00:00:00.708 --> 00:00:04.338
(suspenseful instrumental music)

00:00:10.696 --> 00:00:12.083
- [Heidi] This is my story

00:00:12.083 --> 00:00:13.880
of how, as a young filmmaker,

00:00:13.880 --> 00:00:15.900
I became caught up in a nightmare

00:00:15.900 --> 00:00:17.878
that would rob years of my life.

00:00:17.878 --> 00:00:20.936
(suspenseful instrumental music)

00:00:20.936 --> 00:00:23.477
With my video camera,
I was trying to protect

00:00:23.477 --> 00:00:25.841
some of the world's oldest forests,

00:00:27.035 --> 00:00:28.531
but I threatened the interests

00:00:28.531 --> 00:00:30.885
of a billion-dollar logging corporation.

00:00:30.885 --> 00:00:32.795
(crashing)

00:00:34.083 --> 00:00:37.443
That company, Gunns
Limited, was determined

00:00:37.443 --> 00:00:40.201
to shut down free speech.

00:00:40.201 --> 00:00:44.289
It sued me and 19 others
for millions of dollars.

00:00:45.679 --> 00:00:48.377
We became known as the "Gunns 20".

00:00:48.377 --> 00:00:51.903
(suspenseful instrumental music)

00:00:53.293 --> 00:00:55.559
I was at risk of losing everything.

00:00:57.969 --> 00:01:00.655
It's only now that I
can go back to Tasmania

00:01:01.505 --> 00:01:04.783
to try and make sense of how I became

00:01:04.783 --> 00:01:06.419
Defendant 5.

00:01:06.419 --> 00:01:10.129
(somber instrumental music)

00:01:18.817 --> 00:01:20.277
This is me, Heidi.

00:01:21.227 --> 00:01:23.835
My parents were teachers
who loved traveling,

00:01:25.185 --> 00:01:27.923
so every school holidays,
they'd pack us kids up

00:01:27.923 --> 00:01:30.393
to go on their shoestring adventures.

00:01:31.721 --> 00:01:33.221
We camped around Australia,

00:01:33.221 --> 00:01:35.245
and backpacked throughout Asia.

00:01:40.893 --> 00:01:43.887
Travel opened my eyes to inequality.

00:01:43.887 --> 00:01:47.065
(gentle guitar music)

00:01:47.065 --> 00:01:50.001
As a teenager, I picked up a video camera,

00:01:50.001 --> 00:01:52.799
and making films became my passion.

00:01:52.799 --> 00:01:56.449
(gentle guitar music)

00:02:02.559 --> 00:02:06.107
(motor vehicle)

00:02:08.155 --> 00:02:10.655
I went to Tasmania when I was 23

00:02:10.655 --> 00:02:13.313
to make a film about the
island's ancient forests

00:02:13.313 --> 00:02:15.021
that were threatened by logging.

00:02:19.771 --> 00:02:20.635
(laughter)

00:02:20.635 --> 00:02:22.073
- [Voiceover] Have you seen Chasers Peak?

00:02:22.073 --> 00:02:22.625
- [Voiceover] Absolutely.

00:02:22.625 --> 00:02:24.863
- Well I would consider these the last

00:02:24.863 --> 00:02:26.581
of the giants of the northeast.

00:02:26.581 --> 00:02:29.741
- And you come here and you
still hold out some hope,

00:02:29.741 --> 00:02:32.919
but when you go to this in
the early stages of logging,

00:02:32.919 --> 00:02:36.697
with the machinery there,
that's the really heartbreaking

00:02:36.697 --> 00:02:37.503
thing of it.

00:02:39.331 --> 00:02:41.190
- [Voiceover] That's the logger's future

00:02:41.190 --> 00:02:42.668
that they're carting away.

00:02:42.668 --> 00:02:45.548
Their sons', their grandsons' jobs,

00:02:45.548 --> 00:02:48.586
they're carting them
down the road every day.

00:02:48.586 --> 00:02:51.416
(motor vehicle)

00:02:54.864 --> 00:02:57.922
- [Heidi] These were some of
the oldest trees on earth,

00:02:57.922 --> 00:03:00.422
and it broke my heart
to see them being logged

00:03:00.422 --> 00:03:02.280
and turned into wood chips,

00:03:02.280 --> 00:03:04.746
to be shipped to Japan to make paper.

00:03:07.096 --> 00:03:08.786
(gentle piano music)

00:03:08.786 --> 00:03:10.564
(motor vehicle)

00:03:10.564 --> 00:03:13.082
I documented the effects
the logging was having

00:03:13.082 --> 00:03:14.540
on the community.

00:03:14.540 --> 00:03:17.180
- If the wind blows, it
blows all the sawdust

00:03:17.180 --> 00:03:18.800
directly into Burnie,

00:03:18.800 --> 00:03:20.320
and all the residents in Burnie

00:03:20.320 --> 00:03:22.638
have been complaining for
years, and years, and years

00:03:22.638 --> 00:03:25.218
about not only breathing the dust in,

00:03:25.218 --> 00:03:26.726
but how ill they've been.

00:03:30.196 --> 00:03:31.696
- [Heidi] I wanted to use my camera

00:03:31.696 --> 00:03:33.664
to help protect the forests.

00:03:34.932 --> 00:03:37.769
I never imagined my films would get me

00:03:37.769 --> 00:03:41.369
and others into serious trouble.

00:03:41.369 --> 00:03:44.459
(motor vehicle)

00:03:46.769 --> 00:03:48.945
There was one company profiting most

00:03:48.945 --> 00:03:51.070
from the destruction of the forests.

