Media

8th December

Next week, on December 14th FOTGC will be challenging current environmental law that allows approvals to be given despite dodgy offsets plans from the applicant, Main Roads WA.

‘It is a developer’s obligation under federal environment law to procure land elsewhere to compensate for, or “offset”, lost habitat or threatened flora.

This case brings a new element by asking if the government complied with the offset requirement, and is a potential landmark case testing how offsets can be used.’

This federal court challenge isn’t just about Gelorup because the ramifications of the outcome of this case can impact EVERY small environmental group around Australia fighting to retain their own pocket of remnant Bushlands, Woodlands, Forest, rainforest, grasslands, swampland, heathlands, coastland…the list goes on.

If anyone wishes to join a contingent heading to Perth early on Wednesday morning, please email Wendy wastbury49@yahoo.com.au to book a spot. A bus may be available depending on how many wish to go. It would leave Margaret River around 5.30- 6am (time to be confirmed), pick ups in Busselton and Bunbury, and return the same day. (Cost to be shared amongst participants)

Read the Sydney Morning Heralds reporting on this Case documented in November.

https://www.smh.com.au/.../landmark-federal-court...

Friends challenge minister’s clearing approval in court- Media release 28 October 2022

The Federal Court of Australia has today received the Friends of the Gelorup Corridor’s amended application for judicial review, paving the way for a legal challenge they hope will void the approval granted for works on the southern section of the Bunbury Outer Ring Road.

It’s the latest bid to save a stretch of habitat on the outskirts of Bunbury which is home to five native species of flora and fauna included in the Matters of National Environmental Significance category: the critically endangered Western Ringtail possum, three species of Black Cockatoo, the Black Stripe Minnow, Tuart Woodlands and Banksia Woodlands.

The Federal Court application challenges how the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act 1999) – administered by the Australian Government Department of the Environment – is applied and may have far-reaching impacts for a range of projects and decisions involving the Act.

Friends of the Gelorup Corridor Vice President, Sue Chapman, said the case raised important issues about the government approvals process for projects involving loss of biodiversity or habitat and would be a landmark determination in how offsets are used to approve projects in sensitive environments.

“In this case, the federal environment minister approved the Bunbury Outer Ring Road project subject to the creation of an offsets regime, but she rejected the compensation measures proposed,” said Ms Chapman.

“The project is continuing without any replacement regime before her so she has given a green light without knowing whether an acceptable offsets regime will ever be possible.”

Offsets are a requirement under the EPBC Act to compensate for a project’s environmental or biodiversity impacts at one site through activities at another site. Under the EPBC Act Offsets Policy, a minimum of 90 per cent of the offset requirements for any given impact must be met through direct offsets.

“The new federal Environment Minister’s first speech in parliament was all about the dangers of habitat destruction,” said Ms Chapman.

“We can’t reconcile that speech with her approval of this road construction. Perhaps there’s some information she’s missing over in Canberra because it’s pretty clear on the ground here in WA. She has it wrong on this one but she has the ability to make it right.

“If this road were on Barrow Island more effort would be put into an approvals process that preserved the environment instead of bulldozing it. We have the technology and we have the examples that prove conservation and development can co-exist.

“This is not about blocking this project; it’s about a safe and effective alternative that doesn’t push our threatened species to a brink they can’t recover from. No amount of offset planting can bring back extinct species.

“WA has the budget surplus to do this project in a sustainable and environmentally responsible way. Instead we’re doing it the easy way,” she said.

Environmentalist and former leader of the Australian Greens, Dr Bob Brown, said the fact the clearing was allowed to proceed was a travesty of justice that would be felt by future generations.

“Tanya Plibersek's approval that the woodland harbouring endangered possums and cockatoos could be bulldozed now and some other woodland will be found for those species in 6 to 18 months would fail both the pub and the kindergarten test,” said Dr Brown.

