Today in Hobart Magistrates Court, Bob Brown was fined $500 and no conviction was recorded, for defending critically endangered swift parrots and their habitat.
Bob Brown was arrested in a logging area in Tasmania’s Eastern Tier in November 2022, along with Kristy Alger and Karen Weldrick. Fellow defender Kristy Alger had a conviction recorded and was given a $1600 fine. Karen Weldrick’s sentence was deferred until later in the year, when she has another court appearance for a separate forest protest.
‘In November 2022, Karen Weldrick, Kristy Alger and I were arrested for allegedly trespassing in a forest near Snow Hill in north-east Tasmania,’ said Bob Brown.
‘I’d watched a flock of a dozen swift parrots in forest adjacent to the logged area and two had flown overhead. Forestry Tasmania had retained one large old eucalypt with nesting hollows as a habitat tree.
‘Dr Lisa Searle was on a platform in that tree when it was visited by two swift parrots. After she came down from the platform, the tree was cut down. The loggers who committed that spiteful act got off scot-free. They are the ones who should have been in the dock, facing fines and gaol time,’ he said.
‘We have not only defended the natural laws, we have defended the law of the land. The logging was illegal. I reject the proceedings as they happened today. The wrong people are being fined. The wrong people are being impugned. Those responsible for this ecocide will one day have their time in court in the future,’ said Bob Brown.
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