00:03:51.960 --> 00:03:54.635
Gunns, the biggest woodchip company

00:03:54.635 --> 00:03:57.011
in the Southern Hemisphere.

00:03:57.011 --> 00:03:59.981
- Gunns was 80% of the
entire native forest sector

00:03:59.981 --> 00:04:03.421
in Tasmania, trashing five million tons,

00:04:03.421 --> 00:04:05.098
primarily, of all great forest.

00:04:05.098 --> 00:04:07.608
(motor vehicle)

00:04:09.318 --> 00:04:11.419
Every log truck on the road,

00:04:11.419 --> 00:04:13.760
every bit of polluted border cost,

00:04:13.760 --> 00:04:15.479
every scalped hill,

00:04:15.479 --> 00:04:18.019
every 1080 poison disaster,

00:04:18.019 --> 00:04:19.474
it all came back to Gunns.

00:04:19.474 --> 00:04:22.745
(chainsaw)

00:04:29.864 --> 00:04:31.739
(crash)

00:04:37.149 --> 00:04:40.499
(dramatic guitar music)

00:04:41.544 --> 00:04:43.479
- [Heidi] For three years,
I filmed the campaign

00:04:43.479 --> 00:04:45.544
to save Tasmania's forests.

00:04:48.114 --> 00:04:50.734
The protesters were taking more risks,

00:04:50.734 --> 00:04:53.290
and by filming them, so was I.

00:04:53.290 --> 00:04:54.924
- Stopping the Hampshire Woodchip Mill,

00:04:54.924 --> 00:04:55.979
which is the largest woodchip mill

00:04:55.979 --> 00:04:57.374
in the Southern Hemisphere.

00:04:57.374 --> 00:04:57.969
- [Voiceover] Good day, sir.

00:04:57.969 --> 00:04:58.919
How are you going this morning?

00:04:58.919 --> 00:05:00.554
- All right, don't touch any of that gear.

00:05:00.554 --> 00:05:02.369
- [Voiceover] You are trespassing,
and I'm requesting you

00:05:02.369 --> 00:05:03.674
to leave the site.

00:05:06.239 --> 00:05:08.559
- [Heidi] Protesters locked
themselves onto machinery

00:05:08.559 --> 00:05:10.334
to shut Gunns down.

00:05:10.334 --> 00:05:14.049
(exciting guitar music)

00:05:14.049 --> 00:05:17.485
As the campaign escalated,
I crossed a line

00:05:17.485 --> 00:05:20.255
from filmmaker to activist.

00:05:21.241 --> 00:05:23.115
- You're unable to want to leave.

00:05:23.115 --> 00:05:24.770
Gentlemen will escort you.

00:05:24.770 --> 00:05:25.280
OK? (mumbles)

00:05:25.280 --> 00:05:27.215
- [Heidi] Can I just get
your name and number,

00:05:27.215 --> 00:05:28.210
please, for our legal record?
- [Cop] Yes.

00:05:28.210 --> 00:05:29.870
- [Cop] Sergeant Tustin, 568.

00:05:31.740 --> 00:05:34.145
- [Heidi] My footage was
broadcast on the news.

00:05:35.455 --> 00:05:39.270
My little video camera defied
this giant corporation,

00:05:39.270 --> 00:05:42.110
exposing the truth and
showing how far people

00:05:42.110 --> 00:05:45.435
were willing to go to stand
up for what they believed in.

00:05:46.895 --> 00:05:50.456
(suspenseful instrumental music)

00:05:54.729 --> 00:05:56.187
The Wilderness Society,

00:05:56.187 --> 00:05:58.927
a leading Australian
environmental organization,

00:05:58.927 --> 00:06:00.725
hired me to make films for them.

00:06:00.725 --> 00:06:04.421
(suspenseful instrumental music)

00:06:04.421 --> 00:06:06.361
- So much of our campaign had become

00:06:06.361 --> 00:06:08.669
very, kind of, fact-based.

00:06:08.669 --> 00:06:11.197
We desperately needed something

00:06:11.197 --> 00:06:15.075
that would portray the
emotion of the campaign,

00:06:15.075 --> 00:06:17.715
and the material that you introduced

00:06:17.715 --> 00:06:21.247
in the form of that beautiful little film,

00:06:21.247 --> 00:06:24.985
suddenly actually made
the emotion very present.

00:06:24.985 --> 00:06:28.355
(helicopter)

00:06:32.243 --> 00:06:34.203
- [Heidi] Once the forests were cleared,

00:06:34.203 --> 00:06:37.151
poison was used to kill native wildlife.

00:06:38.579 --> 00:06:40.569
- The impact of those was quite profound.

00:06:40.569 --> 00:06:43.484
You'd go into a meeting
anywhere in the world,

00:06:43.484 --> 00:06:45.300
and I use them all over the world,

00:06:45.300 --> 00:06:48.100
and after seven minutes,
they'd be shocked and saying,

00:06:48.100 --> 00:06:49.640
"Wow, this is a big problem,

00:06:49.640 --> 00:06:51.107
"what do I have to do to help?"

00:06:51.107 --> 00:06:54.572
(protesters chanting)

00:06:54.572 --> 00:06:56.332
- [Heidi] Support for Tasmania's forests

00:06:56.332 --> 00:06:59.028
spread across Australia
and around the world.

00:06:59.028 --> 00:07:01.563
(protesters chanting)

00:07:01.563 --> 00:07:05.203
(exciting guitar music)

00:07:12.229 --> 00:07:14.561
But not everyone agreed.

