Tasmania Police must investigate the violent and threatening actions of Artec employees and log truck drivers towards forest defenders from Bob Brown Foundation at the Bell Bay woodchip mill.
Protestors were shoved, chased around the site with threats of violence, driven at in vehicles, and their car tyres were slashed.
The protesters were peaceful. It’s clear some Artec employees and log truck drivers were not.
The conduct of the Artec employees and log truck drivers cannot be effectively condoned through official inaction and silence from government. It requires police investigation.
BBF volunteers are at the frontline of stopping the climate and biodiversity crisis which is being alarmingly accelerated by deforestation.
On behalf of the Tasmanian Greens and future generations, I thank them for their commitment to protecting lutruwita/Tasmania’s globally significant, carbon-rich old forests.
Under the Liberals and Resources Minister, Guy Barnett, native forest logging for woodchips is intensifying.
This is a crime against Nature. The Premier and Minister for Climate Change, Peter Gutwein, should be utterly and deeply ashamed of the ecological tragedy unfolding on his watch.
