Roland Browne

Roland's casework.

Public-interest cases Roland has led or contributed to, in chronological order of the work's reach. Not comprehensive.

1. 1996 →

   Australia's gun laws — from Port Arthur to the 2026 buyback

   Roland founded the Tasmanian Coalition for Gun Control in the late 1980s, after the Hoddle Street and Queen Street shootings, and led it through the events of 1996. He was at home on the morning of 28 April 1996 — chairing a Coalition meeting to prepare for a meeting with the then Tasmanian Police Minister three days later, on the question of banning semi-automatic weapons — when the Port Arthur call came. One month earlier, the Mercury had published his letter warning that Dunblane could be repeated in Tasmania. His work fed into the post-Port Arthur national reforms, and three decades on, into the 2026 buyback program.

   Public Policy · Gun Control Australia
2. 2022

   Bob Brown Foundation v. Environment Minister & MMG Australia

   Federal Court proceedings against the Commonwealth Environment Minister and the Chinese state-owned MMG Australia over the approval of tailings-dam drilling in the Tarkine. The Tasmanian Masked Owl, a vulnerable species, was at risk. Justice Moshinsky set aside the Minister's decision in July 2022. The first time failure to apply the precautionary principle had been the subject of a Federal Court decision.

   EPBC Act · Precautionary Principle · Tarkine
3. 2020

   Bob Brown Foundation v. Regional Forest Agreement

   Federal Court action arguing Tasmania's RFA was invalid. Forestry Tasmania gave an undertaking not to log nineteen identified coupes containing Swift Parrot habitat. National implications for the ten RFAs then in force.

   Regional Forest Agreement · Swift Parrot
4. 2020

   Bob Brown Foundation v. Work Health and Safety Regulator

   The first case of its kind in Australia. A challenge to a WHS prohibition notice attempting to ban the Foundation from any forest-protest activity. The Regulator agreed to consent orders setting the notice aside.

   Right to Protest · WHS Act
5. 2018

   Gun Control Australia v. Premier of Tasmania

   Supreme Court of Tasmania action that forced the release of Right to Information documents on changes to Tasmanian gun law. The Attorney-General, the Hon. Elise Archer MP, was ordered to pay costs.

   Administrative Review · Right to Information
6. 2017–2019

   Okehampton Bay salmon-farm proceedings

   Federal Court proceedings for Triabunna Investments, Spring Bay Mill and the Bob Brown Foundation over a salmon farm at Okehampton Bay in critical Southern Right Whale habitat. The Full Court of the Federal Court partially upheld the appeal — the first time the Full Court had analysed opt-out assessment under the EPBC Act.

   EPBC Act · Aquaculture · Southern Right Whale
7. 2009–2012

   Multiple matters against Gunns Limited

   The Triabunna 13 counterclaim alleging misleading and deceptive conduct, settled out of court; the Tasmanian Conservation Trust pulp-mill permit case, won on appeal in August 2012. Gunns Limited went into administration in September 2012.

   Forest, Planning & Corporate Accountability
8. 2005

   Senator Bob Brown v. Forestry Tasmania — Wielangta

   Federal Court action over logging in the Wielangta State Forest, where Wedge-Tailed Eagle, Wielangta Stag Beetle and Swift Parrot habitat was at stake. Won at first instance; injunctions granted; the Commonwealth and Tasmania amended the RFA in response.

   Native Forests · EPBC Act