00:07:14.561 --> 00:07:18.267
The fight to protect the
forest deeply divided Tasmania.

00:07:19.517 --> 00:07:22.617
(honking horn repeatedly)

00:07:25.984 --> 00:07:29.044
Forestry workers, many
of whom worked for Gunns,

00:07:29.044 --> 00:07:31.594
believed their futures were at stake.

00:07:31.594 --> 00:07:34.974
- The timber industry is the
most sustainable industry

00:07:34.974 --> 00:07:36.934
of any in this country.

00:07:36.934 --> 00:07:39.305
(cheering)

00:07:39.305 --> 00:07:41.184
- Taking forests, taking jobs!

00:07:41.184 --> 00:07:43.469
Taking forests, taking jobs!

00:07:43.469 --> 00:07:45.678
(jeering)

00:07:45.678 --> 00:07:47.315
- Will you go away?
(men mumbling)

00:07:47.315 --> 00:07:50.833
And just hurry on with your own thinking,

00:07:50.833 --> 00:07:52.378
and stop bullying.

00:07:52.378 --> 00:07:54.374
Stop being such a bully.

00:07:54.374 --> 00:07:56.970
- [Voiceover] Go and get
a job and leave us alone!

00:07:56.970 --> 00:08:00.340
(thunder and rainfall)

00:08:03.131 --> 00:08:04.267
- [Heidi] The conflict over logging

00:08:04.267 --> 00:08:08.888
was a major political
issue, and looking back now,

00:08:08.888 --> 00:08:11.813
I naively underestimated Gunns' reaction.

00:08:13.318 --> 00:08:17.414
(suspenseful instrumental music)

00:08:17.414 --> 00:08:20.329
Just before Christmas, a
strange man in black appeared

00:08:20.329 --> 00:08:22.593
at my office with a shocking delivery.

00:08:24.983 --> 00:08:28.760
Myself and 19 others
were being sued by Gunns

00:08:28.760 --> 00:08:31.365
for six and a half millions dollars.

00:08:32.815 --> 00:08:34.826
They claimed we were in a conspiracy

00:08:34.826 --> 00:08:36.692
to destroy their company.

00:08:41.017 --> 00:08:43.702
We became known as the Gunns 20.

00:08:48.367 --> 00:08:51.648
- I will now ask to come
before us, the Gunns 20,

00:08:51.648 --> 00:08:53.763
I saw named in the Gunns' writ.

00:08:53.763 --> 00:08:55.044
Alexander Marr.

00:08:55.044 --> 00:08:56.356
(applause)

00:08:56.356 --> 00:08:57.494
(mumbles)

00:08:57.494 --> 00:08:59.052
Heidi Douglas.

00:08:59.052 --> 00:08:59.830
(cheers and applause)

00:08:59.830 --> 00:09:01.464
- I'll never forget that day,

00:09:01.464 --> 00:09:03.762
because my life was changing,

00:09:03.762 --> 00:09:06.442
and I had no control over it anymore,

00:09:06.442 --> 00:09:08.400
and that feeling of stepping up there

00:09:08.400 --> 00:09:10.608
in front of the community and suddenly,

00:09:11.458 --> 00:09:15.968
I was a player in this massive chess game

00:09:15.968 --> 00:09:19.714
between an almighty, powerful corporation

00:09:19.714 --> 00:09:22.094
and really, a bunch of community members

00:09:22.094 --> 00:09:24.532
who've been standing
up for their backyards.

00:09:24.532 --> 00:09:27.802
(ominous instrumental music)

00:09:35.770 --> 00:09:39.430
The Gunns 20 defendants
were a disparate group.

00:09:39.430 --> 00:09:42.738
Campaigners, elected politicians,

00:09:43.768 --> 00:09:47.049
students, doctors,

00:09:47.049 --> 00:09:48.948
a writer,

00:09:48.948 --> 00:09:50.926
and a dentist.

00:09:50.926 --> 00:09:53.086
We all cared about the forests,

00:09:53.086 --> 00:09:55.266
but Gunns claimed we were working together

00:09:55.266 --> 00:09:57.476
to deliberately undermine their business.

00:09:59.226 --> 00:10:01.326
- The way Gunns had framed their case,

00:10:01.326 --> 00:10:04.034
there was a charge that there
was this overall campaign

00:10:04.034 --> 00:10:07.341
against Gunns and that
everybody had conspired

00:10:07.341 --> 00:10:11.025
to harm their business, and the
conspiracy consisted largely

00:10:11.025 --> 00:10:13.499
of the campaign to protect
Tasmania's forests,

00:10:13.499 --> 00:10:16.260
so that anybody who was
involved in that campaign

00:10:16.260 --> 00:10:18.116
was potentially a co-conspirator.

00:10:18.116 --> 00:10:20.476
They'd come together to form this plan,

00:10:20.476 --> 00:10:23.011
which we might have said
was about saving the forest,

00:10:23.011 --> 00:10:25.910
but in the pleadings, it became this plan

00:10:25.910 --> 00:10:28.031
to injure Gunns' business,

00:10:28.031 --> 00:10:32.030
and that was a very scary
precedent for free speech

00:10:32.030 --> 00:10:35.135
because it criminalized
the practice of democracy.

00:10:36.466 --> 00:10:38.346
- If they could get away with this,

00:10:38.346 --> 00:10:41.080
that would build a new body
of case law in Australia

00:10:41.080 --> 00:10:43.580
which would allow similar companies

00:10:43.580 --> 00:10:48.098
to go after any civil society
action that got in their way.

00:10:48.098 --> 00:10:50.352
- [Heidi] Why do you think
I personally was sued?

