A magistrate in lutruwita Tasmania has denied a request by an Aboriginal woman to hold court hearings on Country in her upcoming trespass case, a decision she says undermines her ability to properly present her cultural obligations as part of her defence.
Langford is representing herself against charges of trespass stemming from environmental protest actions in forests in kunanyi (Wellington Range).
She argues her actions were driven not by protest alone, but by a cultural responsibility to protect land she says is vital to ecological and community survival.
Langford had asked that the magistrates court sit on Country so evidence could be heard in the context she says is essential to understanding Aboriginal law and connection to land.
“We were asking that the magistrate court comes to sit on Country … to hear the evidence and story of our people’s cultural obligation to protect the very things that give us life,” the Yorta Yorta Dja Dja Wurrung woman said.
“Any Aboriginal person will tell you that our story and our belonging is within the relational knowing of Country,” she said.
“If the court is required to make a determination … then it is fundamental that they provide reasonable and fair access to us to describe fully what my cultural obligation is.
"This really has been a slap in the face."
The charges relate to Langford’s efforts to prevent logging in kunanyi, which covers some 18,000 hectares west of Hobart, home to significant ecosystems and threatened species.
She argues her presence in those areas was not unlawful, but necessary.
“Of course I had a reasonable, clear obligation. It wasn’t just an excuse. It was an obligation to protect that land and Country,” she said.
Langford also described the aftermath of logging in one of the forests as “complete and utter devastation,” alleging that rare and endemic trees had been destroyed and left to be burned, releasing carbon and damaging soil.
She argued that the removal of old growth forests undermines one of the most effective natural protections against catastrophic bushfire.
“The modelling says very clearly it's not if, it's a matter of when,” she said of dangerous bushfires.
“We have to go and save those old forests, those old wet forests that are one of the most important protective factors against catastrophic bushfire. They slow the fire down.”
She added that current practices were increasing risk, describing “this ridiculous mismanagement that creates vulnerability to the precious water catchment and makes all people vulnerable to catastrophic bushfires,” and pointed to expert advice that “the number one thing to stop climate change is to protect old growth forest.”
Despite the setback in court, she said she would continue to fight both legally and through direct action.
“Regardless of what the colonial court say, they cannot take away our sovereignty,” she said.
“We will continue to stand … to protect those that give us life.”
The case is scheduled to proceed in early July, when the court will hear Langford’s defence to the trespass charges.
