Talking to the press outside court. Australia needs strong environment laws that protect our environment and laws that allow people to act for the protection of the environment. We also need laws that don’t allow you to be sued and tied up in court for years for taking action to protect the environment. The law matters for the protection of our forests, oceans, woodlands and great arid wilderness. The law matters if we are to stop climate change.
- Gunns Law Suit Against the Wilderness Society & Others
- Protecting Public Participation
In December 2004, forestry giant Gunns Ltd sued the Wilderness Society, five of its staff, and 14 other conservation groups and individuals (including Green Members of Parliament, Bob Brown and Peg Putt) in relation to the campaign to protect Tasmania's forests. This is the so-called Gunns 20 case.
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The oceans, forests, woodlands and arid areas, and the non-human species which inhabit them, can not speak for themselves. Environmental protection requires a civil society which supports environmental activity, and which fully supports public participation in the political debate and decision making processes.
more »Legal updates
- End of the Gunns20 legal saga - February 02, 2010
- Gunns20 trial date set - August 06, 2009
- Pulp mill stench exposed - June 30, 2009
More than five years after writs were first issued, the Gunns lawsuit saga has come to an end for all 20 defendants with the decision by Gunns to drop its remaining claims against four defenders of a small valley on the edge of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area.
Gunns20 is going to trial in February 2010 – more than five years and millions of dollars in legal costs since the first writ was issued. The 20 original defendants have been whittled down to seven as Gunns’ various writs were successively thrown out.
On 30 June, the ABC’s 7:30 Report revealed documents which showed that the RPDC, the independent body which was assessing the proposed pulp mill before Gunns pulled out of the process, was seriously concerned odour from the mill would adversely affect the quality of life of people in the Tamar Valley.
Legal Media Releases
- Desperate Gunns settles for anything - November 26, 2009
- Federal Court dismisses lawyers’ challenge to pulp mill - April 09, 2009
- Law discharged from Gunns case - November 07, 2008
Gunns Ltd today withdrew their case against two of the remaining six defendants in the infamous Gunns20 case.
Louise
Morris and Neal Funnell will not be paying any costs or damages to
Gunns after being sued for a combined $489,000 in 2004.
Late on Easter Thursday (9 April 2009), Justice Tracey dismissed Lawyers for Forests application to overturn the Federal government approval of Gunns’ pulp mill. The decision is disappointing, but not unsurprising as it further highlights the fundamental flaws in the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (EPBC) - Australia’s primary environment legislation.
Wilderness Society Tasmania Campaign Manager, and Gunns 20 ex-defendant, Geoff Law calls for state and national law reform to prevent large companies from pursuing community groups or individuals in court cases that cost many times more than the likely damages to be awarded.
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