THE GREAT FOREST CASE
1997:
Tasmania’s Regional Forest Agreement (RFA) – which allows for logging in native forests provided certain environmental conditions are met – is first signed between the state and federal governments. RFAs, which are rolled out across each state of Australia, are created to tackle the “forest wars” that erupted in the 1980s and 1990s.
2017:
Following the decline of Gunns Ltd and its ill-fated pulp mill, along with a period of relative calm between loggers and protesters, Tasmania’s RFA is renewed for a further 20 years.
2019-2020:
Concerns are raised that Tasmania’s seemingly latent “forest wars” are about to heat up again, thanks to the introduction of anti-protest laws and the end of a moratorium protecting some 365,000ha of state forest.
May 2020:
Victorian environmentalists celebrate a victory in the Federal Court, with Justice Debra Mortimer ruling that VicForests breached environmental laws by logging habitats of threatened species – the Leadbeater’s possum and the greater glider. The court ruled that the Victorian RFA was subject to, not exempt from, federal environmental protection laws.
August 2020:
The Bob Brown Foundation, buoyed by the Victorian victory, launches Federal Court action to challenge Tasmania’s RFA. The group argues that the state’s agreement is in conflict with the Commonwealth Regional Forest Agreements Act 2002, which requires enforceable environmental arrangements and the protection of endangered species.
December 2020:
The foundation takes on Tasmania’s state government, Sustainable Timber Tasmania and the federal government in a Federal Court stoush. The battle takes place on the same day as news is revealed there could be fewer than 300 swift parrots – which are critically endangered and nest in Tasmania – in the wild. Later the same month, the foundation returns to court to seek an injunction over logging in forests said to be swift parrot breeding habitat over summer. A hearing scheduled for January 2021 does not go ahead after Sustainable Timber Tasmania agrees to a temporary reprieve pending the full court decision over the RFA.
February 2021:
The full court of the Federal Court rules that Tasmania’s RFA is valid. The foundation considers its options to lodge an appeal with the High Court of Australia.