Yesterday the media gathered at the proposed Wallum development at Brunswick Heads as Tamara Smith, Member for Ballina, held a conference to urge the NSW planning minister to refer the development the federal environment minister.
Ms Smith wants the Planning Minister, Paul Scully, to seek advice at the Federal level on their requirements to protect threatened species under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.
A path to extinction
Ms Smith said she would be raising this issue next week on the floor of Parliament.
‘There are two ways that this path to extinction for threatened species and an extraordinary ecosystem can be halted.
‘One is for either the State planning minister or the federal environment minister to call the development in and ensure that species are protected, or, for the developer to refer it to the federal environment minister.
‘There is no social license for this development and that is why over 6,000 local people are protesting and dozens are camping in the trees to halt the path of destruction. Once the bulldozers are in it’s over.’
Woody likes to make noise
During the media call a security guard known as Wallum Woody, spent several minutes ‘drilling’ the poles of the fence in the vicinity of the cameras and when he was asked to hold the noise down, he parked his car with the stereo blaring, next to the fence line.
The Wallum ecosystem is home to multiple threatened species, including the Wallum froglet, glossy black cockatoo and a small, rare population of coastal koalas.
Unique ecology and cultural values
Ecologist, Save Wallum campaigner and spokesperson for many of the community protesting the development, James Barrie, said that Wallum is irreplaceable. ‘The unique ecology, the cultural values. Even the story, the way it was hidden from the community, presented as a degraded land that the development will ‘ecologically enhance’ with artificial frog ponds that are known to fail for the threatened species they are meant to manage.’
‘We have to stand up to this kind of destruction that gets made permissible under loopholes in planning legislation. It’s actually illegal activity that the loopholes permit and not even the Forestry Commission could log these trees,’ said Mr Barrie.
Quit passing the buck
Ms Smith says she has written to the State and federal ministers asking them to quit buck-passing. ‘I want them to take the action available to them under the law to protect this precious place.’
Could someone please inform the uninitiated as to exactly where this Wallum development is planned to be built. Thanks
Indeed Brian, it’s all been rather vague. A rather understated Echo report informed that “ a statement on behalf of Arakwal Corp was read out regarding their support of the Wallum DA” at a recent Council meeting – together with the mention that consultation had taken place in 2009.
In light of this information, and the claims/counter claims we can read from protestors, “ecologists” and local residents, it would be good to get some proper investigative reporting and clarity. At one end we read that the area is pristine and home to critically endangered species ( irreparably threatened by the proposed development). At the other extreme are claims that it has been regularly cleared and slashed for a decade or more. Further, that the housing development will take up only a fraction of the area under discussion.
Surely it’s not that hard to do a little truth seeking here – and rather important if it’s to be made into a crucial issue for the upcoming local elections and the subject of some emotively worded and disparaging editorialising. Particularly if Council were not the determining authority anyway and most councillors were not on Council when the matter was first on public exhibition.
I’m of the view that we don’t need to cram as much development as possible onto our coastal fringes, just because it’s so lucrative to do so. Also that it has little to do with housing crises. However, the answers to some of these questions are extremely pertinent to the likelihood of the success of any appeals and how gung ho Council should be with ratepayer funds – which seems to be the crux of the divisions on Council.
Please don’t tell more people where it is , the residents close by are heartily sick of the protesters and the claims by “Save Wallum” about threatened species.
These illegal campers are trashing the area of land that is not being built on, they don’t have a plan of the development because that would show that most of their pretty pictures are of areas not in danger and some of their pictures are not even of Clarence owned land.
Truth is the only thing at serious risk in Wallum!
Jill, lies and disinformation will get you nowhere. There is no ‘trashing’ of this area happening and the action is taking place in an extremely sensitive manner. I live nearby and have seen no evidence of what you claim. Your sensationalist comments show that you are merely muckraking to serve the interests of the developer and associated people.
A Thank you to The Echo for reminding Byron that they do, indeed, have a local member in the state parliament!
Also, a Thank you to Lizardbreath for such a calm subtle explanation of recent events around Wallum.