Tasmanian forest protester Colette Harmsen has been released from prison after serving a three-month sentence for environmental activism.
Harmsen is the first person to have served time in Tasmania for environmental activism in a decade and the first woman in the state to be incarcerated for such crimes.
She was jailed for repeatedly locking herself onto an excavator at a Rosebery mine protest and refusing to leave when directed to do so.
Harmsen has been arrested 22 times in her 16 years of protesting and has pleaded guilty to trespass on nine separate occasions since 2010.
Speaking to supporters outside Parliament House on Friday afternoon, Harmsen thanked them for their support and pledged to continue protesting for a safer planet.
“I’m not doing this to be remembered. I’m doing this to remind people to act now for nature, for our wildlife, for our forests – and as a reminder to act now for our whole flipping planet.”
Bob Brown, founder of the Bob Brown Foundation, called the Tasmanian government the true criminals for logging native forests and introducing anti-protest laws.
“Their laws aren’t going to stop us because they can’t lock up our hearts. They can’t lock up our belief in defending the forests,” Brown said.
READ MORE: Tasmanian environmental activist jailed for protesting mining
