A Directions Hearing in the Gunns case was held on 9 February in the Supreme Court of Victoria, Melbourne. This followed a Directions Hearings on 25 January 2007.

On 9 February it was determined by His Honour Justice Bongiorno that the claim against Doctors for Native Forests be dismissed. Gunns were ordered to pay the full legal costs of Doctors for Native Forests.

A further hearing date was set for 27 February 2007. The hearing will take one to two days and involve legal argument over where the case goes from here. Gunns have submitted a further version of the statement of claim. This version brings back together 5 of the actions that Gunns had previously split into two groups. This constitutes the 5th or 6th version of the statement of claim(depending on how you judge what is a "new" version).

The hearing will also include argument on how Senator Bob Brown, Peg Putt MHA, Helen Gee and Dr Peter Pullinger will exit the case and what orders for costs should be made. Gunns advised last year they would not continue the case against these defendants.

The outcome of the hearing was reported on ABC online (see attached).