Barrister questions Goolengook Forest charges

ABC Gippsland

http://abc.net.au/gippsland/news/reggip-10apr2002-3.htm
 
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A Melbourne barrister has questioned the legal basis for charges laid against anti-logging protesters arrested in the Goolengook Forest, in East Gippsland, over the past month. Senior counsel Brian Walters says the Department of Natural Resources and Environment (DNRE) no longer has the power to declare temporary exclusion zones, which form the basis of many charges.

Mr Walters says bail conditions preventing those charged from returning to the forest cannot be used as a method of crowd control. He is also questioning charges of trespass against many of the protesters.

"Back in 1989 with the Brown Mountain protests, what was done in those days was that a lease was provided over the land so that trespass charges could be mounted," he said. "That apparently doesn't apply here. There's no lease over the land so it can't be the subject of a trespass charge."

Meanwhile, protests are continuing in the forest today preventing the removal of cut logs. Two tree-sits are blocking Pugaree Road and inside the forest two people are locked onto a DNRE vehicle.

A tree-sit attached to a broken down car is blocking Goolengook Road. The logging regime is scheduled to finish today.

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