00:10:50.352 --> 00:10:54.932
- The case was fundamentally
about silencing dissent

00:10:54.932 --> 00:10:57.898
and trying to weaken the campaign,

00:10:59.408 --> 00:11:01.882
what was one of the most
powerful new campaign tools

00:11:01.882 --> 00:11:05.526
that needed to disappear,
and they were your films.

00:11:08.096 --> 00:11:10.126
- [Heidi] Only four
days after we were sued,

00:11:10.126 --> 00:11:13.322
it became clear why Gunns
was out to silence us.

00:11:14.512 --> 00:11:17.572
The company announced plans
to build a giant pulp mill

00:11:17.572 --> 00:11:19.770
in the Tamar Valley.

00:11:19.770 --> 00:11:22.238
This would double Gunns'
woodchip production.

00:11:26.666 --> 00:11:29.754
Gunns claimed this was an industrial zone.

00:11:30.762 --> 00:11:31.780
Doesn't look very industrial.

00:11:31.780 --> 00:11:33.598
- No, it doesn't look very industrial,

00:11:33.598 --> 00:11:35.516
and that's why we feel so
insulted with all this.

00:11:35.516 --> 00:11:36.574
They just have to come here and see

00:11:36.574 --> 00:11:39.403
how beautiful it is to know that.

00:11:39.403 --> 00:11:41.103
- [Heidi] The mill was fiercely opposed

00:11:41.103 --> 00:11:43.623
by people who feared it
would pollute the region

00:11:43.623 --> 00:11:45.401
beyond repair.

00:11:45.401 --> 00:11:48.381
- This was a billion dollar-plus company.

00:11:48.381 --> 00:11:50.721
Their share price had gone up every year

00:11:50.721 --> 00:11:51.979
for the previous four years,

00:11:51.979 --> 00:11:53.939
so they just thought it
was gonna keep going up

00:11:53.939 --> 00:11:56.419
and all they had to do
was stomp on a few people,

00:11:56.419 --> 00:11:59.259
build the biggest pulp
mill in Tasmania and then,

00:11:59.259 --> 00:12:02.909
lock the entire Tasmanian
economy into making them rich.

00:12:05.339 --> 00:12:08.729
(dramatic piano music)

00:12:11.419 --> 00:12:13.079
- [Heidi] Before I was sued,

00:12:13.079 --> 00:12:15.668
I'd been planning to buy my first home.

00:12:18.218 --> 00:12:21.438
My lawyers advised me that
if I lost this court case,

00:12:21.438 --> 00:12:23.806
Gunns could take everything I owned,

00:12:29.295 --> 00:12:32.250
but I refused to give up my dreams,

00:12:32.250 --> 00:12:34.778
and went ahead and bought the flat anyway.

00:12:37.308 --> 00:12:41.206
It wasn't the joyful experience
I imagined it would be.

00:12:41.206 --> 00:12:42.374
My house.

00:12:43.744 --> 00:12:46.362
My refuge was under siege.

00:12:46.362 --> 00:12:50.012
(ominous instrumental music)

00:12:53.842 --> 00:12:56.540
The threat became very
real once the case began

00:12:56.540 --> 00:12:58.150
in the Supreme Court.

00:13:02.018 --> 00:13:04.878
- The whole thing was about
building a conspiracy theory

00:13:04.878 --> 00:13:07.176
and they needed as many connections

00:13:07.176 --> 00:13:10.374
between as many of the
defendants as possible.

00:13:10.374 --> 00:13:13.884
(suspenseful piano music)

00:13:15.424 --> 00:13:18.152
- [Heidi] The conspiracy
claim was ridiculous,

00:13:18.152 --> 00:13:21.460
especially as many of us
had never even met before,

00:13:23.570 --> 00:13:26.420
but now, our fate was bound together.

00:13:27.610 --> 00:13:30.730
- The potential for 20
defendants to turn on each other

00:13:30.730 --> 00:13:33.038
in that environment was just huge.

00:13:33.978 --> 00:13:36.106
That was one of the big
fears in the beginning.

00:13:36.106 --> 00:13:38.966
You know, you dump 20
people in a room and say,

00:13:38.966 --> 00:13:41.344
"You're all liable for what
everyone else has done."

00:13:41.344 --> 00:13:43.522
(suspenseful piano music)

00:13:43.522 --> 00:13:46.222
But, everybody had their
own individual struggles

00:13:46.222 --> 00:13:47.190
with the case.

00:13:50.000 --> 00:13:52.908
- [Heidi] I realized that I
was a link that connected us.

00:13:54.278 --> 00:13:57.498
I had filmed everyone in
this room, and in doing so,

00:13:57.498 --> 00:13:59.496
had put us all at risk.

00:13:59.496 --> 00:14:02.906
(suspenseful instrumental music)

00:14:07.334 --> 00:14:10.394
- It was a clear issue for
where you said in the case

00:14:10.394 --> 00:14:13.634
that you were one of the links
between Wilderness Society

00:14:13.634 --> 00:14:16.594
and a number of the other defendants,

00:14:16.594 --> 00:14:18.770
where you'd been and filmed actions

00:14:18.770 --> 00:14:20.258
that weren't Wilderness Society actions

00:14:20.258 --> 00:14:21.789
and of someone who was
before you were working

00:14:21.789 --> 00:14:22.687
for the Wilderness Society

00:14:22.687 --> 00:14:23.705
or when you're only part-time

00:14:23.705 --> 00:14:25.544
and you're going out filming things

00:14:25.544 --> 00:14:27.522
'cause that's what you did.

