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 where logging is underway or imminent.
Friday’s orders follow an interim injunction halting logging in three coupes after a ruling by Justice McMillan in an urgent application brought by citizen science group Wildlife of the Central Highlands Inc (WOTCH) on Wednesday, 29 January 2020.
Friday’s urgent application – which was filed Friday morning and heard in the Victorian Supreme Court at Melbourne at midday– followed repeated attempts by WOTCH’s lawyers, Environmental Justice Australia, to obtain an undertaking from VicForests that they would cease logging in additional coupes with threatened species including Greater Glider, Sooty Owl and Powerful Owl.
Friday’s new orders extend the halt on logging ordered earlier and will prevent further irreparable damage and loss from occurring until the court determines WOTCH’s application for an interlocutory injunction following a hearing on 18 February 2020.