A court case involving Lismore City Council and a consortium of landowners pushing to develop a site on the North Lismore Plateau has had its final hearings, says environmental activist, Al Oshlack, who has been assisting Indigenous Elder Micky Ryan in matters relating to the case.
Oshlack told The Echo the issue had been going on for some years.
‘It’s the single biggest development in the area, with 742 lots proposed, plus super lots, so it could end up being 1,300 or even 1,400’.
He says he got involved as a respondent to Mackycorp Pty Ltd v Lismore City Council, which was before the NSW Land & Environment Court. The court is now the consent authority because it is hearing the appeal by the developers after the rejection of the proposal by the NRPP.
Council dragged into court
‘The [consent authority] Northern Regional Planning Panel [NRPP] rejected the DA and the developers appealed [against the NRPP decision to the Land & Environment Court]’.
Remarkably, he says that even though the developers appealed against the panel’s decision, it is the local council that is obliged to defend the NRPP’s decision in the courts.
‘I have [been] representing Micky Ryan around Aboriginal cultural issues with the site,’ he said.
‘Council didn’t want to defend cultural heritage – they crossed it out and didn’t tell us’.
According to Lismore Council’s website, ‘DA 5.2021.221.1 was decided by the Northern Regional Planning Panel at their meeting of 15 December 2022, with their determination being refusal’.
The DA was amended in 2024, and further amendments were made in 2025 but it still went to court.
According to Al Oshlack, ‘Lismore Council rolled over and didn’t defend the panel decision in court’.
He says apart from 9,000 vehicles that travel on Dunoon Road every day, it was also under water in the 2022 floods, making it a dangerous proposal.
‘The whole area is subject to bulk earthworks. We argue that 100,000s of artefacts could be lost if it goes ahead’.
‘A test excavation over 11 square metres found 21 artefacts. The total area is 21 ha, so even [if] you halved the number, you still get 100,000s.’
‘Our barrister said we had expert evidence and that cultural heritage may determine the case’, he said.
Lismore Council was asked by The Echo for comment on this matter last week, but no reply was received.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
