Resumption of the Court of the People of Tasmania s1

RESUMPTION OF THE COURT OF THE PEOPLE OF TASMANIA

Witness Evidence Continued Interrogatories

ROLE — Prosecutorial questions of witness Richard BUTLER continued.

1. PROSECUTOR: Are you the same Richard Butler who has been recognised as a member of the court gallery who commented on this trial site, on 5th June 2009?

Mr. BUTLER: Yes I am the same person.

2. PROSECUTOR: Can you tell my why you wrote the following: - “I’ve just come in having sucked in some very clean air - dramatically, DRAMATICALLY cleaner than any in what is fast becoming a ‘dirty ditch’ The Tamar Valley. Yep. I’m off my nebuliser, off the Prednisalone and back onto maintenance doses of Seretide. Not a hint of any asthma, and I’m evening jogging again . Yep the clean air - much cleaner than Tamar regions is the Victorian Burnley Tunnel, The South East Freeway and the smog collecting in Ferntree Gully.

Those ads being run showing Boags Beer being produced from magic water (magic is right - its full of Atrizine) and those glossy ads printed in the Age on Sundays showing clean well retouched shots of vineyards on grassy slopes in retouched and clean air. Someone ought to get onto the ACCC for gross misrepresentation of reality. Clean Tasmania? Army Intelligence? Bartlett and Leadership? Effective EPA?

Apple schmapple- a disgraceful and disgusting gaggle of oxymorons.”

Mr. BUTLER: Because I am an asthmatic and have been so for around 35 years. My asthmatic condition is caused through a normalised response to cigarette smoke, woodsmoke, the atmosphere in pubs and other places where there is a lack of ventilation and smoke.

3. PROSECUTOR: (a) Can you tell me if you are aware of any Tasmanian situation related to smoke pollution? (b) If you are aware of any circumstances, can you tell me how you came to this knowledge?

Mr. BUTLER: (a)Yes I am aware through my own experiences, and my knowledge of others who have suffered similarly. Since moving interstate from Launceston to a capital city with over 4 million people my asthma management program and the incidence and severity of my asthma has substantially reduced from what it was in Launceston.

(b) Forestry and Gunns would seem to have a license to damage, abuse and cause harm in Tasmania. Not just to native forest, but to its people.

Around 18th May 2009, a friend and I had spent the best part of a week on the West Coast, and after a few days away needed to drive back to the Tamar Valley. We drove up past the Savage River mine, with its great grey green greasy tailings lake in the middle of some superb country. We drove through the Hellyer Gorge and out the other side towards Warratah where there are acres of destroyed bush - the ground laid bare except for rows of dead trees pushed up to make way for plantation timber. Further along, dense geometrically perfect rows of trees with moss and lichens growing on the trunks and limbs. No air, no growth and in some cases where they’ve ripped out the crop the scrub is reappearing and reclaiming some space. But not the forests that once were. They’re gone.

Then, in the late afternoon and into the early evening - so between 6.30 and 7.30 pm, when it was fully dark just outside Exeter I thought we were driving into the thickest fog I’d ever seen. The lights of the car seemed like white columns of concrete in front of the vehicle. It wasn’t fog, it was smoke - and I immediately got bad asthma - worse that I get in Melbourne where there are close to 3.5 million people and about a third as many cars. I had not had any Seretide for a week, and I didn’t seem to need it. I was immediately ill when we arrived and got out of the car. That evening I required over 52 doses of Ventolin across an 11-hour period. I needed nebulised product 4 times when I got back into Melbourne.

Inside the McMahon Exeter home the smell of smoke was enough to make me convinced there was a fire in the house, and we could not see across his paddock to the front gate - distance no more than 30 metres. I had clothes on the line and they all needed to be re-rinsed and a coat I have will need dry cleaning.

How this can continue year on year without someone picking up a weapon and causing some real indiscriminate harm is beyond me. Melbourne, Sydney and even Calcutta are not a patch on the crappy air in the Tamar Valley. It was the equivalent density to the recent fires in Victoria - the sun was as blocked there is it was at Exeter that day.

All advertising promoting the area as clean and pristine should be referred to the ACCC

4. PROSECUTOR: So from your answer to my Q.3, it appears the smoke was really thick and widespread. Was it coming from wood heaters and if not, where do you believe it was coming from?

