Legal Fighting Fund| Contributions required| free speech at risk

Ekka

A landmark and test case is brewing.

Following a long documented thread of a specific school's trees here in Brisbane a contractor has threatened to sue me over publishing pictures of them doing the wrong thing.

The entire thread is here.

Chatswood Hills State School Tree Issues| NT school tree kills boy and were advised!

Read through it all.

As this case will be the first in Australia it will attract huge media attention. Only facts have been reported in the case, and the case so far has meant Q-Build (public works dept in QLD) has changed policy nationally and QAA is also amending it's advertising criteria. This alone, from a guy that has worked in the tree business for 10 years here, is a major breakthrough and came from my persistent efforts to expose the poor state of affairs and how the industry is so far behind the 8-ball here. As a former QAA member it was continually suppressed that things needed to change, but now from external pressures they have had to address it.

What this means to you all is that your right to take pictures and show them, your right to have an opinion is going under the hammer of a judge. If this case is lost then you can pretty much say that future changes and exposure that causes such spontaneous change will be hampered severely, and as seen in this example even suppressed by the organisations themselves.

I encourage you all, members or not to offer your support. At this stage we have merely received a threatening email from a solicitor, should that progress to a legal case I will then provide the avenue of accepting $'s for fighting the case. Any corporations providing legal assistance or size-able funding will be given advertising in the form of a thread in the sponsors section.

This will be a case watched across the globe, already the eyes are upon it. The damages to the whistle blower (me) so far is size-able with the principal of the school denying my advertising, the gardener threatening to come around my house and a pissed off climber on the phone. A number of QAA members have also voiced their concerns about the publishing of pictures, seems they're caring for their own more than the bigger picture.

In addition the contractor has not attempted to post or have his say on the forum. They just want it all swept under the carpet and are considering an injunction which means a Judges order to pull the thread.

Register your interest and support here. I reiterate, this will be a global landmark case for all forums owners. Think about it. Think about all those comments on blogs and You-Tube, your rights for an opinion denied.

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a_lopa

No problem and

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Galbee

Im in put me down for supporting it

JayD

We will help as much as we can.

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Level 4 Arborist

Ekka

I've updated the blue Navigation Bar for both registered and non registered people to have a direct link to this thread called Legal Donations.

If you belong to other forums etc please post a link to this thread, this affects millions of people globally. Get the word out there now.

To clarify a situation that occurred when 2clix dropped it's case against Whirlpool Broadband Forums (details here 2Clix (no longer) sues Whirlpool founder (part 6) - Forum feedback) any over funding or surplus will be donated to tree preservation, forestry and wilderness society types of places. There will be absolutely no profiteering from this what-so-ever. I funded treeworld from my pocket as a place for people to learn from, use and voice the industries problems. This is clear evidence of how "systems" are not working, how decent qualified people are getting shafted, and how people dont want to accept the new age of freedom and internet.

For the record, 2clix was also a Queensland company, funny that!

I quote a great post from Whirlpool forums in that thread above.

If anyone copies the pictures and posts them elsewhere or continues the story elsewhere .... well, there's not much I can do about that, maybe Lance will have to sue the world.

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pomme

i m in

newguy18

I'm in.I'll have a few bucks shortly.Eric consider the link posted at all 6 forums i'm a member of.Lance gonna sue them too?

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I ship USA saws out of the USA

old schooler

pomie

count me in

Ekka

Doubt that. Did you ever see the movie "The Man Who Sued God" with that funny bugger Billy Connelly?

Well, might be a new movie 'The Man Who Sued The Internet and Everyone On it"

Here in Australia we have an active forum called Not Good Enough. They like to expose stuff.

They've had their share of attempted suings. Not Good Enough - Australia's Customer Complaints Website :: Home

I have contacted them about this case too, see what happens.

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TrevMcRev

I'll help however i can

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ARGTrees

funny, all he needs to do is say "Got it wrong this time guys, these are the measures I have taken to correct.........." And thats it. We all make mistakes. Fighting to back something that is not correct is the first place stupid!!

Im there

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Chopper

Nothing like kicking the big guy in the goolies

treeseer

Mr. Frei,

Pictures and thread have been copied. If further groundless threats of legal proceedings are made against you, consider them posted on 5 forums in North America. I remind the solicitor and his client that many ISA chapters have their own forums as well.

The quality of work illustrated is abominable, and a threat to the safety of the workers, the contractors, the employers and the public. Organizations must do more than mandate a few basic safety items sometime next year. Don't they care about their dues-paying members today?

If they are to be credible they must take a stand NOW on their members' work following not only safety standards but tree care standards. Every QAA member who sees the current response, which was made in their name, should advocate for more responsibility all around.

willem

I'm in just let me know what to do.

Harrie

I've placed the Email on the ducth forum.

