By JESSE GRAHAM
A PROTEST in the Toolangi State Forest on the fifth anniversary of the Black Saturday bushfires has been dubbed “disgraceful” by an infuriated member of the timber industry.
Police were called out to Hardy Creek Road in the Toolangi State Forest at 5am on Friday 7 February, after around 13 members of the Central Highlands Action Group (CHAG) blocked off a road into a logging coupe.
Two of the protestors chained themselves to a gate, stopping Department of Environment and Primary Industries (DEPI) contractors from entering the coupe.
Yea Police were called out to the scene to assist, but said that the Search and Rescue department would be needed to remove the protestors.
However, the Search and Rescue team were over three hours away when Yea Police Sergeant Connell spoke to the Mail at noon on the day, and said the contractors had decided to leave.
Friends of Forestry (FoF) Executive Graham Taylor said that he was infuriated by the date of the protest, which fell on the fifth anniversary of Black Saturday.
“Black Saturday is something to the timber industry – it strikes everybody’s hearts,” he said.
“The machines, the personnel, were all called upon to fight Black Saturday, and it’s hard enough for them to go through a five-year anniversary.
“To stage a stunt like this on the anniversary, while everyday timber workers are trying to go about their jobs is a disgrace.”
Mr Taylor also claimed that the people involved in the protest weren’t local to the area and wasted police and DEPI’s time.
CHAG member Luke Pavia, who was present on the day, said all of the members present, with the exception of the two locked onto the gates, were local to Healesville, Chum Creek and its surrounds.
Mr Pavia said he didn’t think it was disrespectful for the group to be at the site on the Black Saturday anniversary, and said the group was interested in returning to protest at the same site.
The two protestors locked to gates were allegedly told by police that they would receive summons to court, to be charged, while another protestor was charged for a previous offence.
