Sustainability Group
Latest news: Maurice Blackburn chalks up
another win for Greenpeace
As
part of our ongoing legal work for Greenpeace Australia Pacific Maurice
Blackburn has been acting for two environmental activists. Their charges of
malicious damage to property were dismissed at hearing in the Local Court. The
DPP had appealed the decision, and a judgment was handed down by Simpson J in
the Supreme Court dismissing the appeal.
The charges arose as a result of protest action in February 2007 at the Port Waratah Coal Services coal loading facility near Newcastle. The activists scaled a mesh fence, activated a safety isolation switch on a coal conveyor belt and then chained themselves to the conveyor belt. Their actions led to the conveyor belt being out of operation for two hours, at a cost to the proprietor of around $27,000.
After reviewing the facts, the submissions made in the Local Court and the judgment of the magistrate, Simpson J said that she was satisfied that an error of law had been demonstrated in the magistrate's judgment. She held that mere temporary functional derangement, without some physical interference with the property itself, is insufficient to establish malicious damage and therefore dismissed the DPP's appeal despite the error in the magistrate's judgment.
This matter has been handled by the Sydney office, and
in particular Julian Schimmel, who instructed counsel.
About the Maurice Blackburn Sustainability
Group
Maurice Blackburn is committed to
protecting our environment. We aim to minimise the environmental impact of
our operations, promote sustainable practices throughout Maurice Blackburn, and
ultimately become carbon neutral.
The Maurice
Blackburn Sustainability Group was formed in March 2007 to achieve these
goals.
The Sustainability Group
commenced by retaining an environmental consultant to undertake a major audit of
the firm, to gain insight into how Maurice Blackburn can improve its
environmental performance.
The Group has also drafted a policy that
articulates the firm’s commitment to protecting our environment, promoting
sustainable practices, and ultimately becoming carbon neutral.
The
Sustainability Group encourages broad encouragement across the firm, and is focussed on a range of issues pertinent to achieving its goals, including:
1. Implementing
environmentally sound building
refurbishments to
reduce energy and water
consumption;
2. Facilitating use of public transport and cycling to
and from
work, and monitoring and reducing air
travel;
3. Promoting awareness of and compliance with firm
policy
regarding waste reduction and
recycling;
4. Purchasing consumable products from
environmentally
and socially sound sources;
5. Learning from other groups about how to
improve
environmental performance and coordinating
participation in wider community initiatives such as
Earth
Hour; and
6. Measuring
and monitoring Maurice Blackburn’s water and
energy
consumption and waste output over time.
We are also committed to assisting organisations that
lobby to protect the environment. For example, we assist Greenpeace with work on both a paid and pro bono basis.
The Maurice Blackburn Sustainability Committee is:
Greg Tucker, Brooke Dellavedova, Rory Walsh, Steve Schuurmans, David Braun, Jane Bennett, Lachlan Fitch, Emma Moss, Natalie Sheard, Alex McKean and Tim Conboy.
To contact the firm about sustainability issues, email sustainability@mauriceblackburn.com.au.
