Victoria

The six weeks of protests culminated in local environment group MyEnvironment gaining a court injunction on all logging at the site until a Supreme Court hearing over claims of illegal operations.

The plaintiff, MyEnvironment Inc. alleges that VicForests has logged and intends to further log habitat protected at law, including under the Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act. VicForests, the defendant, argues that the area is not Leadbeater’s possum habitat and so should not be protected.

Locals and activists from Quit Coal stopped exploratory drilling in Bacchus Marsh today, 50km west of Melbourne. About 20 people occupied a drilling rig belonging to Mantle Mining on the side of Glenmore Road, near the corner of Daisybank Lane, Bacchus Marsh.

Two people locked themselves to the Mantle Mining exploratory drilling rig this morning: Paul Connor climbed to the top of the rig and unfurled a banner which read ‘No New Coal Bacchus Marsh’. Bacchus Marsh mother Natasha Mills, who is pregnant with her second child, locked herself to the bottom of the rig and told reporters "I felt a responsibility to stop drilling today because I’m determined to protect my family from a dangerous coal mine, and I don’t want my children’s future to be marked by run-away climate change."

Background: Our neighbour the coal mine? Bacchus Marsh | Quit Coal | Quit Coal Flickr Photostream | Moorabool Environment Group | Sourcewatch: Bacchus Marsh coal project

Click on the links for details of the events ...

Event: Thu 9 February 2012: Carlton, Melbourne, Vic
Film screening: Operation 8 with Gary Foley
"Operation 8 involved 18 months of invasive
surveillance of Maori sovereignty ...
Reflections on Operation 8 & Q&A hosted by
Gary Foley after the screening."
Event details: http://www.greenleft.org.au/events/49891

Event: Sat 11 February 2012: Melbourne, Vic
Aboriginal Rights Film Festival
Featuring:
The Coolbaroo Club; The Tall Man;
Ningla A-Na [Hungry for our land]; BarbaKiueria