The Victorian Supreme Court has extended a temporary injunction to a further 13 coupes in the Central Highlands. This brings the total number of coupes under injunction to 26. Source: Timberbiz
In the Victorian Supreme Court on Wednesday, Justice Kate McMillan granted an injunction to stop logging in 13 unburnt forest areas until the concerns could be aired in a court case against the state’s logging agency, VicForests.
These include areas in the Kalatha Valley of the Giants near Toolangi, Mount Bride near Warburton and Mount Baw Baw. While the injunction is temporary, the case is likely to take months, if not years, to be decided.
A VicForests spokesperson said the agency respected the decision of the Supreme Court and was considering the judgment. A trial has been scheduled for October 2020.
In January the volunteer group Wildlife of the Central Highlands (Wotch), with the support of community legal centre Environmental Justice Australia, argued logging should be banned in a number of unburnt areas to protect habitat for endangered species after the catastrophic bushfires.
Wotch argued the areas being targeted for logging were home to the greater glider, the smoky mouse, the sooty owl and the powerful owl. Each of these is on the Victorian government’s list of species under immediate threat after the summer bushfires.
On 5 March, Justice McMillan ordered 13 coupes be protected by an interlocutory injunction. In Wednesday’s ruling, she granted an interlocutory injunction on logging in a further 13 coupes, bring the total number to 26.
Justice McMillan found it was arguable there was a threat of “serious and irreversible damage” to the environment in respect of the threatened species.
