By Callum Ludwig
The Warburton Environment Group has been successful in helping to protect the endangered species, the Tree Geebung, in a Supreme Court case against State Government logging agency VicForests.
It follows a two and a half year court case in which Warburton Environment sought injunctions and declarations against VicForests to enforce the environmental protections relating to Tree Geebung (Persoonia arborea).
Warburton Environment spokesperson Nic Fox said the verdict was a win for the rule of law.
“The Victorian Government has spent vast amounts of taxpayer money on this court case [which threatened] to send a great Victorian tree extinct,” Ms Fox said.
“Deepest gratitude and respect to our phenomenal legal team and small community group (with thankfully wonderful citizen scientists) working so hard to get the protection for an endangered flora species,” she said.
The judgment has ruled that VicForests must perform 30 metre transects to detect potential Tree Geebung in coupes, and surveys must be conducted in any Wet Forest coupe within 5km of a Tree Geebung sighting.
Justice Gregory Garde presided over the case and said in the judgement that the evidence is compelling and uncontested that the past practices of VicForests and its contractors have led to the loss of many Tree Geebungs in the harvestable areas of coupes.
“I accept Warburton’s submission that the provisions of the Special Management Plan (SMP) dealing with survey are inadequate and will not locate or identify many mature Tree Geebungs located within harvesting areas,” the judgement reads.
“They are likely to permit continuing environmental degradation of the Tree Geebung species when mature Tree Geebungs are not identified and located by survey.”
A Victorian Government spokesperson said the government will continue to work with VicForests to ensure endangered species are protected under Victoria’s strict environmental regulatory system and developing case law.
“We have invested $560 million towards protecting our precious biodiversity since 2014 – the biggest investment in Victorian history. We’ve banned logging in old-growth forests and will end native timber harvesting in 2030 with a step down in 2024 – providing greater certainty for workers and the environment,” they said.
