Logging gets its day in court

By Kath Gannaway
THE future of three Toolangi logging coupes – and arguably the Leadbeater’s Possum – will rest with Supreme Court Judge Robert Osborne , following 11 days of leading evidence and argument by MyEnvironment and VicForests.
Both parties were set to deliver their closing addresses on Monday and Tuesday this week (20 and 21 February).
Healesville-based environment group MyEnvironment successfully sought an injunction in September last year to stop logging on the Gun Barrel coupe at Toolangi.
The group claims that three coupes, including Gun Barrel contain Leadbeater’s habitat and should be protected.
The case continued into its second week on Monday 13 February, with evidence given by John Stein of the Fenner School at the Australian National University and by VicForests’ Lachlan Spencer, former regional manager for Central Highlands, and forest scientist Michael Ryan.
Thursday saw evidence for VicForests’ by social science researcher Dr Jacqueline Schirmer and by Dr Judith Ajani, ANU economist for MyEnvironment.
Both witnesses addressed the issue of the inclusion of ‘undercut’ and its potential use to keep production going and ameliorate the effect of not logging the three Toolangi coupes in terms of employment. In answer to VicForests Senior Counsel Ian Waller’s question as to the adverse social or economic consequence if VicForests is restrained from harvesting one or more of the three coupes, Dr Ajani responded: “The wood volumes in those three coupes is very small and should be accommodated within VicForests’ capacity to maintain its log supply according to its planned production.”
Full court transcripts of each day’s proceedings are available at www.myenvironment.net.au as they become available. MyEnvironment’s Steve Meacher said they now await the final decision of Justice Osborn.
“We believe we have shown we were justified in bringing the case because there are issues that could not have been resolved in any other way than by having it debated in court and actually resolved,” he said.
“From that point of view has gone well, but we won’t really know until we get the final decision.”