NEWS |
HECTOR THE PROTECTOR |
| BY
NEIL CREMASCO Monday, November 17, 2003 Hector
the Protector is to be freed!!!
The community has raised the money to pay Hector the Protector's $5000.00 fine, and he will be released from prison tomorrow (Tuesday Nov 18th). Thanks to everyone who donated. This is great news for Hector (Neil Smith), and for the community who are putting their money where their heart is to take care of those who stick their neck out for our wilderness. Some of the money used to free Hector has come from the Forest Defender Fund. See attachments for details. Public celebration Come along and congratulate Hector as he walks free from the Hobart Remand Centre, 47 Liverpool St (opposite the Royal) at around 1pm tomorrow (Tuesday). More info? Phone Cathy at the Wilderness Society 6224 1550. ------------------------------------------------------------------ BY NEIL CREMASCO Friday, November 14, 2003 Hector, we're proud of you! Hector the Protector, a.k.a. Neil Smith, is behind bars. He returned from his mother's funeral to hand himself in yesterday (November 13th) at 2pm, in front of a large crowd of supporters. Neil's crime: trying to protect the oldgrowth forest at Mother Cummings in northwest Tas from being logged back in 1998. He was fined $5000 for this, which he refused to pay. So he is on his way to Risdon Prison for a spell of 51 days. But for the 50 people who gathered to farewell Neil, there was no doubt who the real criminals are ... Help free Hector - If we can raise $5000, Hector will walk free. The Wilderness Society is launching a 'Free Hector' campaign this Saturday 15th November. You can make credit card donations by ringing our accountant James Skurray on 0427 057 643 from Saturday on. Or make cash donations at The Wilderness Society Shop (behind Retro at Salamanca Place) or at our campaign office, 130 Davey St, during business hours. Phone 6224 1550. Please help Hector out if you can! Make some noise - Letters to the editor of all papers, including mainland papers, would be brilliant. Paul Lennon and Barry Chipman are no doubt delighted that Hector is behind bars - but we need to make this story bad news for the logging industry. Free Hector action this Saturday - We're going to roam around Salamanca Market this Saturday, 15th November, inside the magnificent and famous cardboard jails. We need to spread the message, and take donations. But we need some more inmates! If you come from a convict background, why not experience life behind bars? We're meeting at The Wilderness Society at 10am on Saturday - come and join us. Or hang out at The Wilderness Society stall at the market, and help us out from there. Got any ideas? Call Cathy on 6224 1550. Shame on you Jim Bacon! FREE HECTOR! -------------------------------------------------------- BY NEIL CREMASCO Thursday, November 6, 2003 Hector's final days of freedom! The warrant for the arrest of Hector the Forest Protector -aka Neil Smith- has been issued and he has to hand himself in to the police next He has to serve 51 days in prison for trying to protect the old-growth forests of Mother Cummings in 1998. Hector would love it if people could come along and support him as he hands himself in. We'll meet you there, or please feel free to meet at The Wilderness Society in Davey St Hobart There'll be a painting and banner spree on Hector's final days ... UPDATE A slight change of plan for the Hector the Protector action this coming week..... Unfortunately Neil Smith's mother has just died and he is flying to Adelaide for her funeral on Tuesday (the original arrest & protest day). The police originally told him he wasn't allowed to go to the funeral because he had to be arrested, but now they have arranged from him to be arrested instead at 2pm on Thursday the 13th. So the protest is DEFINITELY going ahead, and let's hope with plenty more people. So in summary: it's happening this Thursday 13th, at 1.15pm, outside the Liverpool St police station opposite the Royal Hobart Hospital. Labor and Liberals' abuse of our environment is also a social justice issue, so let's stand and be counted if we want change. More info? Contact Cathy at The Wilderness Society : 61 3 6224 1550 __________________________ BACKGROUND INFO. In the same timeframe that Tasmania’s cutting edge Relationship Laws have got the nod from Parliament, we have the looming prospect of Jim Bacon’s first political prisoner, who dared to put himself on the line to protect magnificent oldgrowth forests during an anti logging protest near Mother Cummings Peak in Tasmania’s north in 1998. "Hector the Protector" (Neil Smith), a Hobart engineer was fined $5000 for “interfering with the operation of a vehicle”. The excavator had to deviate around the tree in which he was perched during protest, delaying it for about 20 minutes (or “an hour or so” in the judge’s words). Mr. Smith didn’t damage, touch or go anywhere near the excavator. If he doesn’t pay the fine he will go to jail for 51 days. The law under which he was charged was repealed in January 2000. Interestingly, people who are current Labor ministers (Judy Jackson and Paul Lennon) spoke strongly against this law when the then Liberal Government introduced it in 1992. Ms Jackson even said it was “draconian and intimidatory, intended to put people off from protesting”. The Governor has the power under the Sentencing Act to remit Mr. Smith’s fine, if the Cabinet recommends it. The Governor can also direct that he be released from prison if jailed for non-payment. The now Attorney General (Judy Jackson) recently rejected a direct plea from Mr. Smith that she and the Cabinet take these steps. Labor and Liberal voted on August 20th 2003 against a Greens motion recommending that the House direct the Attorney General to make these recommendations. It’s bizarre that politicians can believe that $5000 is an appropriate penalty for delaying work for “an hour or so”, and remember that this “work” eventually clearfelled an ancient forest. Political revenge seems to be the real motivation here because Mr Smith’s tree-sit got enormous publicity for the anti-logging cause, as emails were sent worldwide from his treetop-laptop computer. This is a forestry and a justice issue, but when successive Tasmanian Governments see a way to suppress opposition to their appalling forestry and environmental practices, they have a history of ditching justice overboard. Rather than with the Judiciary, the fault lies with the former government for introducing this backward law, and with the present Bacon government, which repealed the law, but now refuses to act to prevent people having to pay the penalty. MORE........ SEE GUARDIAN NEWSPAPERS - UK • MERCURY REPORT - HOBART • PICTURE-1 • PICTURE-2 Greenpeace and The Wilderness Society TAKE ON HECTOR'S JOB..... SEE THE WEBSITE FOR BREAKING NEWS AND PICTURES OF THE CAMPAIGN - Global Rescue Station |
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