Peaceful forest defender Ali Alishah released on bail.
Non violent forest activist Ali Alishah was released on bail this afternoon after spending 38 days in Risdon Prison for peacefully defending Tasmania’s ancient forests.
‘Ali was imprisoned after stopping work at the Gunns proposed pulp mill site at a time when permits for construction on the site had expired,’ said Dylan Grimwood, spokesperson for Still Wild Still Threatened.
Ali plead guilty to three charges including trespass and nuisance. The charge of breach of bail was dropped by police prosecutor.
‘It is appalling that non violent activists have had to spend time in jail for defending Tasmania’s world class forests that should currently be protected under the Intergovernmental agreement,’ said Mr Grimwood.
Ali was welcomed out of the court room by around twenty supporters from Still Wild Still Threatened, Huon Valley Environment centre and Pulp the Mill. Speaking to the media Ali said his time in prison has not deterred him from his commitment to forest protection.
Ali was released on bail conditions not to be found within a kilometre of forestry operations and will appear in court again on the 9th of December.
‘Still Wild Still Threatened stand in solidarity with peaceful forest activist Ali Alishah and will continue non violent direct action until the State and Federal Government deliver real forest protection,’ said Mr Grimwood.
• Carol Rea, Margate: My memories of a pulp mill fighter. The action against Gunns
It is nearly 5 years since the TAP river rally of over 100 boats (TT report: HERE) showed the depth of community determination and commitment against the building of a pulp mill at Longreach. The fight has endured and people have been resilient.
Now with the Pulp the Mill action in court (TT report: HERE) it has gone another step further.
People are still as determined – and the question that needs to be answered is why has this flawed project progressed while it is still immersed in the grey areas of legality.
Many people would not know the story of Stuart Leith, a founding member of TAP and his part in the flotilla. He exemplified the dedication and energy people have brought to the effort to stop the pulp mill at Longreach.
This post 5 years ago made it even mjore real and important. to me:
FUNERAL NOTICE
Stuart Leith passed away at the helm of his yacht on Saturday October 28 th 2006. In his final moments he was sailing towards the Pulp Mill Rally with protest banners proclaiming his passion to protect the Tamar River and the environment. Stuart lived a full and active life, as a light aircraft pilot, a Captain in the Merchant Navy, and more recently as a relief teacher, employment consultant, and self proclaimed poet.
• Mercury: Mill permit case in court
ZARA DAWTREY | October 14, 2011 12.18pm Mercury
LAWYERS for Pulp the Mill and Gunns Limited have made a brief appearance in the Hobart Magistrates Court this morning.
The ant-mill group is accusing the timber company of failing to have valid permit in place allowing it to carry out earthworks on its Longreach site from August 30 onwards.
Pulp the Mill alleges Gunns undertook development without a permit in breach of either the George Town Planning Scheme or contrary to and in breach of the Land Use, Planning and Approvals Act 1993.
The group is being represented by former Tasmanian magistrate and former chairman of the Resource Management and Planning Appeal Tribunal Stephen Estcourt.
The case was adjourned to November 2 before the Launceston Magistrates Court.
Gunns spokesman Matthew Horan said as the matter was currently before the courts it was inappropriate to comment but he said the company rejected the allegations.
• Green Left Weekly: Pulp the Mill launches legal bid to stop Gunns
By Alice Graham, Hobart
Photo: pulpthemill.org
I am a member of Pulp the Mill, a group of peaceful community protesters who engage in civil disobedience to protest the politically corrupted Tamar Valley pulp mill assessment process in Tasmania.
Pulp the Mill has repeatedly called for a Royal Commission into this corrupted process, and in particular into Section 11 of the Pulp Mill Assessment Act 2007, a clause that removes the right of people to either claim compensation, or take legal action, should the pulp mill cause a negative impact on their health or livelihoods in any way whatsoever.
