On Monday, forest campaigners who had been protecting the Clouds Creek Greater Glider Sanctuary at Billy’s Creek, west of the Blicks River on the Dorrigo Plateau, appeared at a hearing in the Coffs Harbour Local Court.
Police had fined the campaigners for a traffic obstruction offence while they were peacefully protesting on private land against the scheduled destruction of endangered greater glider habitats in the Clouds Creek state forest.
Magistrate Julia Virgo presided, accepting the police prosecution evidence and convicting all three campaigners for obstruction of NSW Forestry Corporation vehicles entering the Horseshoe Fire Trail at Billy’s Creek in January 2024.
The magistrate also imposed that criminal convictions be recorded for each of the defendants whose non-violent protest actions to protect local wildlife were deemed a ‘serious criminal offence’, despite the Minns government’s promise to create a koala sanctuary in these priority threatened species habitats on the Dorrigo Plateau.
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As of 7 September 2024, the NSW Forestry Corporation since 2020 has racked up $1.7 million in fines and costs for destroying important habitats in the state’s forests.
Campaigners said, ‘This organisation has lost our trust and respect, which has led us to take direct, non-violent action to prevent inevitable harm from planned logging. We have been fined $200 for each offence and have also received a criminal conviction.’
Jane St Vincent Welch is currently making a documentary about the Clouds Creek Vigil, a project which she was researching and doing preliminary filming for when she was handed the police fine.
‘I accept my fine but not this criminal conviction as we are endeavouring to save and preserve rather than destroy this forest,’ she said. ‘I feel that it is unjust and out of proportion to our supposed “crime”.’
Vigil
The local community’s daily dawn vigil at ‘Glider Reviver’ has maintained a roadside presence on the Armidale Road at Billys Creek for over a year, successfully preventing the start of a scheduled NSW Forestry Corporation logging operation in the Clouds Creek state forest (48-55).
The protest began on 8 January 2024 to protect a population of endangered koalas and greater gliders living inside the proposed Great Koala National Park.
Meredith Stanton, volunteer coordinator of Blicks River Guardians, leads the local campaign to protect endangered species habitats in the Clouds Creek state forest and was one of the defendants in court on Monday.
Yesterday she was back on the ground at the Glider Reviver at Billys Creek. ‘We believe the magistrate has erred in her judgement in this case,’ said Ms Stanton.
Not a crime
‘Standing up for nature is not a crime,’ she said.
‘We will be appealing the criminal convictions in the District Court because we feel our peaceful public protest is a democratic right in this country and that the koalas and greater gliders recovering from bushfire impacts here need us to speak up for them against the real criminals, who are destroying the forest ecosystems and endangered species habitats surrounding where we live.
‘It would have been simple to pay the $200 fine, avoiding a criminal record,’ she said, ‘but the issue of logging endangered species habitats is a matter of great public interest and defending our actions in a court of law, refusing to accept the destruction of local forests and standing up for nature against laws that criminalise public protest is a duty to our democratic society and all future generations.’
Clouds Creek vigil participant and codefendant David Mcrae, spoke outside the courthouse. ‘I object to being called a criminal when forestry itself has had 15 convictions over the last 5 years and they’ve cost the taxpayers two hundred and seventy five million dollars ($275m).
‘So I wanted to say something in court, like “the real criminals are going free”, but I couldn’t say anything, I would have been held in contempt of court. I got off with two $200 fines and they registered a conviction because according to the magistrate, “It’s too serious to let it go.”‘
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