Redlands2030 People concerned about Walker Group’s plans for constructing 3,600 dwellings on dredged wetlands next to Toondah Harbour can use a Redlands2030 template for making submissions to the Federal Government.
Increased traffic congestion, inadequate infrastructure, destruction of protected Ramsar wetlands, reduction of the Marine Park and loss of the local koalas are some of the project’s likely impacts if a mega residential development in Moreton Bay is approved.
Email submissions to epbc.referrals@environment.gov.au
************
Referrals
Environment Assessment Branch
Department of the Environment
GPO Box 787
Canberra ACT 2601 I am writing to express my concern in regards to the following referral:
Reference Number: 2018/8225
EPBC Case Title: WALKER GROUP HOLDINGS PTY LIMITED/Tourism and Recreation/Numerous lots/Queensland/Toondah Harbour Development, Moreton Bay, Qld
I urge the Department of Environment and Energy to declare this referral as a ‘clearly unacceptable action’ under the EPBC Act. My concerns are highlighted below:
Ramsar wetlands, migratory species and threatened species
This development proposal will have negative impacts on three Matters of National Environmental Significance protected under the EPBC Act: a wetland of international importance, listed threatened species and migratory species.
Further, as a contracting party to the Ramsar Convention, Australia has an international obligation to protect Ramsar-listed wetlands. Reduction of a Ramsar site’s area can only take place if the change is urgent and in the national interest. A private sector real estate development meets neither criteria.
Any development that intends to reclaim part of a Ramsar site should be declared a ‘clearly unacceptable action’ under the EPBC Act.
The proposed development would destroy feeding grounds used by various shorebird species including the vulnerable Bar-tailed godwit and the critically endangered Eastern curlew.
In a recent decision about the Shoreline project (2016/7776), the Federal Government imposed strict conditions to prevent any impacts on the Eastern curlew’s foraging area. This level of protection would preclude any dredging and development in shorebird feeding areas in the Toondah Harbour Priority Development area.
Koalas
A tracking program managed by the Koala Action Group shows that the area around Toondah Harbour contains an active and healthy koala population.
These koalas are likely to be wiped out if the proposed project is approved due to construction disturbance, and ongoing impacts of traffic and human activity (including an increase in the area’s dog population) resulting from up to 3,600 new dwellings.
Construction impacts
EPBC referral guidelines specify the need to “provide a detailed description of the proposed action including all proposed activities”. Certain key elements of the construction appear to be either missing entirely from the description or lacking in detail. These include:
Location and heights of proposed multi-storey buildings
Details of proposed dredging and reclamation work including risks of acid sulphate soils and impact of released silt on corals in Moreton Bay
Method of constructing the new land forms including foundations, bunds, revetment walls, and transport of material to and from site over a 20 year construction period.
Assessment of risk from increased sea levels and storm surges due to global warming.
Project benefits are not justified
Attempts to justify this project on the basis that it would provide community benefits are inadequately detailed and in some cases misleading. Many important details have been withheld from the community due to secretive arrangements between the project proponent, local council and the State Government.
Claims that this project will offset loss of jobs when sand mining finishes on North Stradbroke Island in 2019 are not credible. In recent years this industry has employed very few people and North Stradbroke Island is already transitioning to a future based on eco-tourism.
The value of community infrastructure and benefit proposed by the developer is not made clear in the referral nor is there any certainty that such infrastructure and benefits will actually be provided as described in the referral.
Developer’s track record
The Walker Group has no publicly available environmental policy and has never done any project subject to a controlled action under the EPBC Act. Multiple breaches of environmental laws (illegal tree clearing) are disclosed in Walker Group’s current EPBC referral.
Support for the project is overstated
Walker Group implies that its project is widely supported by listing a number of Government plans and cites previous consultation. These documents were prepared in the context of an upgrade of the Toondah ferry and barge facilities, not the proposed mega residential project which has not been subject to normal town planning. Issues such as infrastructure requirements (especially traffic and transport) have not been properly addressed.
Walker Group’s referral includes a State Government report on consultation undertaken in 2014. This consultation process was flawed. Various technical and environmental studies were withheld from the community and the community was not made aware of environmental impacts of developing in the priority development area. The scope of development put forward in 2014 was vastly less than the project being proposed by Walker Group. Apart from the EPBC process there has been no genuine community consultation about the various Toondah development plans put forward by Walker Group since 2015.
There is another alternative
If Walker Group’s Toondah plan is not approved, the process of upgrading ferry terminal and associated facilities could be funded and executed by the State Government in the same way that other transport infrastructure is improved in Queensland, such as recently completed redevelopment of the bus/ferry terminal at Weinam Creek.
Other matters
………………………………………………………………………
Signed:…………................………Date:………………
Name (printed):……………………………………………………………
Address:…………………………….....….(House # / Street)
…………………...................…………..(Suburb/ Postcode) ... See more
People concerned about Walker Group’s plans for constructing 3,600 dwellings on dredged wetlands next to Toondah Harbour can use a Redlands2030 template for making submissions to the Federal Government.