The group has members and supporters from all over Tasmania and Australia, but it’s based in the Tamar Valley, near Launceston, where the pulp mill threat has loomed over everyone who lives there for more than seven years.
Since it was established, Pulp the Mill has held three peaceful, arrestable protests. Two were held outside Hobart’s Parliament House. Well-known horticulturalist Peter Cundall was among the 57 people arrested at the second one.
A third was held outside the Beaconsfield Community Cabinet Forum, where state government ministers were meeting to hear the concerns of the people.
More recently we have held non-arrestable protest rallies. A protest in March at the Tamar Valley’s Batman Bridge Reserve attracted 1600 people. And in August almost 200 people rallied just inside the entrance to the pulp mill site.
Each time we have gathered to protest our outrage over the politically corrupted process, and the overall threat the pulp mill poses to public health, and the Tamar Valley’s environment, it has been inspiring to see the strength of commitment to the no pulp mill cause that the community has maintained for so many years.
The number of groups opposed to the mill continues to grow. The Wilderness Society, TAP Into A Better Tasmania (formerly known as Tasmanians Against the Pulp Mill), Pulp the Mill, Friends of the Tamar Valley, Surfriders Association, and Code Green are just a few examples.
Code Green has recently protested about the start of earthworks and dam construction on the pulp mill site, which has gone ahead despite continuing uncertainty over the legality of this work due to the expiry of permits on August 30.
Pulp the Mill made a strategic decision not to have onsite protests, choosing instead to lodge a legal challenge against the builder of the mill, Gunns Ltd, in the Hobart Magistrate’s Court over the company’s claim it had made a “substantial commencement” towards the mill’s construction by August 30.
As a result, on September 7 Pulp the Mill (led by spokesperson, Lucy Landon-Lane) began a legal case that claimed Gunns has no permit or approval to do any work at the Long Reach site of its proposed pulp mill.
Pulp the Mill’s case is based on the fact that: “It is an offence against the Land Use Planning and Approvals Act s. 63 (3) to undertake use or development contrary to a planning scheme.
“In this case, the George Town [Council] Planning Scheme — just like all planning schemes — says no person can undertake use or development without a permit. Gunns’ has no permit issued by the Council under the Planning Scheme.
“All Gunns can rely on is the Pulp Mill Permit. Pulp the Mill believes that permit has lapsed, so Gunns has no permit to do any work.”
Pulp the Mill believes this court action will be crucial in stopping the pulp mill, but the group’s legal team has strongly advised against taking part in any onsite direct action.
…
• Mercury: Stockpile logs roll on to China
DAVID KILLICK | October 15, 2011 12.01am
THE massive log stockpiles at Bridgewater and Leslie Vale started to shrink yesterday as the first trucks rolled northward, thanks to a government freight subsidy.
There are around 39,000 tonnes of logs in the two stockpiles and in forest landings in the state’s South, some of it destined for China but the logs were left stranded by the ongoing impasse over the reopening of the Triabunna woodchip mill.
Over coming weeks, the entire stockpile will head north by road for export via Bell Bay, with some of the stockpile going to China as Forestry Tasmania opens up a new market for peeler logs that can’t be processed in Tasmania.
The leftover logs represent a significant loss of income thanks to the impasse that has dogged the southern Tasmanian timber industry for months since millionaire environmentalists Jan Cameron and Graeme Wood bought Gunns’ Triabunna mill.
Without the income from woodchip exports, the industry has lost a valuable source of additional income.
One million dollars in government freight subsidies announced this week means around $6 million in income will flow to forest and haulage contractors and their employees up to Christmas.
Forestry Tasmanian chief operating officer Mike Farrow says being able to shift the logs was a big boost for the industry.
“You can see the extent of the problem we’ve got here so the announcement by the Government will certainly help,” he said. “The Triabunna solution is something we’re obviously going to need to look at in the longer term. Right now we’re focusing on moving logs.
“It will help with cashflows for harvesting contractors, it will help the transport contractors as well, it will deliver an immediate solution.
