Court victory over Narangba eviction case

BY BILL MASON

BRISBANE — Protesters against the food irradiation plant being built at Narangba, 50km north of the city, have won a major victory with the dismissal of a state government move in the Supreme Court to have their protest camp permanently evicted from its position opposite the building site.

The Queensland Department of State Development had issued protesters with a blanket "notice to quit" on January 20, ordering all demonstrators to leave the camp which has been occupying state land since last year.

Robyn Taubenfeld, a media spokesperson for the protesters, was taken to court as a "representative" of all protesters. If the eviction order was upheld by the court, government lawyers argued it would be binding on all protesters.

Dismissing the application on February 14, Justice Ken Mackenzie said that to uphold it would have been "an exercise in futility", as others who entered the area subsequently would not be subject to the court order.

Taubenfeld said after the decision that she was "relieved and delighted" with the outcome and "pleased the state government has been ordered to pay my legal costs."

From Green Left Weekly, February 19, 2003.

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From GLW issue 526