Legal challenge filed over logging plans in Swift Parrot habitat
Environmental Justice Australia lawyers have filed an important new case, on behalf of our client The Wilderness Society Tasmania, challenging plans to log native forests in the Huon Valley – some of the last remaining breeding habitat for critically endangered Swift Parrots.
Our client is taking Tasmania’s forest regulator and state-owned logging corporation to court over decisions allowing logging plans to be extended in three coupes in Lutruwita / Tasmania.
They say the decisions to extend those logging plans beyond their expiry dates were unlawful, and are asking the Court to overturn them.
If successful, the case could have consequences well beyond these three coupes.
The logging plans would need to be reassessed using current threatened species data and up-to-date Swift Parrot surveys, and the case could have ramifications for other logging plans extended in similar circumstances.
“Wilderness Society Tasmania shouldn’t have to go to court to protect the habitat of critically endangered species. But when governments fail to do everything in their power to prevent extinction, we have a responsibility to step up and act."
Alice Hardinge, Campaigns Manager - The Wilderness Society Tasmania
Why does this case matter?
Native forest logging in Tasmania is regulated through Forest Practices Plans, which must be approved before logging can take place.
Tasmania’s Forest Practices Code limits the lifetime of plans that allow clearfell logging to five years. The rule is designed, in part, to make sure reforestation happens in a timely way.
This case is a judicial review of decisions to extend and approve variations to three logging plans beyond that five-year period.
The Wilderness Society Tasmania argues the extensions breached the Forest Practices Code and were therefore unlawful. They are asking the Supreme Court of Tasmania to overturn those decisions and declare that the plans have expired. This would require any new proposals to be rigorously assessed with new data, which was not available when the current plans were approved.
Meet the client
The Wilderness Society Tasmania works to protect Lutruwita / Tasmania’s forests, wildlife and wild places. It campaigns for stronger environmental protections and an end to native forest logging, while supporting communities to have a say in decisions that affect nature.
Its work combines advocacy, public campaigning and legal action to hold governments and decision-makers accountable. In this case, The Wilderness Society Tasmania is asking the Court to overturn the decisions extending the logging plans, so the plans can be reconsidered in line with the law.
The big picture
This case comes at an important moment for forest regulation in Tasmania.
The Australian and Tasmanian governments are negotiating new bilateral arrangements that could delegate greater responsibility for environmental decision-making to the state.
That makes questions about compliance and accountability especially important. If more decision-making power is delegated to Tasmania, the state’s forestry system needs clear rules, proper scrutiny and strong protections for threatened species.
This case puts those questions under the spotlight. It asks whether the existing rules are being followed – and what it could mean for forests and wildlife if they are not.
