A decision about the future of this small mammal rests with a trio of judges who recently heard an appeal about planned burns from the Save our Strathbogie Forest group.
Yes, three judges, four court staff, two instructing solicitors and five barristers, along with an array of seemingly spectator-like government lawyers, a few other unknown souls and several people from the Strathbogie Group were in the eighth-floor court for the recent two days of appeal proceedings.
The southern greater glider, just living its life in the Strathbogie Forest, was oblivious to these immensely complex and expensive machinations happening in the heart of the state capital.
Bert Lobert, an ecologist and president of the Save our Strathbogie Forest Group, who has led and articulated the group’s efforts, was in the court for the proceedings, along with several supporters.
But there was nothing Bert and fellow forest enthusiasts could do; rather, they were there to simply illustrate their commitment to stopping the burns, burns which they argue threaten the existence of the southern greater gliders.
Day one of the recent two-day appeal was consumed, almost entirely, by one barrister acting on behalf of the appellants spelling out the errors of law that would allow the planned burns to go ahead.
Beyond answering questions from the trio of judges and clarifying facts around the case, he argued that should the planned burns go ahead, they would have, or could have, a significant impact on the nationally endangered southern greater glider.
The Strathbogie group claims on its website that the forest it cares about “is home to one of the healthiest populations of the endangered southern greater glider in Victoria”.
It then adds, “But our broader concern is for the long-term health of the forest — the complex partnership of plants, fungi, microbes and animals — and the beneficial influence a healthy forest has for everyone and everything that shares that landscape”.
Southern greater gliders and all the other elements that combine for the broader wellbeing of a healthy forest seemed remote from what was happening in that eighth-floor courtroom.
Planned burns are a product of fear; fear that thick undergrowth, fallen trees and rampant growth of small plants will feed bushfires when science illustrates, conclusively, that such forests are quite moist and slow to burn.
Conversely, those forests that have been cleared and subject to planned burns appear to burn with even more ferocity.
Of course, as Mr Lobert points out, on days of extreme fire risk with high temperatures and fierce winds, any forest will burn, including, as recent history has shown, even some of Australia’s rainforests, which are millions of years old.
And now, with day two of the appeal completed, President Bert and his forest compatriots have acknowledged that they can do nothing but await the outcome of the appeal.
Meanwhile, the southern greater glider continues its life absolutely unaware that its future, a joyous and bounteous affair in the Strathbogie Forest, is entangled in the seemingly irrelevant legalities of the Federal Court.
Robert McLean is a former editor of The News.
