Dingo snapper's 'trial by media'

Arthur Gorrie | 9th February 2010

LAWYER Terry O'Gorman has blasted the Queensland Government over an apparently deliberate attempt to prejudice the trial of photographer Jennifer Parkhurst.

PREJUDICE CLAIM: The state Department of Environment and Resource Management has been accused of prejudicing the trial of Rainbow Beach photographer Jennifer Parkhurst.

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VETERAN Civil Liberties lawyer Terry O’Gorman has blasted the Queensland Government over an apparently deliberate attempt to prejudice the trial of Fraser Island dingo advocate and Rainbow Beach photographer Jennifer Parkhurst.

Ms Parkhurst is due to make an initial appearance in Maryborough Magistrates Court next month on more than 40 charges alleging unapproved interaction with dingoes, including photographing and following them without written permission from the Department of Environment and Resource Management.

The charges are believed to have originated with a complaint by a former associate of Ms Parkhurst. A DERM officer and another person have also been charged after evidence allegedly obtained in a raid on Ms Parkhurst’s home.

DERM officers seized a large quantity of computer equipment, drives containing photographs and notes for a planned book, including a unique record of seven years of daily observations of dingoes in the wild.

She faces a maximum of two years jail and up to $300,000 in fines if convicted.

The raid was described by Noosa MP and Shadow Sustainability Minister Glen Elmes as “Gestapo-like” and reminiscent of political standover tactics such as “used to happen in Queensland some years ago.”

Gympie MP David Gibson also backed Ms Parkhurst as have members of the Save the Fraser Island Dingoes, an incorporated body of which she is vice president. The group has established a fighting fund to support her legal battle against the prosecution.

Mr O’Gorman told The Noosa Journal that the department had compromised Ms Parkhurst’s chances of a fair trial.

Mr O’Gorman said a press release from DERM about the charges was “fundamentally improper.

The department’s press release is unnecessarily prejudicial and descends in to something approaching prosecution advocacy.

“This is a thoroughly unattractive development,” he said.