00:14:27.522 --> 00:14:28.481
- [Voiceover] And your name?

00:14:28.481 --> 00:14:30.230
- [Heidi] I don't think I have
to give you my name, do I?

00:14:30.230 --> 00:14:31.895
- Sorry, (mumbles).

00:14:31.895 --> 00:14:32.996
You've got to give your own name.

00:14:32.996 --> 00:14:33.875
- [Heidi] That's fine.

00:14:33.875 --> 00:14:35.515
- All that was going to be

00:14:35.515 --> 00:14:36.813
where they were going to get the evidence

00:14:36.813 --> 00:14:38.371
for this conspiracy from,

00:14:38.371 --> 00:14:40.452
which has much broader ramifications

00:14:40.452 --> 00:14:43.378
for filmmakers and journalists generally

00:14:44.261 --> 00:14:45.929
because it puts them front and center

00:14:45.929 --> 00:14:47.909
in terms of people likely to be sued

00:14:47.909 --> 00:14:50.348
because then you can
drag all the documents

00:14:50.348 --> 00:14:53.324
and the information that
they've gathered into court.

00:14:53.324 --> 00:14:56.823
(lively guitar music)

00:15:01.354 --> 00:15:02.753
- [Heidi] I had no idea that the footage

00:15:02.753 --> 00:15:04.094
that I had been gathering

00:15:04.094 --> 00:15:06.652
was actually gonna be used as evidence.

00:15:06.652 --> 00:15:08.853
I was mortified that the
things I'd been doing

00:15:08.853 --> 00:15:11.852
to try and help the community
were now going to harm them,

00:15:11.852 --> 00:15:13.652
and my very right to film

00:15:13.652 --> 00:15:15.552
and to continue my work as a filmmaker

00:15:15.552 --> 00:15:16.870
was under question.

00:15:16.870 --> 00:15:18.550
I remember you calling me and asking me

00:15:18.550 --> 00:15:21.584
to stop filming any
independently organized protest,

00:15:21.584 --> 00:15:23.072
so why did you do that then?

00:15:24.061 --> 00:15:26.022
- At the time, I asked you

00:15:26.022 --> 00:15:29.782
to stop filming independent actions

00:15:29.782 --> 00:15:32.839
because this was, we were
clearly under surveillance,

00:15:32.839 --> 00:15:35.327
you in particular, clearly
under surveillance.

00:15:37.478 --> 00:15:39.038
The only way they could've

00:15:39.038 --> 00:15:40.957
even started making the allegations

00:15:40.957 --> 00:15:43.113
was to have people under surveillance.

00:15:43.113 --> 00:15:46.523
(suspenseful piano music)

00:15:50.194 --> 00:15:52.553
- I didn't know if I
was just being paranoid,

00:15:52.553 --> 00:15:55.893
but sometimes I could see
strange men following me

00:15:55.893 --> 00:15:57.613
and taking photos of me,

00:15:57.613 --> 00:16:01.453
especially if I was with other
defendants in public places,

00:16:01.453 --> 00:16:02.691
and I was scared.

00:16:02.691 --> 00:16:05.941
(suspenseful piano music)

00:16:07.331 --> 00:16:10.291
This was where I was
living at the time, alone,

00:16:10.291 --> 00:16:12.511
and then one day, I
found this camp directly

00:16:12.511 --> 00:16:14.772
across from my house, where it was obvious

00:16:14.772 --> 00:16:18.112
that somebody had been spending
a lot of time watching me,

00:16:18.112 --> 00:16:20.860
and I didn't feel safe to
live in my own home anymore.

00:16:23.931 --> 00:16:27.430
I filmed the only thing I was allowed to.

00:16:27.430 --> 00:16:28.105
Me.

00:16:28.105 --> 00:16:31.615
(suspenseful instrumental music)

00:16:32.505 --> 00:16:33.895
I just feel so...

00:16:36.524 --> 00:16:38.134
Disempowered now.

00:16:40.285 --> 00:16:42.359
I don't really know why.

00:16:42.359 --> 00:16:43.509
I just think that

00:16:45.569 --> 00:16:48.303
having somebody tell you
that you're so wrong.

00:16:50.971 --> 00:16:54.290
Sometimes I just want to die. (sobbing)

00:16:54.290 --> 00:16:57.740
(somber piano music)

00:17:17.707 --> 00:17:22.006
I remember calling you when
I was having a breakdown.

00:17:22.006 --> 00:17:24.427
You were the person I spoke
to, do you remember that?

00:17:24.427 --> 00:17:25.727
- Yes, I do.

00:17:25.727 --> 00:17:28.506
I do remember it quite well,

00:17:28.506 --> 00:17:30.296
and what you experienced,

00:17:30.296 --> 00:17:32.447
you were the first to experience it.

00:17:32.447 --> 00:17:35.500
That level of fearfulness,

00:17:35.500 --> 00:17:40.258
within two years, was
being widely experienced

00:17:40.258 --> 00:17:41.896
throughout the organization

00:17:41.896 --> 00:17:44.946
and throughout all of
the litigants as well.

00:17:47.356 --> 00:17:49.387
- [Heidi] Seven months
after we received the writ

00:17:49.387 --> 00:17:52.894
from Gunns, the judge
threw it out of court,

00:17:52.894 --> 00:17:54.374
saying the claims were vague,

00:17:54.374 --> 00:17:57.204
and didn't make a clear
case for a conspiracy.