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Ekka

QAA mailed over 600 Tree Business May 2007 OHS Kit

QAA mailed not only it's entire member base a comprehensive OHS package including brochures and disks but also mailed it to as many tree people and businesses it could find ... they actually had telemarketers ringing up businesses from ads etc to get the info to them.

I then straight away loaded it up here in a Zip file.

OH&S for tree works Queensland zip file

There's no EXCUSE!

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Tree Machine

Just tell me what you need.

Pigdog

I'm not really understanding this.
So they want to sue because you posted pictures of something they done?

treevet

I support your cause intellectually and financially if it goes to court.

The photographs and subsequent reaction by Lance Tree Care screams...........

treevet

PS. Hope you got some deep pockets Lance old buddy, cause as you can see, Ekka's got a whole lot of buddies and I doubt if that lawyer is a relative of yours and..........................................................................................................









......you're in the wrong, my friend!

newguy18

Oh,lance is pretty much stuffed.

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I ship USA saws out of the USA

old schooler

funarty

Thats pretty crappy! Sue the internet and everyone on it Some people need a life!

newguy18

He's jst mad that Eric made him look bad,as well as the qaa.Good on him for fighting relentlsly.

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I ship USA saws out of the USA

old schooler

treevet

made himself look bad. needs to get out there and manage that crew. you're only as good as your weakest link.

Ekka

Dont forget, this was a public school (taxpayers own it) and a public works dept (tax payer funded Q-Build) job and jobsite. If this proceeds does it mean that you no longer are allowed to comment on how the govt spends your money and on who? Think very clearly on the whole range of issues here.

If indeed under the hierarchy of responsibility that contractor is deemed an employee of Q-Build then there's also some conflict as here in 2005 Uniform Defamation laws were passed that prohibit govt taking action, after all it's not like govt depend on sales and goodwill for their business to run, they just tax you.

For the record, on the job site I spoke with Byron in depth, and told him about treeworld and told him I would be publishing the pictures and told him to let Lance know etc. No doubt, Lance knows of this and many other threads, it was the the Chatswood thread that was used the whole time as the reference point. Lance's employer (Q-Build) whilst not making comment on this forum did send a letter and make time for one of their Directors to come and talk about the whole thing, and the changes they've made ... they knew it had to be fixed.

There's other cases if you look, here's another one where the tree company was identified ...

http://www.treeworld.info/f9/arboris...cture-674.html

... for the record that tree company has changed hands and has a new owner with different staff.

The easiest, fastest and safest way to get results, as seen from my previous attempts, is to show the world what is going on. To sweep all of this under the carpet and sue people would create a culture Hitler would be proud of.

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treekiwi

Support where its due!! where all here to help where we can

Don Ross

Hello Eric,

I support good practice and ethical and honest work practices. From what I have read you do too.

The only way to bring issues like the pseudo-scientific blunders of Professor Doktor Herr Klaus Mattheck and the voodoo-science of BCC arborists (as evidenced by the mess BCC arborists have made of New Farm Park) is to post factual information on a public forum such as Tree World.

I do not fear being sued because I have come across 15 lawyers whose unethical acts are breathtaking in their lawlessness.

In my dealings on a simple overhanging tree branch matter with BCC it is unusual to have so much trouble having BCC to cut back the branches to my fence line.

I went through all the legal hoops for 3.5 years & I got eventually up to Premier level. In October 2007, I tested out the media. The media here in Queensland could all get cameo roles in any film depicting Hans Chistian Andersen's story of the Emperor who was conned into wearing no clothes. Most of the media themselves here in Brisbane are so gullible it is a wonder they are not nudists in sympathy.

Now after 4.5 years the terrible legal, engineering, arboricultural and political messes could well cause immemse harm to many people's reputation. Most people have covered-up lower level crime because they do not understand the issues.

Not a single person looks for a simple pragmatic solution. Everybody is swayed by legal opinion but what if the legal opinion does not understand what arborists can and cannot do?

Still I could be wrong but on 30 August 2008 in Saturday's Courier Mail, our Former Premier was so confident of his secure legal postion that he crowed: "The world can get stuffed".

In today's Australian, he had lost most of his bombastic arrogance as his legal position is diabolically bad, in my opinion.

See the attached photopgraph.

Regards Don Ross

Attached Files

More subdued was our Former Premier's reaction to Qld politics now he has been told about the laws t (71.3 KB, 44 views)

Ekka

LOL, Teflon Beatty they call him coz nothing sticks he's that slippery.

Source: Peter Beattie loving LA and critics can &squo;get stuffed&squo; | The Courier-Mail
Yes, his walk away is what he's best at, damned quitter, only safe where people dont know him hence USA is perfect for Peter.

But I dont walk away.

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swanray

Good job!

Though it would have been a stronger case when the faces of the persons were not visible or been made inrecognisable. In the Netherlands one would have a case there against you -right of privacy.
Still I support you and hope that it will end in a positive verdict.
I will post the thread on some other fora.

blair duncanson

Count me in Ekka, let me know how i can help.
All the best.