In summary: Greens mayor backs Council staff’s position to keep legal advice confidential, which Save Wallum says could alter court outcome
With the community-led effort to protect rare ecological and protected wetlands in Brunswick Heads from urbanisation coming to a conclusion in the courts soon, Save Wallum have appealed to Greens Mayor Sarah Ndiaye to support the release of Council’s confidential legal advice.
The Echo has previously sought the release of the advice in the public interest, and Council staff refused, claiming it was privileged information.
Save Wallum believes it pertains to whether conditions were met by developer Clarence Property, and that information could influence the court’s decision.
Cr Michael Lyon said last week he would move a Council motion to have it released, while noting it was not of importance.
Save Wallum’s publicly-funded campaign took the developer to court after then mayor, Michael Lyon, had the numbers in Council to reject further money being spent on the case.
Svea Pittman from Save Wallum told The Echo the advice relates to the ‘B4 consent condition’, which requires an ecological and riparian buffer along the central watercourse on the proposed development site.
‘Developers in the federal court case have relied in part on the argument that the development approval was lawfully granted and that stringent consent conditions and regulatory mechanisms are in place to manage environmental impacts.
‘If there has been a failure to apply a consent condition, and the community has brought that to Council’s attention, then action must now be taken to remedy that error. At the very least, the various management plans should be aligned and not directly contradictory, as the WFMP and CEMP currently appear to be.
‘For community members, the central question remains straightforward: transparency. Until then, many residents say releasing the independent advice is the only way to resolve growing uncertainty around one of the Byron Shire’s most contentious developments’.
Mayor Sarah Ndiaye told The Echo, ‘My commitment to protecting Wallum has never wavered, and I hear the community’s deep concern about transparency and due process’.
‘I understand why people are frustrated. These are legitimate questions that deserve proper answers. What I can say is that Council has received legal advice, and that advice is subject to legal professional privilege.
‘Cr Lyon’s Notice of Motion means this will be debated at the 19 March Council meeting. That is the right place for this conversation. I’ll have more to say once Council has voted on this issue, but I thank the many people in the community that have worked tirelessly to protect the threatened species and their habitat on this site’.
Right to know
Yet Pittman says, ‘The community has a right to know. With zero social licence, and amidst such a heartfelt and broadly-based campaign to protect the Wallum land, any question regarding due process in relation to consent requirements or the planning process must be brought to light immediately’.
‘For more than two years, we have been asking Council to clarify whether the B4 consent condition has been properly met,’ she added.
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