By JESSE GRAHAM
ANTI-LOGGING nannas have walked free from court without a conviction, following a hearing last week at Ringwood Magistrates’ Court.
Three members of the Knitting Nannas of Toolangi (KNOT) fronted the court on Thursday 28 November to answer trespass charges against them from the Department of Environment and Primary Industries (DEPI).
The charges relate to an incident on 19 September 2012, where eight members of the group entered a logging coupe to protest and stopped forestry workers for around two hours.
Magistrate Peter Stewart Dunn ruled that the members of the group could have their charges withdrawn under a diversion program.
Each member of the group would have to pay a landcare group $50 to fulfil the terms of the diversion program and no charges would be put on any of their criminal records.
The diversion was agreed to by both KNOT members and DEPI.
Magistrate Dunn said that it was a privilege for the members to be put on the diversion program, but said the right of protest was important.
He paraphrased the Edmund Burke quote that said “all that is required for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing” to emphasise his point, but said laws were there for a reason.
“It’s the individual’s right to protest, but there are appropriate ways of doing things,” he said.
The magistrate dismissed an application from DEPI for the KNOT members to pay for the costs of serving summons, which could have been delivered by mail rather than in person.
A representative for KNOT said they were pleased with the result of the hearing and the terms of the diversion.
“We have not been found guilty and there is no offence listed,” they said.
“Long live Toolangi forests!”
The other five members of the group are set for a separate hearing on 12 December.
