Submitted by Bob Burton on
Forestry Tasmania, a Tasmanian government-owned forestry agency, lost a bid to get a court order preventing an environmental group from organizing a rally against logging operations. Sue Neales reports that Forestry Tasmania "had sought to prevent the Huon Valley Environment Centre (HVEC) and six of its senior members from e-mailing, texting, handing out pamphlets or posting information on the internet" about a rally. The injunction would have also prevented HVEC from "allowing protesters to sleep at its headquarters in Huonville, or at any of its named office bearers' homes." Tasmanian Supreme Court Chief Justice Underwood ruled parts of the evidence tendered by Forestry Tasmania were inadmissible, due to their speculative nature. As a result, the agency withdrew its injunction application. Underwood directed Forestry Tasmania to pay the defendants' costs. The President of HVEC, Adam Burling, described the legal action as "heavy-handed."
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