“I cannot see it withstanding the scrutiny of a court which has already ruled that the minister must take account of the precautionary principal. Minister Plibersek should do the right thing and save the wildlife. That's her job. The bulldozers have options but the critically endangered western ringtail possums do not.

"The absurdity of environmental offsets is now in the Federal Court's spotlight,” he said.

Ms Chapman said that preventing native wildlife extinction was everyone’s responsibility and it was encouraging that the community had rallied behind the group.

“The sad fact is that 40 years ago when the area was gazetted there were species of Australian native wildlife that no longer exist today,” said Ms Chapman.

“The Western Ringtail Possum population is fewer than 8,000 in the wild and only 10 per cent of their original range survives. We’ve already witnessed the heartbreaking death of a radio-collared possum the Gelorup corridor as a direct result of an injury sustained during clearing.

“Australia is losing more mammal species that any other country in the world, and yet, here we are, watching it happen with government-backed bulldozers and high-vis.”

The case is currently scheduled for hearing in the Federal Court at Perth on 14 and 15 December 2022.

The Friends of the Gelorup Corridor are raising funds to help pay for the legal challenge through their website. The group is also encouraging people interested in signing to petition to visit https://www.change.org/p/sos-save-the-critically-endangered-ringtail-possum-from-disappearing-forever. The petition currently has more than 22,000 signatures.

Fact file

· According to the World Wildlife Fund Living Planet Report 2022, global wildlife populations fell by 69 per cent on average between 1970 and 2018.

· The conservation status of Australian native flora or fauna is assessed according to factors under the categories outlined in the EPBC Act 1999: Conservation dependent; Vulnerable; Endangered; Critically endangered; Extinct in wild; Extinct.

· Australia has the highest rate of mammal extinctions in the world.

· Offsets definition

COURT CASE TO SAVE THE ENDANGERED RINGTAIL POSSUM REVIVED

28 September 2022

Update - September Media Release

Today, the federal Court made orders that have given new life to our case seeking to overturn the federal environment Minister’s decision to approve the construction of the Southern Bunbury Outer Ring Road in Western Australia.

It is not controversial that the road is to be built through habitat of the critically endangered species including the Western Ringtail Possum.

Main Roads Western Australia has to date cleared 11.5 hectares of bushland. Over 59 hectares of habitat and bushland remain in the development envelope, including the beautiful seasonal waterway and surrounds of Five Mile Brook (pictured) – home to the critically endangered Black Stripe Minnow.

The Court’s orders renew our hope that we can preserve the habitat for the critically endangered Western Ringtail Possum.

The case is scheduled for hearing in the Federal court on 14 and 15 December 2022.

You can access the orders here: https://www.comcourts.gov.au/file/Federal/P/WAD154/2022/3941699/event/31197637/document/2005926

Further information and pictures of habitat and clearing available on https://www.facebook.com/groups/736702400775182/?hoisted_section_header_type=recently_seen&multi_permalinks=759705211808234

https://www.facebook.com/southernBORRaction/

A collection of articles that voice our concerns about the Gelorup CorridoR

(Feel free to email any relevant articles through to Friends of the Gelorup Corridor for consideration.)

Two statements from ABC South West were released on Friday 26th Aug. The second statement made changes to the statement made by “MRWA” (Main Roads WA).

“To support the BORR moving forward” or “To support the Western Ringtail Possum”?????

Media Release

The motion passed by the Capel Shire Council regarding the Gelorup Corridor on Wednesday 30th June 2021 was not presented by Friends of the Gelorup Corridor Inc.

(FOTCG)

Councillor Southwell and Councillor Noonan are members of FOTCG but not part of the committee. Councillor Mogg is not a member of FOTCG

We support the relocation of the road to provide a long term sustainable route. We are not road builders or planners and therefore do not have the expertise to comment on an alternative route. 

