MEDIA RELEASE Federal Court orders VicForests to pay costs in Possums Case, reiterating multiple breaches of Victorian environment law Today, the Full Federal Court ordered VicForests to pay the costs…
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MEDIA RELEASE Today, the full bench of the Federal Court overturned the landmark win in the Possums Case on one ground, on the basis that logging has a wide exemption from federal environment law…
MEDIA RELEASE A historic victory for Australia’s native forests and threatened species is being challenged in the Federal Court next week, with an appeal outcome set to change the fate of logging in…
Federal Court’s final orders in landmark legal win protect forests home to threatened possums from logging The Federal Court has delivered final orders for Friends of Leadbeater’s Possum’s historic win against state logging agency, VicForests, that protects the forests subject to the…
MEDIA RELEASE The Federal Court has delivered final orders for Friends of Leadbeater’s Possum’s historic win against state logging agency, VicForests that protects the forests subject to the case from…
Supreme Court prevents VicForests from logging five more sites of threatened species habitat Victoria’s Supreme Court has issued five more temporary injunctions to stop VicForests from logging areas of unburnt threatened species habitat following…
MEDIA RELEASE A Federal Court judgment delivered this morning is a huge win for a community group which brought a case under national environment law to protect the threatened Greater…
Regional Forest Agreements are intergovernmental agreements between the Commonwealth and the Western Australian, Tasmanian, New South Wales and Victorian governments. These agreements attempt to resolve competing demands on native forests…
MEDIA RELEASE The Victorian and Commonwealth governments have agreed to extend the five Victorian Regional Forest Agreements (RFAs) for 10 years without taking into account the impacts of the catastrophic summer bushfires on native forests and wildlife. Ten-year extensions with 5–year reviews were formalised yesterday for the five RFAs covering…
This Friday 27 March, community group Wildlife of the Central Highlands (WOTCH) is back in Victoria’s Supreme Court in a case to stop VicForests from logging areas of unburnt threatened species habitat, following…
MEDIA ALERT Today, community group WOTCH is back in Victoria’s Supreme Court in a case to stop VicForests from logging areas of unburnt threatened species habitat, following the catastrophic bushfires. At…
MEDIA ALERT On Friday 7 February, Justice McMillan of the Victorian Supreme Court made orders that extend the interim halt on logging in unburnt forests to incorporate three further coupes…
MEDIA RELEASE VicForests has been forced to immediately stop logging in several areas of threatened species habitat after the Victorian Supreme Court granted an injunction to citizen science group Wildlife…
MEDIA RELEASE 29 January 2020 Citizen scientists take VicForests to court to stop logging in threatened species habitat after catastrophic bushfires A community group of citizen scientists has launched a Supreme Court…
By Lisa Cox Court hears department and VicForests have not protected minimum area of old-growth forest required by law in East Gippsland. Logging in old-growth forests in Victoria should cease,…
MEDIA RELEASE A case to stop logging in over thirty areas of old-growth forest in Victoria’s East Gippsland will be heard by the state’s Supreme Court today. Lawyers from Environmental…
By Michael Slezak An environmental lawyer says there are serious questions about the legality of almost all logging in Victorian state forests. An ABC investigation has revealed that thousands of…
By Michael Slezak and Penny Timms Thousands of hectares of state forest appear to have been logged or earmarked for logging illegally, an ABC investigation has found, amounting to what…
MEDIA RELEASE 30 July 2018 As news emerges that VicForests is logging and burning areas in East Gippsland for research – knowing that the experiment is likely to kill threatened…
THE Federal Court last week continued an injunction brought against VicForests by the Friends of Leadbeater’s Possum, preventing VicForests from harvesting timber in five coupes in the Central Highlands and…
By Kellie Lazzaro Environmentalists are celebrating after the Federal Court extended a logging ban in the Central Highlands in Victoria until next year. The Friends of Leadbeater’s Possum group is…
Court grants injunction to Friends of the Leadbeater’s Possum to protect mountain ash forest until 25 February By Calla Wahlquist VicForests has been banned from logging in areas of sensitive…
MEDIA RELEASE 10 May 2018 The Federal Court has granted an injunction to prevent logging in five areas that are home to Greater Gliders in Victoria’s central highlands, including in…
MEDIA RELEASE 24 April 2018 The Federal Court in Melbourne this morning granted a temporary injunction that prevents VicForests from logging in six areas in Victoria’s Central Highlands that are…
MEDIA RELEASE 20 April 2018 Allegations that state logging agency VicForests failed to identify and protect Leadbeater’s Possums, Greater Gliders and their habitat in accordance with the Central Highlands Regional…
By Peter Hannam, with AAP The Victorian government has made short-term extensions to three of its regional forest agreements (RFA) allowing logging of native forests, but also announced new limits…
By Gregg Borschmann The Federal Government is staring down the prospect of legal challenges to a series of forest agreements allowing logging in native forests across Australia. The Commonwealth is…
