[Huon Forests] Tasmanian Greens leader, Nick McKim - speaking about Ben Morrow in parliament

[Adam Burling]

*TASMANIAN House of assembly Hansard *

*Adjournment Debate – Death of Ben Morrow*



*Tuesday 18 August 2009 - Part 2 - Pages 29 - 110*

[6.51 p.m.]

*Mr McKIM *(Franklin - Leader of the Greens) - Madam Deputy Speaker, I want
to talk tonight about
<http://www.parliament.tas.gov.au/HansardHouse/isysquery/87ac9f5f-33cd-445d-bebb-431688b0e9d1/1/doc/#hit2>
Ben<http://www.parliament.tas.gov.au/HansardHouse/isysquery/87ac9f5f-33cd-445d-bebb-431688b0e9d1/1/doc/#hit4>
<http://www.parliament.tas.gov.au/HansardHouse/isysquery/87ac9f5f-33cd-445d-bebb-431688b0e9d1/1/doc/#hit3>
Morrow<http://www.parliament.tas.gov.au/HansardHouse/isysquery/87ac9f5f-33cd-445d-bebb-431688b0e9d1/1/doc/#hit5>.
<http://www.parliament.tas.gov.au/HansardHouse/isysquery/87ac9f5f-33cd-445d-bebb-431688b0e9d1/1/doc/#hit4>
Ben<http://www.parliament.tas.gov.au/HansardHouse/isysquery/87ac9f5f-33cd-445d-bebb-431688b0e9d1/1/doc/#hit6>was
a passionate environmental campaigner who died last month of bowel
cancer.



After completing an environmental science degree at the University of
Newcastle,
<http://www.parliament.tas.gov.au/HansardHouse/isysquery/87ac9f5f-33cd-445d-bebb-431688b0e9d1/1/doc/#hit5>
Ben<http://www.parliament.tas.gov.au/HansardHouse/isysquery/87ac9f5f-33cd-445d-bebb-431688b0e9d1/1/doc/#hit7>immersed
himself in environmental activism in New South Wales where he
campaigned in the Watagans, Jilliby and Chichester areas, participating in
outcomes which saved tens of thousands of hectares of native forests from
the woodchippers in New South Wales.
<http://www.parliament.tas.gov.au/HansardHouse/isysquery/87ac9f5f-33cd-445d-bebb-431688b0e9d1/1/doc/#hit6>
Ben<http://www.parliament.tas.gov.au/HansardHouse/isysquery/87ac9f5f-33cd-445d-bebb-431688b0e9d1/1/doc/#hit8>was
also an integral part of the campaign to save Tasmania's old-growth
high-conservation value forests.



Ben's actions down in Tasmania resulted in his being sued by Gunns Limited
as part of the infamous Gunns 20 litigation.  I pause here to remind the
House that even though charges have been dropped against many of the
original Gunns 20 there are still a few brave Tasmanians, many of whom do
not have very many assets or even the necessary capacity of their own
resources to fight Gunns, still in the courts in this unfair
Goliath-versus-David lawsuit.  It is a clear example of a SLAPP suit, a
strategic lawsuit against public participation, designed to intimidate
others and those people charged from participating in the public debate and
democratic processes in this State.



<http://www.parliament.tas.gov.au/HansardHouse/isysquery/87ac9f5f-33cd-445d-bebb-431688b0e9d1/1/doc/#hit7>
Ben<http://www.parliament.tas.gov.au/HansardHouse/isysquery/87ac9f5f-33cd-445d-bebb-431688b0e9d1/1/doc/#hit9>also
campaigned with Greenpeace in the Pacific but it was while campaigning
in Tasmania's Weld Valley that he met the person who was his partner when he
died, Allanna Beltran, who became known later as the Weld Angel when
Tasmania Police shamefully sought to recover costs from her for her
participation in campaigns defending Tasmania's high-conservation value
forests.  I was very pleased, as was everyone in the conservation movement,
when the case against Allanna was dismissed.  This was an action that
Tasmania Police took, though they do not seek to recover costs from rapists
or murderers or any other criminal in Tasmania's history, but they took this
action against Allanna Beltran.  To this day I do not understand what
reasonable grounds they could have had.  I can certainly understand the
unreasonable grounds they might have had because they were attempting to
send a message to other forest activists to dissuade people from
participating in democratic processes and legitimate public activities.  In
that respect Tasmania Police and Gunns had, in my view, identical
motivations for their two relatively different approaches to the issue.



