I suspect this would have made little difference. Technicalities like this
rarely would. Nevertheless, it is interesting. I have recently tried to pull
together various state and federal listings into a database and it is not
easy as there is considerable inconsistency in the taxonomy, some of which
is very out of date. This goes for all groups, not just birds.
Regards,
Simon.
From: "Peter Ewin" <>
To:
Subject: RE: [Birding-Aus] killing of rare parrots
Date: Sat, 26 May 2007 19:49:19 +1000
The reason I had heard that they weren't charged under EPBC is because of
an incorrect listing of the eastern subspecies' name. It is listed as P. a.
anthopeplus - the old name when the WA subspecies was called westralis,
when it should be P. a. monarchoides (with the WA being the nominate). The
listing is in the following link:
http://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/sprat/public/publicspecies.pl?taxon_id=59612
There apparently was a worry that if they tried to file charges under this
act, that everyone would get off because there was a grey area in the
legislation.
Not certain if this is true, but it was what I heard from some locals in
Mildura.
Cheers,
Peter
From: "Simon Mustoe" <>
To:
Subject: RE: [Birding-Aus] killing of rare parrots
Date: Sat, 26 May 2007 09:20:06 +0000
What I can never understand is why no-one takes this up in the Federal
Courts. Under the EPBC Act, someone who takes and action that has, will
have or is likely to have a significant impact on a matter of national
environmental significance, is guilty of an offence if the take the action
and it has not been approved. Regent parrot is listed as such.
If I recall rightly, for corporations, this can mean up to $5million fines
and possibly 2 year prison sentences. By any account, the intentional
killing of 40 birds could be significant. A glance at the National Action
Statement indicates a population estimate (albeit low confidence) of 1,500
breeding birds. Even if we were to assume an equal proportion of
non-breeders, this would be 1.3% of the total population. One percent is
quite widely recognised as a reasonable quantitative level of significance
but this would only have to be established as likely, on balance of
probability. State penalties are always very low and as Alistair
indicated, any ruling on criminal activity can be mitigated by
circumstances concerning the state of mind of the offender.
The threat of much greater punitive measures under Commonwealth law might
nonetheless help provide greater disincentive in other cases. It should at
least be given more recognition in these forums and in the media. Do we
know where the Federal government stand on this case?
Regards,
Simon.
From: "Alastair Smith" <>
To: "'birding-aus'" <>
Subject: [Birding-Aus] killing of rare parrots
Date: Thu, 24 May 2007 21:40:25 +1000
My father is a (birdwatching) barrister who is following this case. He
has
been in touch with the court and the environmental authorities
prosecuting
the case, and has promised to provide me with more comprehensive details
tomorrow.
In the meantime he said that the two men were told to shoot birds eating
the
almond crop and were aware the regent parrot was an endangered species
after
hearing about the birds on ABC radio. They were sorry for what they had
done. Perhaps the reason for the paltry fines was that they have agreed
to
testify against the two multinational companies involved. Apparently the
companies asked for an adjournment believing a new judge would hear the
case
against them but the original judge disallowed this motion and will hear
the
case in the near term.
Let's hope for a significant fine and restitution against these
companies!
Cheers
Alastair
===============================
www.birding-aus.org
birding-aus.blogspot.com
To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
send the message:
unsubscribe
(in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
to:
===============================
_________________________________________________________________
Play your part in making history - Email Britain!
http://www.emailbritain.co.uk/
===============================
www.birding-aus.org
birding-aus.blogspot.com
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message:
unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
to:
===============================
_________________________________________________________________
Join the millions of Australians using Live Search. Try live.com.au
http://ninemsn.com.au/share/redir/adTrack.asp?mode=click&clientID=740&referral=million&URL=http://live.com.au
_________________________________________________________________
Play your part in making history - Email Britain!
http://www.emailbritain.co.uk/
===============================
www.birding-aus.org
birding-aus.blogspot.com
To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
send the message:
unsubscribe
(in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
to:
===============================
|