MEDIA RELEASE 2 March 2018 The Federal Court has given hope for the protection of threatened species in a case questioning whether logging in endangered species habitat can continue to…
By Melissa Iaria, AAP The future of the endangered leadbeater’s possum remains in limbo following a Federal Court judgment. It is the emblem of Victoria on the brink of extinction,…
By Graham Lloyd Deep in East Gippsland’s Kuark forest, ancient trees tower overhead, the scent of sassafras wafts on the breeze and birdsong fills the air. Old-growth trees such as…
By Farrah Tomazin The Andrews government has spent years investigating claims of unlawful logging against its state-owned timber company without enforcing any penalties. Documents reveal Victoria’s environment department is currently…
The nation is losing the political will to protect our pristine places – and biodiversity is suffering by Adam Morton What if the Franklin river hadn’t been saved? Stopping the…
MEDIA RELEASE 21 January 2018 The Places You Love alliance has slammed the Federal Government’s draft Australia’s Strategy for Nature 2018-2030 as deeply inadequate and failing to address Australia’s crisis…
Green groups’ case against logging in central highlands mountain ash forests could have repercussions for NSW and WA. Green groups are challenging the validity of a Victorian forestry agreement in…
Logging on dozens of central highlands sites has been suspended after legal action from an environmental group. The Federal Court has ordered VicForest must not “conduct timber harvesting operations” on…
Logging has been suspended at 34 sites in Victoria following a legal challenge that, if successful, threatens the validity of controversial timber operations in native forests across Australia. The development comes…
We have commenced an important case in the Federal Court seeking better protection for the Leadbeater’s Possum under our national environment protection law. The Federal Court case seeks to enforce…
MEDIA RELEASE 20 November 2017 Large areas of forest earmarked for logging in Victoria’s Central Highlands are safe from the chainsaws – for now – until part of a case,…
Green groups are basing challenge on claim that Victorian forestry agreement is not being adhered to Exemptions allowing logging to occur in Australia’s native forests without approval under federal environmental…
MEDIA RELEASE 15 November 2017 A federal court case will challenge whether logging in endangered species habitat can continue to have a special exemption from Federal environment protection law. Environmental…
Legal action has forced state logging agency VicForests to suspend logging in the Kuark forest in far east Gippsland for at least a month. The environment group Flora and Fauna…
VicForests has been forced to cancel its plan to clearfell an untouched part of the Kuark rainforest in east Gippsland after environmental activists won an injunction in the Supreme Court on Wednesday. Environmental…
By Michael Slezak Environmental Justice Australia injuncts Victorian government-owned business from clearing in Kuark forest Conservationists have won an injunction stopping a Victorian government-owned business from clearing old-growth trees in…
The desperate fight to stop these 500-year-old forest giants becoming office paper (Huffington Post)
The bulldozers and chainsaws are about to move in to one of our few remaining mainland old growth forests. All eyes are on north Queensland, as the country's biggest environmental…
MEDIA RELEASE 1 November 2017 Victoria’s Supreme Court has ordered an injunction to prevent state logging agency VicForests from cutting down a spectacular area of old growth forest in eastern…
Environmental Justice Australia says it will seek injunction to prevent logging of area containing centuries-old trees A Victorian government-owned business is poised to clear-fell hundreds of hectares of spectacular old-growth…
Gliders listed as threatened by both state and federal governments, but they are not protected by legislation Logging has begun in trees inhabited by the threatened greater gliders in a…
MEDIA RELEASE 7 September 2017, Threatened Species Day The Victorian Government’s main policy to prevent the extinction of the state’s faunal emblem, the critically endangered Leadbeater’s Possum, relies on the…
MEDIA RELEASE 3 June 2017 Victoria’s Environment Department urged the Environment Minister not to follow the advice of Government scientists to issue a conservation order to protect the Great Glider…
Those who know the greater glider have a vivid way of describing it: like a flying possum crossed with a koala. About the size of a garden-variety possum, but with a…
MEDIA RELEASE 25 April 2017 All the boxes have been ticked for Victoria’s Environment Minister to issue an Interim Conservation Order to protect the critically endangered Leadbeater’s Possum, according to…
Victorian government asked to ‘completely prohibit logging’ on more than 100,000 hectares of the state’s mountain ash forest Conservationists have called for a moratorium on logging more than 100,000 hectares…
Ken Deacon has run a trail riding business in the Rubicon Valley, north-east of Melbourne, for 30 years. That beauty of the Mountain Ash forest and the Alpine Ash forest…
Two environmentalists who entered an East Gippsland logging coupe to document the destruction of rainforest have had charges against them dismissed. The court decision is the final chapter on what…
MEDIA RELEASE 23 February 2017 Orbost Magistrates Court today dismissed charges against Edward Hill and Joseph Henderson, two community members from Goongerah Environment Centre, who entered a logging area in…
