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Peter Cundall plea becomes test case

Charges against former Gardening Australia host Peter Cundall, who was protesting a decision on Gunns Pulp Mill, will be heard as a test case.

Former Gardening Australia host Peter Cundall is listed to appear in a Tasmanian court today following arrests last November after a public protest in the Gunns Ltd pulp mill saga.

Cundall was part of a protest group today calling for a royal commission into the approval of Gunns Ltd’s proposed Bell Bay pulp mill in northern Tasmania.

He pleaded not guilty last month. Today the 83-year-old will be presented as a test case to save Hobart Magistrates Court the time and expense of processing everyone who has pleaded not guilty. Only a handful of the protesters pleaded guilty to the charge of  failing to comply with the direction of police.

Protest group Pulp the Mill says the state government’s approval of the $2.5 billion project, near Cundall’s home in the Tamar Valley, was an abuse of power.

In November Cundall told reporters, “I’m here because I’m opposed to the corrupt mechanisms, and it was corrupt, that [Tasmania’s] Pulp Mill Assessment Act went through Parliament.”

Source: The Age