00:18:00.751 --> 00:18:02.912
I've been fighting a fair bit
of depression about this case

00:18:02.912 --> 00:18:05.890
and I don't really wanna put
all my eggs in this basket

00:18:05.890 --> 00:18:07.567
and think, "Oh yeah, this is the end,"

00:18:07.567 --> 00:18:10.205
because I just can see this continuing on.

00:18:10.205 --> 00:18:13.585
Gunns is probably already
working on another writ.

00:18:13.585 --> 00:18:17.295
(suspenseful instrumental music)

00:18:18.325 --> 00:18:21.446
Sure enough, Gunns did come back to court,

00:18:21.446 --> 00:18:24.805
armed with a new writ three times the size

00:18:24.805 --> 00:18:26.265
of the first one.

00:18:26.265 --> 00:18:28.624
- Is this the stuff they
referred to right at the end?

00:18:28.624 --> 00:18:29.262
- [Voiceover] Yeah.

00:18:29.262 --> 00:18:32.081
- [Heidi] I knew it was
another work of fiction,

00:18:32.081 --> 00:18:34.242
but that wasn't the point.

00:18:34.242 --> 00:18:37.512
Gunns was winning by tying us up in court.

00:18:39.701 --> 00:18:42.681
- In the courts, Gunns had the firepower,

00:18:42.681 --> 00:18:44.222
the money, the silks,

00:18:44.222 --> 00:18:46.599
and they put aside millions
to fight this case,

00:18:46.599 --> 00:18:48.860
of shareholders' money, not theirs,

00:18:48.860 --> 00:18:50.618
but the individuals who are fighting

00:18:50.618 --> 00:18:53.378
to protect the forest
are personally exposed,

00:18:53.378 --> 00:18:56.098
while the board of Gunns, and its CEO,

00:18:56.098 --> 00:18:59.036
sits in splendored,
isolated protection knowing

00:18:59.036 --> 00:19:00.695
that even if they lose the case,

00:19:00.695 --> 00:19:02.552
not gonna cost them a penny.

00:19:02.552 --> 00:19:04.069
That's wrong.

00:19:04.069 --> 00:19:06.945
- Shag down after a hard day in the court.

00:19:06.945 --> 00:19:08.424
- [Heidi] So how did it
make you feel generally

00:19:08.424 --> 00:19:09.923
while the end of the day then?

00:19:09.923 --> 00:19:11.130
- Oh, just cranky.

00:19:12.081 --> 00:19:14.498
Such a waste of money and time. (laughs)

00:19:14.498 --> 00:19:17.079
Everybody's sitting there,
and thousands and thousands

00:19:17.079 --> 00:19:19.495
of dollars tied up in that courtroom.

00:19:19.495 --> 00:19:21.464
I don't care about winning, I can't win.

00:19:23.294 --> 00:19:26.231
I can, however, have bankrupt us.

00:19:26.231 --> 00:19:30.030
(dramatic guitar music)

00:19:30.030 --> 00:19:32.539
- [Heidi] I was angry and frustrated,

00:19:32.539 --> 00:19:34.898
and powerless to fight back.

00:19:34.898 --> 00:19:38.448
(dramatic instrumental music)

00:19:40.976 --> 00:19:44.024
But the attack on us brought
out many new supporters.

00:19:46.254 --> 00:19:49.234
One of them was Paul, a committed activist

00:19:49.234 --> 00:19:51.332
leading the pulp mill campaign.

00:19:51.332 --> 00:19:53.218
(Heidi mumbles)

00:19:53.218 --> 00:19:55.150
- Hello, Heidi.

00:19:55.150 --> 00:19:56.887
- [Heidi] Paul taught me to smile again.

00:19:56.887 --> 00:19:57.766
(Paul laughing)

00:19:57.766 --> 00:19:58.705
I can see.

00:19:58.705 --> 00:20:00.083
(Paul laughing)

00:20:00.083 --> 00:20:01.671
And we fell in love.

00:20:02.722 --> 00:20:05.619
(motor vehicle)

00:20:05.619 --> 00:20:06.968
(phone ringing)

00:20:08.797 --> 00:20:09.776
Hello, Heidi speaking.

00:20:09.776 --> 00:20:11.208
- [Voiceover] Version three
of the statement of claim

00:20:11.208 --> 00:20:12.387
has been chucked out.

00:20:12.387 --> 00:20:13.425
- Yay! (clapping)

00:20:13.425 --> 00:20:14.824
- [Voiceover] The judge
just went for the fact

00:20:14.824 --> 00:20:16.944
that they were basically claiming too much

00:20:16.944 --> 00:20:18.373
against too many people.

00:20:20.583 --> 00:20:22.520
- Kind of expected it to be thrown out

00:20:22.520 --> 00:20:25.610
because it's so ridiculously huge,

00:20:25.610 --> 00:20:29.697
this allegation against
all of the 20 of us, so,

00:20:29.697 --> 00:20:32.794
and what is it now, it's
been almost two years.

00:20:32.794 --> 00:20:35.771
- Well, they're gonna
different in order to

00:20:35.771 --> 00:20:37.748
resubmit it 'cause the
judge has made it plain,

00:20:37.748 --> 00:20:41.356
according to Greg, that if they
put in the same crap again,

00:20:41.356 --> 00:20:42.735
they're gonna cop it big time.

00:20:42.735 --> 00:20:45.785
(suspenseful instrumental music)

00:20:47.415 --> 00:20:50.054
- [Heidi] I was trying
to get on with my life,

00:20:50.054 --> 00:20:52.022
but there was no stopping Gunns.

00:20:53.733 --> 00:20:56.552
Every time the company
was thrown out of court,

00:20:56.552 --> 00:20:59.293
it came back again and again.

