Wilderness Society members lay out giant letters on Sydney's Bondi Beach, 03 October 2007, asking the federal government to stop the timber company Gunns Ltd proposed pulp mill in Tasmania. (Greg Wood/AFP/Getty Images)
The ABC presenter was with a protest group on Thursday calling for a Royal Commission in the approval of Gunns Ltd's proposed Bell Bay pulp mill in the state's north.
He and others refused a police direction to move away from the steps of the house and was arrested and taken into custody.
Mr Cundall said he'd never been arrested before and looked nervous before settling into the role as he walked away with a police officer to a waiting bus to the cheers of the mostly middle-aged-plus crowd of about 40 fellow protesters.
Prior to his arrest, Mr Cundall, who lives near the pulp mill site in the Tamar Valley, said its construction would cause economic, environmental, "and above all democratic" damage to the area.
"I'm here because I'm opposed to the corrupt mechanisms, and it was corrupt, that (Tasmania's) Pulp Mill Assessment Act went through parliament," he told reporters.
"It was a terrible thing that basically a proponent of the mill can actually make major donations to a party or both parties, and help to actually write the legislation, and it is then passed through parliament, with the members of parliament not allowed to oppose it or amend it.
"That to my mind is corruption and that's why I'm here and that's why I'm going to stay here."
Protest organiser Lucy Landon-Lane, the daughter of a retired Family Court judge, said the state government's Pulp Mill Assessment Act, enabling the mill's construction, was written with the help of Gunns lawyers and rushed through parliament.
"The deeply flawed piece of legislation effectively removes all those basic democratic rights to which every individual is entitled, and allows no right of redress should the mill be found to impact negatively, in any way whatsoever, on their lives," she said.
The protesters have failed previously in court action involving arguments against the Pulp Mill Assessment Act.
The pulp mill's construction has been approved by state and federal governments and Gunns is in the process of finding a financing partner before work begins.
