian shameful political backing environmentally damaging and indigenous people’s human rights violations all along,” Jenny Weber said

Image from McKay timber website promoting Merbau timber

"Twenty-seven forests defenders arrived at one of the largest sawmills in Tasmania this morning, halting the operation of a mill which is trashing native forests from across the state. Eight of these brave people were charged, taking a stand for the majority of Australians who want to see this archaic logging industry end, just as whaling was ended. It's an outdated practice in a time of climate emergency. It’s time to end native forest logging," said Jenny Weber, Bob Brown Foundation Campaign Manager.

"What we saw today at McKay's sawmill were the remnants of endangered species habitat, ripped out of living, thriving forests. McKay's is one of the biggest sawmills in Tasmania, driving the destruction of native forests across Tasmania for profit, at the expense of the climate, native animals and the community that wants logging stopped," said Jenny Weber.

"The early hours of this morning twenty-seven forest defenders entered the McKay’s timber mill, in southern Tasmania. We completely shut down this forest destroying mill. Several people locked onto a conveyor belt and the front gate, preventing access to the site. The action was done to show where our native forests are going. They are being fed through this mill to be turned into products that could be made from plantations," said Dr Lisa Searle, Bob Brown Foundation's Native Forest Campaign Organiser.

"With this protest, and the others over the last few months, we are seeing an escalation in the campaign against native forests logging. More and more people are standing up and putting themselves on the line to defend Tasmania's forests. These people are heroes," Dr Lisa Searle.

Twenty-seven Forest Defenders have this morning shut down one of Tasmania’s largest timber mills, with people locked on to entrance gates and machinery. McKay’s sawmill in southern Tasmania is the site of today’s protest calling for an end to native forest logging.

“McKay’s are accepting logs from contentious native forests including old-growth and rainforests and this has to stop. As long as there are mill operators taking these logs, our irreplaceable old-growth forests will keep falling,” said Dr Lisa Searle, Bob Brown Foundation's Native Forest Campaign Organiser.

“Log trucks are delivering the destroyed remnants of habitat for the critically endangered Swift Parrot, masked owl, wedge-tailed eagle, spotted-tailed quolls and Tasmanian Devils into this mill. This company need to stop profiting from extinction,” said Bob Brown Foundation’s Campaign Manager Jenny Weber.

“It is a climate emergency that we are living through. Native forest logging is destroying the climate and smashing endangered species habitat. There is no more time to lose, for planet Earth, for the climate, for endangered species. This destructive and archaic industry has to stop,” said Jenny Weber.

“Todays’ protest follows on from recent protests in the native forests of Wentworth Hills, including when four defenders were arrested last week shutting down old-growth logging. Our takayna/Tarkine blockade is currently defending rainforests and the native forest wood chip mill Artec was shut down earlier this month,” Dr Searle said.

“We will not stop fighting; this battle is too important to just sit back and not react. People need to know exactly what is happening in Tasmania’s forests. We will not back down and we will not stop protesting until we see a total end to native forest logging in Tasmania,” Dr Searle concluded.

The University of Tasmania has dismissed a misconduct investigation into the work of two of its researchers in the retraction of a scientific paper which linked logging and bushfires. The university was forced to investigate after receiving a series of complaints from the forestry industry following the paper’s retraction in August last year.

The university has cleared both researchers of any breach of research misconduct.

“This is typical behaviour by the forestry industry who often lodge official complaints to universities when researchers publish scientific articles showing how detrimental forestry is to the environment," said Dr Jennifer Sanger, one of the researchers targeted by the forest lobbies’ complaints.

"This is an attempt to intimidate researchers who speak up against the forestry industry. However, I will not be silenced."

This news comes after an important study was published by the Academic Freedom Working Group last year showing that 42% of environmental scientists have felt intimidated or been harassed for speaking publicly about their research.

“I am disappointed that the University of Tasmania even decided to investigate the matter", said Dr Sanger.

"Some of the misconduct charges were ridiculous, like not declaring volunteer work or demanding that we remove an opinion piece that only briefly mentioned our retracted research."

“Obviously University of Tasmania have been feeling political pressure over the issue as they have received millions in funding from the forestry industry over the last decade," said Dr Sanger.

"The university should have marked the complaint 'Return to Sender', given the paper had been retracted, and given the industry mounted a public relations attack on us 2 months before the complaints came to light."

"This is a win for all researchers who are targeted by industry,” Dr Sanger said.

The Federal Court has announced this morning that each party will bear their own costs in the Great Forest Case, despite the case going against Bob Brown Foundation. The landmark case was brought by Bob Brown Foundation against the State of Tasmania, Commonwealth and Sustainable Timber Tasmania. The court concluded ‘this is an appropriate case to depart from the usual costs order and order that each part bear its own costs’.

“Today’s judgment has vindicated us bringing this important case to the Federal Court, proving the case is a matter of public importance,” Bob Brown said.