00:20:59.293 --> 00:21:02.842
(suspenseful instrumental music)

00:21:02.842 --> 00:21:06.201
Gunns wasn't giving up on
its pulp mill plans either.

00:21:06.201 --> 00:21:09.630
(suspenseful instrumental music)

00:21:13.780 --> 00:21:16.520
While we continued to
fight Gunns in court,

00:21:16.520 --> 00:21:20.201
the Tasmanian government
bypassed planning procedures

00:21:20.201 --> 00:21:23.020
and fast-tracked the mill.

00:21:23.020 --> 00:21:26.080
- We couldn't sit by and let
the opportunities presented

00:21:26.080 --> 00:21:29.837
for Tasmania by the pulp mill
slip through our fingers.

00:21:29.837 --> 00:21:33.728
(suspenseful instrumental music)

00:21:37.328 --> 00:21:40.276
- [Heidi] Gunns had staked
everything on the mill,

00:21:40.276 --> 00:21:44.235
and needed to borrow over two
billion dollars to build it.

00:21:44.235 --> 00:21:47.174
(suspenseful instrumental music)

00:21:47.174 --> 00:21:48.934
- Hello, would you like
some question and answer

00:21:48.934 --> 00:21:49.513
on the pulp mill?

00:21:49.513 --> 00:21:51.352
- [Heidi] My boyfriend,
Paul, led a campaign

00:21:51.352 --> 00:21:53.492
targeting banks and other investors

00:21:53.492 --> 00:21:56.172
to make them aware of
what Gunns were up to.

00:21:56.172 --> 00:21:59.543
(suspenseful instrumental music)

00:22:02.832 --> 00:22:05.333
After months of lobbying and protest,

00:22:05.333 --> 00:22:06.980
the strategy worked.

00:22:08.890 --> 00:22:12.131
The ANZ Bank withdrew their
support for the pulp mill,

00:22:12.131 --> 00:22:15.538
quickly followed by the other
big three Australian banks.

00:22:17.848 --> 00:22:20.368
This was a major setback for Gunns.

00:22:20.368 --> 00:22:23.979
(suspenseful instrumental music)

00:22:28.248 --> 00:22:30.389
Throughout the long
years of the court case

00:22:30.389 --> 00:22:34.087
and the controversy, the
forests continued to fall.

00:22:34.087 --> 00:22:37.336
(dramatic orchestral music)

00:22:47.302 --> 00:22:51.392
(suspenseful instrumental music)

00:23:00.914 --> 00:23:03.434
Though the court case
still loomed over me,

00:23:03.434 --> 00:23:05.831
I decided to follow my heart.

00:23:05.831 --> 00:23:07.417
(mumbling)

00:23:07.417 --> 00:23:08.353
- [Voiceover] Yeah, mate?

00:23:08.353 --> 00:23:09.158
- [Paul] Yeah, good morning.

00:23:09.158 --> 00:23:10.373
Thanks for hanging out the other night.

00:23:10.373 --> 00:23:11.495
- Yeah, (mumbles).

00:23:11.495 --> 00:23:12.191
- [Voiceover] Cheers.

00:23:12.191 --> 00:23:13.076
- [Voiceover] Good luck of it.

00:23:13.076 --> 00:23:14.095
- [Paul] Thank you.

00:23:15.341 --> 00:23:18.410
(gentle instrumental music)

00:23:20.840 --> 00:23:22.560
- [Heidi] But I was tying my new husband

00:23:22.560 --> 00:23:26.460
into this legal nightmare, and together,

00:23:26.460 --> 00:23:28.410
we risked losing everything.

00:23:28.410 --> 00:23:32.360
(gentle instrumental music)

00:23:34.670 --> 00:23:38.840
(bright instrumental music)

00:23:40.925 --> 00:23:43.685
Back in court, the judge ordered mediation

00:23:43.685 --> 00:23:45.970
to see if we could avoid a lengthy trial.

00:23:47.160 --> 00:23:49.315
We met with Gunns' lawyers.

00:23:49.315 --> 00:23:52.706
(bright instrumental music)

00:24:02.271 --> 00:24:04.927
The last month, we've been
going through mediation,

00:24:04.927 --> 00:24:09.861
and I've just had some
really exciting news

00:24:09.861 --> 00:24:12.194
that I'm finally out of the case.

00:24:12.194 --> 00:24:13.159
Yes!

00:24:16.525 --> 00:24:21.396
I have now regained my freedom of speech.

00:24:26.575 --> 00:24:30.412
After four years of proceedings
costing millions of dollars,

00:24:30.412 --> 00:24:33.407
Gunns had failed to
substantiate its claims,

00:24:33.407 --> 00:24:35.667
and agreed to drop its case against me

00:24:35.667 --> 00:24:37.747
and the Wilderness Society.

00:24:37.747 --> 00:24:40.863
(suspenseful instrumental music)

00:24:40.863 --> 00:24:44.002
But other defendants still
faced going to trial.

00:24:44.002 --> 00:24:47.817
(suspenseful instrumental music)

00:24:47.817 --> 00:24:52.247
However, I was finally free to
fight for the forests again.

00:24:53.212 --> 00:24:54.672
There was one European bank

00:24:54.672 --> 00:24:57.197
still considering financing Gunns' mill.

00:24:58.488 --> 00:25:02.162
I made a new film that revealed
what was really going on.

