Peter Garrett - Tree Spiker?

[Financialpanther]

Just published in the local rag today - by Watson the skipper of the Steve Irwin Anti Whaling.

http://www.themercury.com.au/article/2009/02/26/57591_tasmania-news.html

ANTI-whaling activist Paul Watson has admitted spiking trees in Canada -- with Peter Garrett standing beside him.

The Steve Irwin's captain made the statement at a packed talk to about 600 people at the University of Tasmania last night.

Captain Watson said he made no apology for sinking ships in whaling countries, because nobody had died and he had never been charged.

After a standing ovation, one member of the audience asked if he had advice for anti-logging campaigners.


"You don't want to hear my advice," he said, then talked about spiking thousands of trees in Canada to save a forested island.

He said Environment Minister Peter Garrett had been standing alongside him at the protests of the time.

"We spiked them and I know people don't want to hear that here, but it works - it's inoculation against a disease called clear-cutting," he said.

"We spiked them then put out a press release saying we had. I know it's controversial but nobody ever got injured. Certainly I have no remorse.

"But this is your community, you decide."

The spikes blunted chainsaws and machinery, costing loggers so much time and money they canned the projects. Tree-spiking has not been considered acceptable by Tasmania's conservation movement.

Capt Watson said the Australian Government and most governments were little more than "corporate whores" and diplomacy was useless.

He said Japan brought Tasmania's woodchips, which provided about 20 per cent of its paper, giving the Australian Government good reason not to act against whaling.

"If the Australian Government say they will take Japan to court, we will not go down there (to the Antarctic any more) -- that's all they have to do," he said.

Another protest ship is expected to join the Steve Irwin next whaling season. He said nobody had been injured on his watch but that Japan had used sonic blasts then hurled metal objects.

"They were trying to kill us," he said.

It also emerged last night that there was opposition to the forum being held at UTas.

Professor Andrew McMinn, director of the Institute of Antarctic and Southern Ocean Studies and a UNESCO Cousteau chair, chaired the session.

He said some of his colleagues had boycotted the talk, concerned it could be seen as endorsing illegal actions.

"Universities are places for controversy ... and debate. We have also invited the Japanese Institute for Cetacean Research and Peter Garrett," Prof McMinn said.

Capt Watson was scathing of the Federal Government, saying it was worse than the previous government and Mr Garrett far worse than predecessor Ian Campbell, now an adviser to the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.

He said he never cared what anybody thought, because his clients were whales and other sea creatures.

"Jacques Cousteau told me before he died: 'The oceans are dying in our time'," he said.

Campaigners had to be prepared to go to jail but he had not been jailed because whaling nations wanted to avoid being on trial themselves.

He said he had presented Tasmanian shark victim Hannah Mighall with an award for courage, because she did not want the shark that attacked here killed.

Well here is hoping that some absent minded individual doesn't take up tree spiking after this lecture.

 

[Bodicifer]

Tree spiking hippies, get the nod,
It's a setback for those loggers,
Let's kill someone for the sake of a tree,
Becasue I am a tree spiking hippie

 

[krusden]

Just published in the local rag today - by Watson the skipper of the Steve Irwin Anti Whaling.

http://www.themercury.com.au/article/2009/02/26/57591_tasmania-news.html



Well here is hoping that some absent minded individual doesn't take up tree spiking after this lecture.

interesting out of the entire lecture the mercury picked up on the "tree-spiking bit only".
Well, not interesting but hardly surprising.

 

[Financialpanther]

Agree - the tree spiking comments only came at the tailend questions from the floor. But still - anything that links the Federal Minister to such a practice will always be a story. That said - the front page of the Mercury was about a child that had her toy bunny stolen.......big news day in Hobart.

 

[Chief]

Nothing in there says he spiked any trees.

It says he was standing there at the protests, not while the spikes were being driven in.

You'd have to consider this a beat up until more info is forthcoming.

 

[caboose]

Nothing in there says he spiked any trees.

It says he was standing there at the protests, not while the spikes were being driven in.

You'd have to consider this a beat up until more info is forthcoming.

That clearly hinges on your interpretation of the way the word 'protest' is being used here. The way I read the article, it seemed to be saying the tree spiking action was the protest. Not that there was necessarily some sort of protest rally going on.

But, either way, we can surely take it you're not saying it's fine to watch a crime take place and do nothing about it? Or even to support the concept of tree spiking?

 

[bit_pattern]

Who says treespiking even IS illegal?

 

[Chops_a_must]

That clearly hinges on your interpretation of the way the word 'protest' is being used here. The way I read the article, it seemed to be saying the tree spiking action was the protest. Not that there was necessarily some sort of protest rally going on.

But, either way, we can surely take it you're not saying it's fine to watch a crime take place and do nothing about it? Or even to support the concept of tree spiking?

Mmm... it was actually a very common thing in WA in the 90s.

And a legitimate strategy by environmentalists.

Potential to cause serious damage to loggers, but more importantly, do serious damage to equipment.