“We were never going to gain anything out of this as an organisation. We were taking this case to challenge the native forest destroying Regional Forest Agreement and for the survival of endangered species that rely on intact forests,” Bob Brown Foundation’s Campaign Manager Jenny Weber said.

The expected costs were likely to exceed $300 000 of taxpayers’ funds spent by the Commonwealth and State Governments opposing our defence of Tasmania’s wild forests including the critically endangered Swift parrot.

We will be making an announcement in the coming week about appealing the Great Forest Case to the High Court.

A directions hearing concerning Bob Brown Foundation’s takayna Trail ultramarathon event was held this morning in Hobart’s Supreme court.

“Sus Timber Tasmania’s (STT) told the court that Bob Brown Foundation does not need STT’s consent to run the takayna Trail and that a permit is not required. In other words, they cannot and will not prevent the event from proceeding,” Bob Brown Foundation’s CEO Steven Chaffer said.

“Now that STT have confirmed that a permit is not required from them, this removes the final hurdle for National Parks and Wildlife Service issuing their permit for the event to go ahead on 20 March,” Steven Chaffer said

“Our Foundation is leading the campaign to have takayna / Tarkine protected as a World Heritage listed National Park and returned to Aboriginal ownership. takayna Trail is an annual event in one of the last wild places on Earth that brings visitors to the region, boosts the economy and showcase an alternative to destroying the Tarkine with logging and mining. We look forward to a successful 2021 takayna Trail with 130 people running for this wild place,” Bob Brown Foundation’s Campaign Manager Jenny Weber said.

The case has been set for a further hearing on Thursday 4 March at 2:15 pm for BBF’s application for an injunction.

As the original owners of takayna, Tasmanian Aborigines have given their permission and support to the Bob Brown foundation’s ultra-marathon event which will raise awareness of the cultural significance of takayna to Aboriginal people, following the decision by Forestry Tasmania to revoke permission for the event to go ahead.

The Bob Brown Foundation are well known for their efforts to protect Aboriginal land and place value on our cultural heritage, ‘’How dare Forestry Tasmania play political games with our traditional lands and cultural heritage’’ Nala Mansell, Campaign Manager said.

Aborigines have never relinquished our ownership of takayna, we have a moral and ethical right to our stolen lands and will not sit by quietly while forestry Tasmania use our lands for their own political gain.

The Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre are backing legal action by the Bob Brown foundation against Sustainable Timbers Tasmania’s decision to refuse entry into takayna.

Nala Mansell

Campaign Co-ordinator

Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre

198 Elizabeth Street, Nipaluna/Hobart

Bob Brown Foundation has launched a Supreme Court action against ‘Sustainable Timber Tasmania’ after they refused a permit for the annual takayna Trail ultra-marathon, scheduled for 20 March 2021.

Our application to the Supreme court was filed on Friday 19th February. A directions hearing will be heard in Hobart’s Supreme Court this Thursday 25th February at 11.30 am for the judge to give directions to prepare the case for hearing.

The takayna Trail, a highlight of the national trail running calendar, brings over 130 local and interstate runners to Tasmania, and injects hundreds of thousands of dollars into regional Tasmanian communities at a time when tourists, and the income they bring to Tasmania, are desperately needed.

The event has been successfully held for the past 2 years and attracted local, national and international runners with sponsorship from major brands like Patagonia, Paddy Pallin and Australian Ethical.

Sus Timber Tasmania has an obligation under government legislation to ‘allow access to permanent timber production zone land for such purposes as are not incompatible with the management of permanent timber production zone land.’

“Premier Peter Gutwein should put a hand on the shoulder of Sus Timber Tasmania and tell them ‘wrong way, go back’. STT has no legal right to put a chainsaw through public thinking. If they prevail, it will have a chilling effect on all future debate about our forests and wildlife,” Bob Brown said.

“We are fighting for the rights of all Tasmanians to access and enjoy their public lands. We will not have that right taken from us just because Sus Timber Tasmania doesn’t like our campaigns to protect the environment. If we don’t stand up for this right, Sus Timber Tasmania will be emboldened to lock out anyone they don’t agree with from the public lands they are tasked with managing,” Bob Brown Foundation Campaign Manager Jenny Weber said.

“If allowed to stand, this decision sets a disturbing precedent that could affect any sporting or recreational event in public forests. Tour guides, running, orienteering, mountain biking, fishing and 4WD groups should all be concerned by this ban, as it demonstrates that Sus Timber Tasmania are prepared to block any group that speaks out against them from entering public forests,” Bob Brown Foundation’s CEO Steven Chaffer said.

“Sus Timber Tasmania have effectively privatised all Crown land allocated to forestry and stolen public access from the people of Tasmania. This contravenes one of the principles of the legislation, namely that people are entitled to access public forests. Parliament’s decision to allocate large areas of Crown land to forestry should not be turned into a land grab by Sus Timber Tasmania,” Steven Chaffer said.