Mr. BUTLER: Well later in the evening we drove towards Exeter and then up to Brady’s Lookout, and the closer we drove to Launceston the clearer the air was. So although it wasn’t clean air, it was clear that the burn came from areas other than Launceston.

5. PROSECUTOR: Is there anything more you wish to tell the jury about the damage smoke pollution has caused you or about particle pollution in general that you believe is relevant to this trial?

Mr. BUTLER: Only that my exposure to the atmosphere of the kind we experienced was probably about 8 hours, and although I slept on the floor in the evening to get as low as possible and as far away from the smoke that I could – my overall health suffered substantially, and had I been in my home state I would have self admitted to hospital

6. PROSECUTOR: You refer to medications necessary to get you back on track. Now we do have a witness medical practitioner, who will be giving evidence later. I will ask him about the extent of the use of Ventolin and Seretide, if they are powerful drugs and if they can be dangerous at the application to which you required. Meanwhile, I would like to ask you as a layman what you know and how you believe you ought administer your own relative medication?

Mr. BUTLER: My doctor is clear on dosages. In my case Ventolin is not meant to exceed 4 puffs every four hours. Exceeding that can cause other stresses like heart palpitations - however when my asthma gets 'out of control' oxygen transfer into my bloodstream can reduce to below 94% and when that occurs I can quickly slip into a very dangerous coma and in all likelihood - die. So on the rare occasion the preventive management fails to work - advice to me from a number of specialists in Melbourne has been to get into a quiet and passive position and keep taking the Ventolin as often as is needed to ease the difficulty in breathing.

My usual dose of Ventolin is by a conventional puffer however I needed to take 4 vials of Salbutamol – a much stronger concentration in liquid form and in this case the Salbutamol is poured into a mask and vaporized. I have only used a mask ventilator on two occasions in my life and this use was far more that I have ever previously used.

Seretide is a cortical steroid. It is a cortisone-based drug and is a de-sensitizer and anti-inflammatory drug, applied in my case to airways by breathing in a fine powder. So I breathe in a dose in the morning and in the evening.

7. PROSECUTOR: So it sounds to me that this Tasmanian experience makes you feel very angry, Mr BUTLER.

Mr. BUTLER: This is a bit obvious. I could have died. I was hardly skipping about in a state of joy.

8. PROSECUTOR: Mr BUTLER, I am no medical expert, but it sounds to me that you were very ill. Did it occur to you that you ought go to hospital?

Mr. BUTLER: At the time I was in my view, borderline overdosing on Ventolin and started to feel very ill. My pulse was very elevated and I was experiencing a number of other issues – very hot temperature and so on. I also became lightheaded and felt most secure and safe lying on the cold floor and moving as little as possible. Had we driven up to outpatients I would have been very car-sick or collapsed or both.

9. PROSECUTOR: Thank-you Mr. BUTLER. Is there anything further you need to add that that you believe is relevant to smoke pollution and this particular trial?

Mr. BUTLER: No.

10. PROSECUTOR: If you will, I would like you to comment on the vision of Tasmania Together in the context of this trial. The published vision is: - “Tasmania is an island community, unique for its natural and cultural environment, where people enjoy a prosperous lifestyle based on quality, creativity and opportunity.”

Mr. BUTLER: That may be the case up on the far north west coast – but less than 4 hours away in the Tamar Valley – the air at times is so poor it exceeds fine particulate legal levels under World Health Standards. The Tamar Valley – kind of clean one day and 3rd world the next. What a sick joke that is.

11. PROSECUTOR: Now finally Mr BUTLER, can you comment to the jury about the fact that here in Tasmania in order to avoid further health repercussions, our Department of Environmental Health recommendation to vulnerable persons, is to stay indoors when there is smoke pollution?

Mr. BUTLER: Well what a pathetic response from a pathetic and incomplete department. The wording should be re-drafted to announce:

Owing to the fact that we don’t have full control of pollutants and those who are legally allowed to pollute, we ask you to stay indoors until the proceeds of their activities subsides. After all, we wouldn’t want to have to engage in the legally sanctioned conduct from others - even if it kills a few people on the way - now… would we. ?

If it please your Honour.