<http://www.parliament.tas.gov.au/HansardHouse/isysquery/87ac9f5f-33cd-445d-bebb-431688b0e9d1/1/doc/#hit8>
Ben<http://www.parliament.tas.gov.au/HansardHouse/isysquery/87ac9f5f-33cd-445d-bebb-431688b0e9d1/1/doc/#hit10>was
diagnosed with bowel cancer and died last month of the disease.  It is
not a great way to go.  I only met
<http://www.parliament.tas.gov.au/HansardHouse/isysquery/87ac9f5f-33cd-445d-bebb-431688b0e9d1/1/doc/#hit9>
Ben<http://www.parliament.tas.gov.au/HansardHouse/isysquery/87ac9f5f-33cd-445d-bebb-431688b0e9d1/1/doc/#hit11>a
few times and I met him in the midst of his illness.  He had the most
infectious grin.  I still remember the last time I chatted to
<http://www.parliament.tas.gov.au/HansardHouse/isysquery/87ac9f5f-33cd-445d-bebb-431688b0e9d1/1/doc/#hit10>
Ben<http://www.parliament.tas.gov.au/HansardHouse/isysquery/87ac9f5f-33cd-445d-bebb-431688b0e9d1/1/doc/#hit12>-
on election night 2006.  It was not a great night for the Greens and
at
one stage, late in the night,
<http://www.parliament.tas.gov.au/HansardHouse/isysquery/87ac9f5f-33cd-445d-bebb-431688b0e9d1/1/doc/#hit11>
Ben<http://www.parliament.tas.gov.au/HansardHouse/isysquery/87ac9f5f-33cd-445d-bebb-431688b0e9d1/1/doc/#hit13>,
dying of bowel cancer, was actually supporting and encouraging me.  That is
the kind of bloke
<http://www.parliament.tas.gov.au/HansardHouse/isysquery/87ac9f5f-33cd-445d-bebb-431688b0e9d1/1/doc/#hit12>
Ben<http://www.parliament.tas.gov.au/HansardHouse/isysquery/87ac9f5f-33cd-445d-bebb-431688b0e9d1/1/doc/#hit14>was.



He was a great bloke.  He was in remission for a little while and he
e-mailed around to some of his friends and acquaintances these photos of him
surfing on a beach in Newcastle in 6-8 foot waves.  For non-surfers you are
talking about the front faces of waves of perhaps 3 or 4 metres tall, double
overhead waves - very serious waves.  I do not know how he managed to get
out the back but he did and he clambered onto one.  I believe he was very
weak at the time but he got onto one and I just know how great he would have
been feeling.  He died not long after that.



<http://www.parliament.tas.gov.au/HansardHouse/isysquery/87ac9f5f-33cd-445d-bebb-431688b0e9d1/1/doc/#hit13>
Ben<http://www.parliament.tas.gov.au/HansardHouse/isysquery/87ac9f5f-33cd-445d-bebb-431688b0e9d1/2/doc/>,
to you and Allanna and to all of the friends and family of you guys and the
broader conservation movement, thanks, mate, for everything you did.  You
put your body, heart and soul on the line for Tasmania's forests.  We thank
you from the bottom of our hearts for everything you did for the forests and
for the people on this planet and we dedicate ourselves anew to the cause.



*The House adjourned at 6.55 p.m.*
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