Otways- Regional News - December 1999
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Protesters sue loggers' trade union - Claire Miller, Environment Reporter, The Age (article), 21/12/99 - Otways Dec 1999
See also the result
Landmark case for forest justice - Greens call for inquiry into police inaction - 19th Aug 04 - Greens Media Release -Otways August 2004
Conservationists say they were imprisoned by timber workers.
The trade union that represents timber workers is being sued for false imprisonment by conservationists involved in a tense, fiveday stand-off with loggers in Victoria's south-west last January. In a writ lodged in the Supreme Court yesterday, 16 conservationists allege they were encircled and held against their will, and subjected to physical and psychological intimidation, harassment and injury by about 70 timber workers.
The campaigners, mostly members of the Otways Ranges Environment Network and the Wilderness Society, had set up camp beside a public road as part of a blockade to stop work in an area designated for clear-felling. Local timber workers then set up what the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union described as a picket line to protect workplace health and safety. The loggers refused to allow the conservationists to leave their camp unless they signed an agreement to stop blockading in the Otways.
The court action comes amid growing criticism by some conservationists about the new State Government's handling of the Commonwealth-state regional forest agreements covering western Victoria and Gippsland.
Environment Victoria, the Wilderness Society and community groups from the Wombat, Cobaw and Enfield state forests, the Otways and East Gippsland, have accused the Environment and Conservation Minister, Ms Sherryl Garbutt, of failing to reform the process as Labor policy promised.
In a letter, the groups say Ms Garbutt's statement on sustainable forest management last week, which outlines improved consultation, still leaves, the process in the hands of-bureaucrats accused of presiding over "poor-quality, conflict-ridden" agreements elsewhere. A spokeswoman for Ms Garbutt said Labor went into the election with a commitment to maintain the regional forest agreements, but to make the process more open and accountable.
She said the minister was disappointed some groups were not giving the reforms an opportunity to work before condemning them.
The Wilderness Society's campaign Coordinator, Mr Gavan McFadzean, said blockades would continue at Riley's Ridge in the Otways after protesters disrupted logging across the region last week. About 30 conservationists; also stopped logging yesterday at Starvation Creek, in the central highlands near Warburton. Mr McFadzean, who was blocked in by the timber workers in January, said violence and intimidation would not be tolerated.
He said conservationists did not stop loggers entering blockaded areas, and they were free to remove machinery and equipment. "False imprisonment is a serious offence and that is what it was," he said.
The secretary of the CFMEU forestry division, Ms Jane Calvert, who was involved in organising the loggers' blockade, declined to comment.
About 60 conservationists rallied outside Parliament House yesterday, holding aloft papier mache bottoms symbolising their belief that forests are getting the "bum end" of the deal. Environment Victoria's forests campaigner, Dr Rod Anderson, said the Government must resolve hidden industry subsidies.
Forests are getting the "bum end" of the deal, said conservationists protesting outside Parliament House yesterday
See also Up-date below (from 2004)
19th Aug 04 - Greens Media Release
Greens call for inquiry into police inaction
Greens Senator Bob Brown hailed today’s Victorian Supreme Court finding that the CFMEU (Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union) and several individuals, including Victorian CFMEU Forestry Secretary Jane Calvert, had intentionally harmed conservationists in the Otways in January 1999.
The 13 plaintiffs took legal action after the CFMEU set up a picket line around their camp in the Otways. Justice David Ashley awarded damages of $131 000 for the intentional harm caused to them during five days of intimidation.
"This is a landmark decision for the right of conservationists to camp and to protest peacefully in the forests," Senator Brown said.
"The real question is why the police did not take action in the first place when this matter was brought to their attention, including arresting and charging those involved.
"This warrants an explanation from the Minister and an independent inquiry.
"This court finding breaks the pattern of violent assaults against peaceful protesters in forests around the country and sends a strong warning to the CFMEU and its leaders that violence will not be tolerated.
"It is now up to the CFMEU to condemn the violence and guarantee that peaceful conservation protests will never again be harassed in such a way," said Senator Brown.
Senator Brown congratulated the 13 plaintiffs and their legal team for their courage, not only during the original confrontation, but for taking the case to court under great pressure when the police failed to uphold the law.