WorkSafe Tasmania has threatened protesters with fines of up $500,000, but Bob Brown says activists won’t stop

This article is more than 6 months old

This article is more than 6 months old

Anti-logging activists from the Bob Brown Foundation have been banned from protesting in Tasmanian forests by the state’s workplace safety regulator over “unsafe behaviour”, and threatened with fines as high as $500,000.

But the veteran conservationist said protesters would not be deterred and has flagged legal action against the restrictions.

WorkSafe Tasmania has directed the foundation to cease protest activities in forests until it satisfies the regulator that it is managing safety risk.

Several protesters were arrested earlier this month after chaining themselves to machinery and gates at a forestry operation in the north-west Tarkine rainforest.

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WorkSafe said the foundation had exposed people to risk of death or serious injury without reasonable excuse.

“This is not about stopping protesting ... [but] ensuring that activities are undertaken in a safe manner,” WorkSafe head Mark Cocker told ABC radio on Friday.

Brown said the move was something that would make Russian president Vladimir Putin proud.

“We are going to continue to defend Tasmania’s magnificent forests and their wildlife,” he said.

Lawyer Roland Browne, who has previously represented the foundation, believes there are good grounds to challenge the protest restrictions in court.

“This legislation is not there to evict people from forests who are protesting. It’s in place to protect workers in the workplace,” he said.

WorkSafe says protesters have engaged in high-risk construction work and are at risk of falling from wooden tripods and platforms.

The regulator also warned protesters risked falling or being crushed when climbing machinery.

The state Liberal government referred the foundation to WorkSafe amid “significant angst” within the community about protesters’ actions.

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“The government strongly supports free speech and the right to protest, but threats, trespassing and endangering workers is completely unacceptable,” it said in a statement.

“All protest action should be conducted lawfully and without jeopardising worker safety.”

The federal assistant forestry minister, Jonathon Duniam, said the WorkSafe action was a major win for the state’s 5,700 forestry workers and proof that no one was above the law.

The Australian Lawyers Alliance said the protest restrictions and threats of fines were an abuse of power.

The foundation has two weeks to lodge an appeal.