Increased traffic congestion, inadequate infrastructure, destruction of protected Ramsar wetlands, reduction of the Marine Park and loss of the local koalas are some of the project’s likely impacts if a mega residential development in Moreton Bay is approved.
Email submissions to epbc.referrals@environment.gov.au
************
Referrals
Environment Assessment Branch
Department of the Environment
GPO Box 787
Canberra ACT 2601 I am writing to express my concern in regards to the following referral:
Reference Number: 2018/8225
EPBC Case Title: WALKER GROUP HOLDINGS PTY LIMITED/Tourism and Recreation/Numerous lots/Queensland/Toondah Harbour Development, Moreton Bay, Qld
I urge the Department of Environment and Energy to declare this referral as a ‘clearly unacceptable action’ under the EPBC Act. My concerns are highlighted below:
Ramsar wetlands, migratory species and threatened species
This development proposal will have negative impacts on three Matters of National Environmental Significance protected under the EPBC Act: a wetland of international importance, listed threatened species and migratory species.
Further, as a contracting party to the Ramsar Convention, Australia has an international obligation to protect Ramsar-listed wetlands. Reduction of a Ramsar site’s area can only take place if the change is urgent and in the national interest. A private sector real estate development meets neither criteria.
Any development that intends to reclaim part of a Ramsar site should be declared a ‘clearly unacceptable action’ under the EPBC Act.
The proposed development would destroy feeding grounds used by various shorebird species including the vulnerable Bar-tailed godwit and the critically endangered Eastern curlew.
In a recent decision about the Shoreline project (2016/7776), the Federal Government imposed strict conditions to prevent any impacts on the Eastern curlew’s foraging area. This level of protection would preclude any dredging and development in shorebird feeding areas in the Toondah Harbour Priority Development area.
Koalas
A tracking program managed by the Koala Action Group shows that the area around Toondah Harbour contains an active and healthy koala population.
These koalas are likely to be wiped out if the proposed project is approved due to construction disturbance, and ongoing impacts of traffic and human activity (including an increase in the area’s dog population) resulting from up to 3,600 new dwellings.
Construction impacts
EPBC referral guidelines specify the need to “provide a detailed description of the proposed action including all proposed activities”. Certain key elements of the construction appear to be either missing entirely from the description or lacking in detail. These include:
Location and heights of proposed multi-storey buildings
Details of proposed dredging and reclamation work including risks of acid sulphate soils and impact of released silt on corals in Moreton Bay
Method of constructing the new land forms including foundations, bunds, revetment walls, and transport of material to and from site over a 20 year construction period.
Assessment of risk from increased sea levels and storm surges due to global warming.
Project benefits are not justified
Attempts to justify this project on the basis that it would provide community benefits are inadequately detailed and in some cases misleading. Many important details have been withheld from the community due to secretive arrangements between the project proponent, local council and the State Government.
Claims that this project will offset loss of jobs when sand mining finishes on North Stradbroke Island in 2019 are not credible. In recent years this industry has employed very few people and North Stradbroke Island is already transitioning to a future based on eco-tourism.
The value of community infrastructure and benefit proposed by the developer is not made clear in the referral nor is there any certainty that such infrastructure and benefits will actually be provided as described in the referral.
Developer’s track record
The Walker Group has no publicly available environmental policy and has never done any project subject to a controlled action under the EPBC Act. Multiple breaches of environmental laws (illegal tree clearing) are disclosed in Walker Group’s current EPBC referral.
Support for the project is overstated
Walker Group implies that its project is widely supported by listing a number of Government plans and cites previous consultation. These documents were prepared in the context of an upgrade of the Toondah ferry and barge facilities, not the proposed mega residential project which has not been subject to normal town planning. Issues such as infrastructure requirements (especially traffic and transport) have not been properly addressed.
Walker Group’s referral includes a State Government report on consultation undertaken in 2014. This consultation process was flawed. Various technical and environmental studies were withheld from the community and the community was not made aware of environmental impacts of developing in the priority development area. The scope of development put forward in 2014 was vastly less than the project being proposed by Walker Group. Apart from the EPBC process there has been no genuine community consultation about the various Toondah development plans put forward by Walker Group since 2015.
There is another alternative
If Walker Group’s Toondah plan is not approved, the process of upgrading ferry terminal and associated facilities could be funded and executed by the State Government in the same way that other transport infrastructure is improved in Queensland, such as recently completed redevelopment of the bus/ferry terminal at Weinam Creek.
Other matters
………………………………………………………………………
Signed:…………................………Date:………………
Name (printed):……………………………………………………………
Address:…………………………….....….(House # / Street)
…………………...................…………..(Suburb/ Postcode) ... See more
