FATE OF NATIVE FOREST HANGS ON "DAVID VS GOLIATH" COURT CASE

MEDIA ALERT

Environment East Gippsland Inc (EEG) v Vic Forests
Brown Mountain Court Case, Sale, Monday, March 1

The fate of a native forest with trees dating back to Joan of Arc's time is at stake in a Supreme Court case to be heard at the Victorian centre of Sale from Monday (March 1).

The landmark Brown Mountain case has national implications for all native forests in Australia and major political implications, with the green vote likely to be vital for both State and Federal Labor Governments in an election year which is also the UN's Year of Biodiversity.

In a David and Goliath battle, Environment East Gippsland (EEG) is seeking to stop state-owned logging monopoly VicForests from clear-felling Brown Mountain, a rich and ancient forest which is "chockablock" with threatened and endangered species.

The action marks the first time a Victorian court has been asked to grant a permanent injunction against state-sanctioned logging.

It will also raise the fundamental conflict in Australia's Regional Forest Agreement - where the State Government charged with protecting the forests is also the logger.

That was underlined in Victoria last year when Environment Minister Gavin Jennings gave the go-ahead to logging at Brown Mountain, declaring there were no threatened species in there. That very morning an EEG camera captured footage at Brown Mountain of a Long-footed Potoroo, one of Victoria's most endangered species.

In the absence of government protection, EEG was forced to take legal action to defend the forest - an enormous and costly step for a community group.

In an Australian first, EEG last year won a temporary injunction on logging at Brown Mountain, ahead of the full hearing, with Supreme Court Justice Forrest comparing images from the forest to the WW1 battlefields of the Somme.

But even if successful with their action, conservationists anticipate the Victorian Government may favour the logging industry and over-ride the court's decision as has happened in previous high-profile cases in both Victoria and Tasmania (see backgrounder).

Media please note: Interviews are available with EEG representatives and Australian Greens Leader Bob Brown. Contact Marie McInerney on 0418 273 698 to organise or for more information.

BROWN MOUNTAIN BACKGROUND

Brown Mountain, in East Gippsland in Victoria, contains old growth forest with ancient trees, one carbon-dated to 600 years old. It is prime habitat for threatened species including the Long-footed Potoroo, Spot-tailed Quoll, Sooty Owl, the Large Brown Tree Frog, the Square-tailed Kite, and the Giant Burrowing Frog. It is also a hotspot for arboreal mammals, like the Greater Glider and the Yellow-bellied glider.

Environment East Gippsland (EEG) alleges that logging four coupes on Brown Mountain is unlawful because it breaches provisions to protect endangered and threatened species in the Victorian Sustainable Forests (Timber) Act 2004 and the Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988. In particular EEG says that VicForests has failed to comply with the Code of Practice for Timber Production 2007.

In the 2006 election, the Bracks Labor Government promised to protect "the last significant stands of old growth currently available for logging". Brown Mountain should clearly have been included but, instead, 20 hectares were logged in summer 2008-09. Threatened species surveys triggered a moratorium in February 2009 followed by more surveys over winter and spring and, in August 2009, an EEG survey camera recorded the presence of a Long-footed Potoroo, one of Victoria's most endangered species, despite the government's declaration - earlier that same day - that there were NO threatened species at Brown Mountain.

In September 2009, EEG successfully obtained an interim injunction against VicForests to prevent logging in the coupes. In granting the injunction, Justice Forrest likened photographs of logging to "pictures of the battlefields of the Somme".

Already the case has delivered important precedents:

The Supreme Court refused VicForests' application for up to $163,000 in security from EEG before a court injunction was granted to stop logging on Brown Mountain. Having to pay such a large sum would have stopped the community group being able to challenge critical habitat logging.

The interim injunction, granted late last year, was also a groundbreaking decision because no Victorian court has ever ordered an injunction on logging before.

However there are concerns that the Victorian Government could override a logging ban, if the EEG case is successful.

Greens Leader Bob Brown successfully brought a court case to halt logging at the Wielangta forest in Tasmania because it threatened the endangered Swift Parrot, Tasmanian Wedge-tailed Eagle and Wielangta Stag Beetle. Then Prime Minister John Howard and Tasmanian Premier Paul Lennon amended the Regional Forest Agreement to permit logging to continue.

In 1998, logging at Goolengook in far eastern Victoria, the site of Australia's longest running forest blockade from 1997 to 2002, was found to be unlawful because it was within a protected area next to a Heritage River. The Victorian government changed the law retrospectively to make the logging legal.