Australia: Update on more direct action in the Tassie’s Florentine
Forestry Tasmania has outlined its logging plans for the Upper
Florentine Valley after continued protest action against the
construction of logging road. Today it invited the media to a
demonstration of how the coupe will be managed sustainably. But Ali
Alishah from the protest group Still Willd Still Threatened says a
protestor has locked herself onto a road grader in an attempt to delay
the roadworks. The protester ran out from the bush as construction
crews were starting roadworks in a forestry exclusion zone. “She’ll be
planning to stay there as long as possible, ” he said.
Inspector Glenn
Woolley says police will not be budging either. “That presence will be
maintained until the road works is completed,” he said. Police have
arrested a 27-year-old man from New Zealand after a tree-top protest
in the exclusion zone yesterday. A total of 27 protesters have been
arrested in the area over the last week.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/01/21/2470802.htm
Lily Leahy, 19, and Meredith Geeves, 23, filed a complaint with Workplace Standards alleging Forestry Tasmania breached regulations during their protest last Thursday.
Forestry Tasmania denied breaching the guidelines or endangering the lives of protesters and filed a complaint of their own against Still Wild Still Threatened spokeswoman Ula Majewski in relation to a later protest.
They say Ms Majewski incited more than 400 people to enter Forestry’s active workplace, breaching the exclusion zone and risking their own safety.
The two protesters, who were charged with trespassing, said an operational feller buncher slipped in the mud, stopping just 3m in front of them with its blade still spinning.
“I felt in danger, it was very intimidating and I was scared for my life,” Ms Geeves said.
They also said machinery was felling 50m trees about 60m from where they were positioned.
Ms Leahy, a university student from Newcastle, said she knew she was taking her life into her own hands when she entered the exclusion zone but never believed forestry would break the law.
“Under Workplace Standards and Forestry codes they have to ensure that workers and any other persons on site are safe, which means stopping work,” Ms Leahy said.
“In this instance they kept machinery going within three metres of us, it was a clear act of intimidation and it was terrifying.”
Acting Greens’ leader Kim Booth said Forestry had recklessly endangered the lives of protesters and had breached their Workplace Standards obligations.
“It is the absolute responsibility of FT to maintain a safe workplace for both its workers and for any other person who enters that site,” Mr Booth said.
He called for the Government to intervene and ensure forest practices complied with the law by ceasing all operations until the onsite safety of all people was ensured.
District forest manager Steve Whiteley said the only organisation breaching Workplace Safety was Still Wild Still Threatened, whose supporters illegally protested in Forestry’s workplace.
Ms Majewski said everyone at Sunday’s protest acted as an individual.
“More than 500 individuals acted autonomously and made a decision to walk in and reclaim their forest which Forestry Tasmania are continuing to devastate,” Ms Majewski said.
A 23-year-old activist from Queensland was cut from an excavator he chained himself to and was charged with trespassing. He will appear in Hobart Magistrates Court on February 10. http://www.themercury.com.au/article/2009/01/20/50555_tasmania-news.html
A Tasmanian Government backbencher has described recent protests in the Upper Florentine Valley and the north-west as green-sponsored anarchy.
Braddon MP Brenton Best says a protester yesterday cost the north-west company Maxfield Drilling money and caused a five-hour delay.
Mr Best says the intimidation must stop.
“It is extreme behaviour that is sanctioned by the Greens,” he said.
“Cassy O’Connor and Tim Morris attended the rally last weekend and they’re encouraging and sanctioning people to go out and sabotage other people’s employment.”
The Wilderness Society has invited the Government and the forest industry to be part of a series of statewide discussions to find a new balance in the forestry debate.
It is hoping a series of “community conversations” will see a new era in creating positive dialogue between conservation and industry stakeholders and government.
The Wilderness Society’s Vica Bayley says a new way forward must be found following the recent confrontations in the Florentine.
“So these events are very much set in stone and they will go ahead,” he said.
“We’re very much hopeful the industry players that have been invited Forestry Tasmania, FIAT, the CFMEU will be part of it and we hope Premier Bartlett will also engage in this process.”
The first event will take place at Westerway on February 5.
Anti-logging campaigners have vowed to stay in the Upper Florentine Valley, despite more arrests.
Yesterday, two women were granted bail after being arrested for trespass and obstructing police. http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/01/23/2473303.htm?section=business