After several of its activists were arrested at a Central Highlands timber coupe for chaining themselves to machinery, the Bob Brown Foundation has decided it needs to bring in the big guns to bolster its forest protest campaign.
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The group confirmed that the woman jailed in NSW for infamously blockading the Sydney Harbour Bridge - Violet Coco - has arrived in Tasmania as a 'full-time environmental protector'.
Ms Coco served 13 days in prison last year before her conviction was quashed by an appeals court.
She and three others blocked one lane of the bridge with a Hino truck during peak hour in April 2022.
She was the first to be arrested and jailed under strict anti-protest laws passed in NSW that year.
Described by some media commentators as a "serial protester", Ms Coco has also burned a pram outside Parliament House in Canberra and once protested a mining operation while topless.
She said the "destruction" of Tasmanian forests must be stopped at its source.
"Logging increases bushfire risk exponentially," she said.
"We need to be protecting trees to sequester carbon and protecting our biodiversity, not logging these ancients."
Sustainable Timber Tasmania, the likely target of Ms Coco's activism, declined to comment specifically on Ms Coco's presence in the state.
STT general manager of operations Greg Hickey said the company "maintains the right for all workers to go home safe and well every day".
"Sustainable Timber Tasmania manages protests on Permanent Timber Production Zone land in accordance with its well-established forest protest management process," he said.
Tasmanian Minerals, Manufacturing and Energy Council chief executive Ray Mostogl criticised the Bob Brown Foundation's use of Violet Coco.
"I don't believe there would be too many Tasmanians who would make a positive judgement of an organisation promoting an interstate-based protester to come to Tasmania and tell us what is good for us," he said.
BBF spokesman Adam Burling said Ms Coco would be present in Tasmania for several weeks, and would likely attend protest actions during her time in the state.
Her presence comes at a critical time for Tasmanian industry, as Federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek considers approval of at least three major projects in the North, North-West and West.
Her decision on whether to veto a planned tailings dam needed for the continuation of the Rosebery Mine is imminent.