FOTGC are an incorporated organisation that oppose the current suggested route for the Southern section of the Bunbury Outer Ring Road (BORR) through the Gelorup Corridor on environmental and social grounds. We recognise the need for a bypass around Bunbury however, in our opinion, the current planned route through the Gelorup Corridor is a short-term solution and not sustainable for the future of the SW.

 Our goals are to provide any individual or group, factual information that we have gathered from documentation and research so it can be used to spread our message and make the government accountable for a better BORR.

We want the route to provide a win/win solution for the community and commuters which includes locals, trucks and tourists.

LETTER TO EDITOR, SW TIMES            

We need a win-win-win solution on the Bunbury Outer Ring Road - Southern Section (BORR–S).  Widespread criticisms of the proposed route through the middle of the rural residential area of Gelorup have grown to huge proportions.

About 1100 submissions were received in the state and federal reviews of Main Roads WA’s (MRWA’s) proposal. This is an unusually high number, showing how extensive and diverse are condemnations of this section of the plan. Submission writers reside in most regions of WA, proving again that this is not a “backyard” issue – it’s a case of extremely bad planning by the WA government and Main Roads WA.

The description of opponents by Kevin Martin (South Western Times, March 11) as having “NIMBY attitudes” needs correction, because it is totally wrong, unprofessional, and plain nasty.

Many of the submission writers, including distinguished and expert opponents of the proposed southern section, as well as others like me, do not live in or near Gelorup – they offer their expertise and opinions as concerned outsiders. The planning profession encourages partnerships with local communities, and benefits from inputs of unique local knowledge in a collaborative process.  So let’s avoid slurs like NIMBY, which are more like a Trump slam, and focus on a cooperative process using verifiable information.

Virtually everyone wants the whole ring road to be built, but many strongly oppose the narrow, unsuitable short corridor at the southern end.

Hundreds of objections have pointed out that there is a huge area of largely cleared land close by (estimated to be at least 1,600 hectares) to the south east, and all good planning guidelines require major infrastructure to use cleared land rather than bushland. Such an alternative alignment would involve no residents losing their dream houses and land, no split within a local community, far less environmental damage, inclusion of land for a future train (not included in the MRWA route), a safer road (BORR-S route has complex interchanges and no median strip), and no significant noise and light pollution.   

MRWA has so far refused to publish a rigorous analysis of an alternative alignment, even though the EPA (WA) and federal authorities requested it to do so in the Reviews. An independent review of the best alternate route is needed as a matter of urgency.

The people of WA expect the McGowan government, with its massive majority, to find a win-win-win solution which builds the ring road without destroying the Gelorup environment and community. 

John Sherwood  OAM

Bunbury WA

 Friends of the Gelorup Corridor Inc. 

MEDIA RELEASE 

Date: 16th September 2020 

Friends of Gelorup Meeting with Planning Ministry and MRWA On Friday 4th September 2020, two members of the Friends of the Gelorup Corridor Inc. (FOTGC) met with a Senior Policy Adviser from the Ministry of Planning and Senior representatives from Main Road WA, at Dumas House in Perth. This meeting was organised and attended by MLA Don Punch in response to long standing local community concerns regarding MRWA’s selected route for the Southern section of the Bunbury Outer Ring Road (BORR), with particular reference to the Gelorup corridor. The FOTGC members believe that it was a constructive meeting wherein we had an opportunity to state our concerns about the BORR, particularly in relation to the lack of sustainability of this route that splits our Gelorup community into two parts. So, we remain opposed to the current route due to the unacceptably high negative impacts on the community regarding the environmental, social and economic factors It’s important to note that neither the Federal nor State environmental approvals have been granted. An eight-week Public Environmental Review period will open later this year, and the FOTGC will be holding an information session at that time for members of the public on how to make a public submission. 

In conclusion, the FOTGC and the Gelorup community are generally opposed to the current Southern BORR route, which we believe is one of the highest impact, least sustainable routes that MRWA could have chosen for the largest road infrastructure project ever to be built in the South West region of WA. 

We thank you for your support.