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A Queensland logging company has been fined $10,000 for clearing more than two dozen trees in protected world heritage rainforest without permission.
Key points:
- Qld Logging felled 28 trees and cleared access tracks in the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area without approval
- The company's lawyer told a court that traditional owners asked it to do the work
- The sentencing magistrate did not accept the company's actions were 'altruistic'
Townsville-based family business, Qld Logging Pty Ltd, pleaded guilty to unlawfully destroying forest products in the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area.
The company felled 28 trees and cleared vegetation to make tracks on Aboriginal freehold land at Shiptons Flat, about 40 kilometres south of Cooktown.
"It is an area that contains a significant number of unique species not found elsewhere in Australia, despite making up a very small proportion of the Australian landmass," prosecutor Rachael Taylor told the Cairns Magistrates Court.
Defence lawyer Bebe Mellick told the court some Aboriginal traditional owners had asked the company to fell the wood so it could be turned into building materials and used to construct homes for elders to inhabit on country.
The court heard Qld Logging was aware there was no approval to fell the trees, as a company representative had attended a meeting with members of the Jabalbina Yalanji Aboriginal Corporation (JYAC) during September 2020.
An investigation into the unlawful logging began within a fortnight of it taking place during October 2020.
Magistrate 'stunned' by activity
Mr Mellick told the court the logging was "done as a noble cause" and that the company was "doing their best to help the Indigenous locals", including by employing and training local Aboriginal men.
The Queensland Department of Environment and Science (DES), which prosecuted the case, accepted Qld Logging did not gain commercially from the logging.
But Magistrate Cathy McLennan said she could not accept the company was acting for "entirely altruistic" reasons, as there was evidence of a second unsigned timber supply agreement for future work.
"For a logging company to have engaged in this activity is, quite frankly, stunning to me," Magistrate McLennan said.
Mr Mellick said the company felt "somewhat aggrieved" at being the sole entity facing prosecution when authorities knew who asked for the work to be carried out.
"Respectfully, Your Honour, the elders were at the meeting [and] they knew what had to be done," Mr Mellick said.
"They procured my client to do it but nothing happens to them."
Charges against two individuals connected to the logging company were dropped.
Company did not profit
The court heard Qld Logging was about $25,000 out of pocket as a result of the work.
The wood was trucked to Townsville, from where it was to be shipped to China for processing.
Australia has international obligations to protect and preserve the world heritage area.
"Jabalbina and the [Wet Tropics Management] Authority work together to manage the area to ensure that world heritage values are protected and that these kinds of illegal activities do not occur," JYAC chairperson Michelle Friday said.
While the maximum penalty for the offence (for a company) is more than $400,000, the highest possible punishment in a summary hearing was a fine of $23,718.
Individuals can face jail time.
Prosecutors asked for a fine of between $6,000 and $10,000 to be imposed.
Qld Logging was convicted and fined $10,000 and ordered to pay the department $2,000 in court costs.