00:25:02.162 --> 00:25:07.162
- We had heard that there
was one Scandinavian bank

00:25:07.382 --> 00:25:12.078
who was considering seriously
investing in the project,

00:25:12.078 --> 00:25:14.693
and so we organized a meeting, and I said,

00:25:14.693 --> 00:25:16.752
"Look, before we start talking,

00:25:16.752 --> 00:25:19.493
"I just need to let you see

00:25:19.493 --> 00:25:22.349
"what you're joining your brand to."

00:25:22.349 --> 00:25:26.283
(suspenseful instrumental music)

00:25:26.283 --> 00:25:28.603
- [Heidi] The film showed
a napalm-like substance

00:25:28.603 --> 00:25:30.263
being dropped from helicopters

00:25:30.263 --> 00:25:32.954
to burn away what remained after logging.

00:25:39.023 --> 00:25:41.899
Within days of my film being
released on the Internet,

00:25:41.899 --> 00:25:43.595
thousands of the bank's customers

00:25:43.595 --> 00:25:46.169
threatened to close their accounts.

00:25:46.169 --> 00:25:48.669
The bank joined a long list of investors

00:25:48.669 --> 00:25:51.285
who refused to fund the mill.

00:25:51.285 --> 00:25:54.845
- They had this company doing
two things that appalled them.

00:25:54.845 --> 00:25:56.580
One was,

00:25:56.580 --> 00:25:58.400
you know, destroying
these beautiful forests

00:25:58.400 --> 00:26:00.160
and the other was suing people

00:26:00.160 --> 00:26:02.166
for standing up and trying to defend them.

00:26:06.715 --> 00:26:09.030
- [Heidi] With its share
price in free fall,

00:26:09.030 --> 00:26:12.337
Gunns desperately needed
to reform its reputation.

00:26:13.957 --> 00:26:16.306
The trial for the
remaining four defendants

00:26:16.306 --> 00:26:18.282
was just weeks away.

00:26:18.282 --> 00:26:21.872
(mournful instrumental music)

00:26:23.152 --> 00:26:26.917
(bright instrumental music)

00:26:29.668 --> 00:26:31.948
On the very eve of the trial,

00:26:31.948 --> 00:26:34.907
after five years of legal warfare,

00:26:34.907 --> 00:26:37.367
Gunns conceded defeat.

00:26:37.367 --> 00:26:40.384
(bright instrumental music)

00:26:40.384 --> 00:26:41.338
- Hi.

00:26:41.338 --> 00:26:42.662
Again, good job.

00:26:44.117 --> 00:26:44.935
- Hello!

00:26:46.657 --> 00:26:48.447
- Not bad, is it?

00:26:48.447 --> 00:26:50.447
- Gunns have totally capitulated

00:26:50.447 --> 00:26:53.527
and totally just had a resounding victory.

00:26:53.527 --> 00:26:57.449
(bright instrumental music)

00:26:57.449 --> 00:27:00.627
- [Heidi] All the remaining
Gunns 20 defendants

00:27:00.627 --> 00:27:02.703
were now free.

00:27:02.703 --> 00:27:03.459
(pops)

00:27:03.459 --> 00:27:05.367
(cheering)

00:27:07.055 --> 00:27:09.433
(laughter)

00:27:09.433 --> 00:27:10.591
- [Voiceover] He's ready
to drink the whole bottle.

00:27:10.591 --> 00:27:11.787
(Heidi laughs)

00:27:11.787 --> 00:27:14.447
- We had always hoped that Gunns

00:27:14.447 --> 00:27:16.467
would be part of the solution.

00:27:16.467 --> 00:27:19.267
Certainly, the purpose of the campaign

00:27:19.267 --> 00:27:22.825
was never to destroy Gunns,
it was to protect the forest.

00:27:22.825 --> 00:27:26.675
(somber instrumental music)

00:27:30.081 --> 00:27:32.401
- [Heidi] After dropping
the case against us,

00:27:32.401 --> 00:27:34.379
and under new management,

00:27:34.379 --> 00:27:37.307
Gunns announced it would
stop logging native forests.

00:27:42.337 --> 00:27:44.175
But it was too late.

00:27:44.175 --> 00:27:46.703
Abandoned by investors and the public,

00:27:47.733 --> 00:27:49.791
the company collapsed.

00:27:49.791 --> 00:27:53.141
(somber instrumental music)

00:27:55.111 --> 00:27:57.501
- What history says is if
the shareholders listened

00:27:57.501 --> 00:28:00.449
to us earlier, they'd be one
and a half billion dollars

00:28:00.449 --> 00:28:02.319
better off than they are today.

00:28:05.445 --> 00:28:08.655
(heavy machinery)

00:28:19.003 --> 00:28:22.113
(birds chirping)

00:28:24.281 --> 00:28:28.271
(dramatic piano music)

00:28:31.219 --> 00:28:33.099
- [Heidi] I know I paid
a really high price

00:28:33.099 --> 00:28:35.207
by getting involved in this story.

00:28:36.417 --> 00:28:38.697
I'd like to think that
I would do it all again,

00:28:38.697 --> 00:28:40.597
and be brave enough to be a witness

00:28:40.597 --> 00:28:44.017
and a filmmaker to an issue
that was dividing the community,

00:28:44.017 --> 00:28:47.297
because I now know that we
all had a responsibility

00:28:47.297 --> 00:28:49.305
to bring truth to light,

00:28:51.315 --> 00:28:54.631
but in the end, it was Gunns
who paid the ultimate price,

00:28:54.631 --> 00:28:56.971
and their investors, and
shareholders, and workers

00:28:56.971 --> 00:29:00.801
all lost out because Gunns
didn't listen to the community.

00:29:05.029 --> 00:29:08.719
(bright piano music)