- In short: A veterinarian faces jail time over multiple protests in Tasmania's forests and mining sites.
- What's next? Colette Harmsen will learn her fate when she next appears in Hobart Magistrates Court on July 14.
A magistrate has accused a veterinarian and self-described forest defender of "giving a finger to the entire judicial system" over repeated protests against logging on mine sites.
The Hobart Magistrates court heard Colette Joan Harmsen was involved in a protest with the Bob Brown Foundation at a MMG mine near Rosebery on the west coast of Tasmania in 2021.
She climbed and locked herself onto an excavator and refused to leave when asked by a mining representative and police.
The 47-year-old veterinarian has pleaded guilty to four counts of trespass, one count of wilfully obstruct the use of any road, and fail to comply with a direction of a police officer.
The court was told Dr Harmsen is on a three-month suspended jail term but has repeatedly breached bail and returned to protest in threatened forests.
Activist cut from machinery, court hears
The other trespass charges relate to a protest on a Venture Minerals mine site at Tullah, south-west of Devonport, and a protest against logging on a Sustainable Timbers Tasmania site between 2021 and 2023.
The court heard that on one occasion, the local search-and-rescue team had to use power tools to cut Dr Harmsen from a locking device that was attached to a mining rig, even though she was able to release herself.
Magistrate Chris Webster ordered a pre-sentence report, which will look at whether Dr Harmsen is eligible for home detention or whether she will need to serve a prison sentence.
Her lawyer, Richard Griggs, told the court "a term of imprisonment would be unjust ... these were peaceful non-violent examples of public disobedience."
Magistrate Webster replied "given her numerous convictions, it almost appears to me she wants to go to jail and wants to be a martyr."
"If she wants to be a martyr, it is best not have a home detention and she should go straight to jail."
When Mr Griggs told the court a less severe punishment was appropriate, Magistrate Webster responded again, saying "what your client is doing is basically giving a finger to the entire judicial system."
"I'll order a pre-sentence report but she may not be suitable," Magistrate Webster said.
The court was told Dr Harmsen is required to take daily medication for health conditions and a home detention order would ensure she had access to this.
In a statement provided to the ABC, Dr Harmsen said "I acknowledge that in the eyes of the Tasmanian justice system, I am guilty of numerous offences."
"I am upholding the laws of nature and, one day soon, nature in Tasmania will have rights, as has been the case in Ecuador since 2008," she said.
The matter has been adjourned until sentencing in July.