We’ve had a busy morning! Today lawyers from our Forest Law Program, together with Danny Cash, a generous criminal barrister working pro bono, represented four forest activists in the Melbourne…
Continual logging in Victoria’s sensitive native forests is causing many of our native species to lose their homes. In East Gippsland, community members took matters into their own hands, heading…
This is the third report in a series, Monitoring Victoria’s Environmental Laws. It investigates how effectively the Department of Sustainability and Environment is implementing and enforcing the Flora & Fauna…
The Victorian Government has announced a proposed variation to the Code of Practice for Timber Production 2007, which promises to undermine legal protection for threatened species. The proposed variation would…
The Department of Primary Industries has released a report recommending changes to streamline Victoria's principal logging law, the Sustainable Forests (Timber) Act 2004. We have concerns about the recommended changes. …
The Department of Primary Industries released a Draft Report on Victoria's primary logging law, the Sustainable Forests (Timber) Act 2004. The Report recommended wide changes to the Act, which aim…
On 18 April 2013, the Victorian Government introduced a Bill to change Victoria’s logging laws. This Briefing Note explains how the Bill proposes to change the logging laws, and why…
Advisory group could not consider stopping logging of Leadbeater’s Possum habitat. Interim Conservation Order needed to halt logging in remaining Leadbeater’s habitat. Leadbeater’s Possum needs large Great Forest National Park…
Wednesday 13/11/2013 Rob Harris, The Weekly Times COALITION MPs will raise concerns over the critically endangered listing of lower Murray River when Federal Parliament resumes this week. Pressure is building…
Thursday 17/10/13 Felicity Millner, New Matilda The Victorian government won't keep to its own legal guidelines for the protection of endangered species, so an environmental group took them to court…
Tuesday 15/10/13 ABC News A case launched by Environment East Gippsland (EEG) to sue the Department of Environment and Primary Industries (DEPI) has been settled before reaching court. EEG was…
Monday 14/10/2013 Oliver Milman, The Guardian Victory for Environment East Gippsland, a small group which took the government to court on behalf of four rare animals. The Victorian government has…
Tuesday 01/10/13 Josh Fagan, The Advocate AN ENVIRONMENTAL group is hoping planning permits could block plans for gold mining in Wombat Forest. The Wombat Forestcare group has lodged a claim…
Wednesday 31/07/2013 Rowena Dela Rosa Yoon, Asian Correspondent Australia’s Federal government has failed to protect State and regional forests aggravating the risks faced by endangered species and iconic trees, a…
Wednesday 31/07/2013 Oliver Milman, The Guardian A coalition of environment groups has urged the federal government to tear up its failed forestry deal with states, which they blame for unsustainable…
Wednesday, 31/07/2013 Tom Arup, The Age Logging agreements in four states have led to substandard protection of native forests due to gaps in state government laws and enforcement, a report…
Wendesday 31/07/2013 Sarah Rees and Danya Jacobs, ABC Regional Forests Agreements drafted years ago have shown that ‘one stop shops’ for environmental approvals don’t work. So why are they being…
Tuesday 07/05/13 Nicholas Croggon, New Matilda The Victorian Government is on the verge of handing over control of the state's forests to an unprofitable, poorly-regulated logging corporation – potentially for…
Friday 26/04/2013 ABC News, 7:30 Victoria An inquiry has started into how to accommodate prospecting in nine of Victoria's national parks. View segment here
Friday 11/01/13 Tom Arup, The Age MELBOURNE Water has stepped in to ensure greater protection of a waterway in a mining area in the Wombat Forest, near Daylesford, after the…
Thursday 19/07/2012 ABC Gippsland A woman campaigning to have protest footage of her destroyed has had her case heard by the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT). Lisa Caripis, 25,…
Wednesday 11/07/2012 ABC Gippsland Victoria Police's surveillance practices will be tested in the Victorian Civil and Administrative Appeals Tribunal next week. A woman, who was filmed by police during a…
On 14 March 2012, environment group MyEnvironment lost their Supreme Court case against Vicforests. The Court rejected their argument, made on their behalf by their lawyers Bleyer Lawyers and barristers…
Mon 02/04/2012 Political Reporter Ken McGregor, Adelaide Advertiser TWO new reports released today say the Murray-Darling Basin Authority's draft plan is illegal, and would not release enough water to protect…
Last Wednesday the Supreme Court handed down its decision in the case of MyEnvironment v VicForests. MyEnvironment, a Central Highlands–based environment group, were seeking to halt logging in Toolangi forest…
The Supreme Court yesterday decided in the case of MyEnvironment Inc v VicForests that the law did not protect an area of Leadbeater's Possum habitat in Toolangi from logging by…
Tues 30/08/2011 Kath Gannaway, Mountain Views Mail ANTI-PIPELINE campaigner Jan Beer said last week she had been vindicated over claims Melbourne Water spied on her as she campaigned against the…
Wed 24/08/2011 Melissa Fyfe, The Age MELBOURNE Water has conceded it collected ''a large amount'' of personal information about one of its most vocal critics and will make a public…
Sun 03/10/2010 Melissa Fyfe, The Age ONE of the Brumby government's most vocal critics is taking it to court over what has been described as an ''astounding'' breach of her…
