By Callum Ludwig
State forestry body VicForests has been unsuccessful in appealing the Supreme Court’s decision in last year’s Kinglake Friends of the Forest (KFF) and Environment East Gippsland (EEG) vs VicForests case.
A panel of three judges: Court of Appeal president Justice Karin Emerton and Justices Cameron Macaulay and Stephen Kaye upheld the findings of Justice Richards which declared that VicForest had failed to adequately survey for greater gliders and yellow-bellied gliders. VicForests was also ordered to pay court costs for the proceedings.
President of KFF Sue McKinnon said this decision gives endangered forest species a fighting chance of survival.
“It’s a testament to the power of communities to fight for the natural world; for the places we
love and the wildlife we share them with,” she said.
“The courts have shown that VicForests is incapable of observing environment laws.”
As a result of the decision, it appears VicForests are unlikely to resume operations which ceased last year following the decision, as well as another case it lost to the Warburton Environment group regarding the Tree Geebung.
A Victorian Government spokesperson said they acknowledge the Supreme Court of Victoria’s decision and will continue to support timber workers through the transition out of native timber harvesting by 1 January 2024.
“Forestry workers, their families and communities are our immediate priority – we do not take the decision around an early transition out of native timber harvesting lightly, but the uncertainty from ongoing litigation and severe bushfires cannot continue,” they said.
According to the Australian Conservation Foundation, the population of the Greater Glider has declined by 80 per cent in just 20 years, ultimately leading to the species being reclassified from threatened to endangered status in July 2022.
A report from the office of the Victorian Auditor-General in October 2022 had also found that the Office of the Conservation Regulator (OCR), which is intended to investigate breaches of the law by VicForests, had ‘further work to do to address the weaknesses in its systems, processes and reporting.’
A decision is also still yet to be reached in the case brought against VicForests by Wildlife of the Central Highlands (WOTCH). The case contends VicForests failed to comply with the Code of Practice for Timber Production 2014 by continuing to log bushfire-affected forest which is home to threatened species. Areas of forest in question included the Kalatha Valley of the Giants in Toolangi, along the Koala Creek near Cambarville, in the Upper Thomson water catchment, and around Mansfield, Noojee and Warburton.
