The Bob Brown Foundation is under fire from state politicians after 23 activists were arrested during a week-long protest campaign.
Braddon Labor MP Shane Broad says the organisation’s behaviour is becoming “more extreme by the day”, referencing accusations the group is using complaint systems to silence media coverage and associated public debate.
“The Bob Brown Foundation is increasingly using social media to recruit these protestor tourists with the aim of filming arrests for fundraising and online content,” he said.
“But when the same organisation hands out photos to the media and the coverage doesn’t go their way, suddenly they want to shut down scrutiny with legal threats – it’s beyond a joke.”
“Tasmanians are tired of being lectured by the Bob Brown Foundation that acts holier than thou, while refusing to be held to the same standards as everyone else.”
Broad claimed the Bob Brown Foundation “often complain that their issues don’t get enough media attention”.
“But when coverage does occur, they try to shut it down. You can’t have it both ways,” he said.
The foundation has repeatedly used Meta’s ‘self-serve’ Rights Manager system to take down news articles on social media that included images the group itself had distributed to media outlets.
Two further Meta takedown requests were lodged shortly after a journalist from Pulse Tasmania sought comment for this story on Monday, a request which the foundation did not respond to.
The latest complaints triggered temporary suspensions of the outlet’s Instagram account, which delivers free local news to more than 81,000 followers.
Earlier vexatious complaints by the Bob Brown Foundation resulted in the automatic and indefinite suspension of a Pulse Tasmania journalist’s personal Facebook profile and other restrictions placed on the outlet’s Facebook and Instagram page.
Under Australian copyright law, the use of copyrighted images for news reporting is protected.
Tasmanian Industry and Resources Minister Felix Ellis has taken aim at the foundation’s attempt to “censor the media for reporting on these wild antics”.
He claimed the continued protest action by the charity did not pass the pub test.
“Not content with stopping forestry workers on their tour of chaos, the BBF’s decision to disrupt stallholders at our iconic Salamanca Market is simply mind-blowing,” he said.
“Tasmanians will be glad to see the back of this mainland rent-a-crowd”.
The foundation defended its week-long “Forest Resistance Tour”, which saw protesters lock onto logging machines and stage a “threatened species banquet” at Salamanca Market.
“Over one fierce week, more than 100 people stepped up to defend native forests,” the foundation said in a statement on Monday.
“Our message was clear: We will not stand by while native forests are destroyed.”
“The resistance is only growing stronger. We will be doing it again.”
Records from the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission show the Bob Brown Foundation generated $5,039,610 of revenue in the last financial year and delivered a surplus of $673,542.
The charity has been endorsed for tax concessions since January 2014 and employs 20.8 full-time-equivalent staff, who are supported by around 350 volunteers.
Meta and The Bob Brown Foundation were approached for comment.
More on this story: Bob Brown Foundation uses copyright complaint to censor news coverage of its own protest
