Dear members and friends,
The State Government is proposing to override 15 Queensland laws to clear the path for all their 2032 Olympic Games developments – including the Redlands Whitewater Centre proposed for the special conservation lands of the Birkdale Community Precinct.
These are serious laws like the Planning Act, Environmental Protection Act, Queensland Heritage Act and more.
These laws protect Queensland’s unique history and safeguard irreplaceable parts of our environment and heritage against short-sighted decision making.
By disregarding these laws, and the protections they afford, the State Government is choosing to deny democracy and the rights of communities everywhere to have a voice.
Clearly, we will be unable to protect our precious green spaces, and the creatures that inhabit them. We will be unable to protect our Indigenous and European cultural heritage, and we will be unable to protect our quality of life.
Please consider sending a submission to SDIWC@parliament.qld.gov.au – deadline is midday May 20th, 2025.
The submission must include your full name, email address, home address and daytime phone number to be considered by the Parliamentary Committee.
A sample submission is below, simply copy and paste or put into your own words. Submissions can be brief if you wish.
Dear sir/madam,
I write to object to the proposed ‘Planning (Social Impact & Community Benefit) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2025’ and wish to make the following comments:
All developments for the 2032 Brisbane Olympics must remain subject to existing Queensland Planning laws, especially those pertaining to environment, conservation and cultural heritage protection.
The community’s democratic right to have a say in the development application process must remain, otherwise public confidence in planning integrity will be seriously undermined.
Of great concern is the bill proposes that projects associated with the 2032 Brisbane Olympics be exempted from core environmental and planning laws.
This retreat from environmental responsibility is at a time when we can least afford it. In its current form, it would have profound and irreversible consequences on Queensland’s environment, particularly in relation to the survival of one of our most iconic and endangered species: the koala.
Koalas are a symbol of Australian wildlife, recognised worldwide. They are currently listed as endangered under both the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) and the Nature Conservation Act 1992 (Qld).
The amendments proposed in this bill run contrary to those responsibilities and will push them further toward extinction.
While the State has mapped koala habitat and priority habitat, Olympic infrastructure and other state projects are planned to significantly impact this.
A further relaxation of environmental standards will have a negative impact on koalas from multiple perspectives:
– Loss of habitat and individual preferred trees will impact the established home ranges of koalas and other wildlife.
– Both the removal of habitat and construction will change or sever existing travel routes and movement corridors for wildlife.
– This will increase the distance that they must travel which will likely increase their required nutrient intake in an already challenging environment and increase mortality from car strikes, domestic dog attacks, disease and territorial challenges.
– Already fragile populations will become further isolated, further eroding genetic diversity.
– This will increase the risk of local extinctions which will further impact the viability of koalas across the state.
Koala populations in Queensland have experienced a catastrophic decline over the last two decades due to habitat loss. Already many areas across South-East Queensland have had habitat decimated to fragmented patches which are increasingly at risk of no longer being able to support viable populations.
This will be further exacerbated by the relaxation of planning and environmental safeguards.
Fundamental conservation safeguards must not be bypassed for political expediency. It is critical that this bill is not passed, and that the integrity of environmental laws are upheld, including full environmental scrutiny for Olympic-related and state-prioritised projects.
Furthermore, additional safeguards must be implemented as part of the SEQ Koala Conservation Strategy to:
– Significantly reduce the amount of full and partial clearance of koala habitat and priority areas
– Significantly increase funding for restoration of koala habitat, wildlife corridors and wildlife movement infrastructure.
The Queensland Government has both a legal responsibility for our koalas and a moral responsibility to safeguard them for future generations.
It is not within the public interest to approve a bill that enables short-term gain at the cost of permanent environmental degradation and species loss.
Allowing this bill to pass would signal the Queensland Government’s unwillingness to protect our most vulnerable and to exchange infrastructure for this iconic species.
Once these habitats are lost, they cannot be replaced. Once koalas are extinct in the wild, no Olympic medal, no piece of infrastructure, no political achievement will be able to bring them back.
Their extinction would be a national disgrace and an irrevocable loss for future generations.
Short-term economic and political interests must not be prioritised over long-term ecological stewardship and biodiversity conservation.
I urge the Queensland Parliament to act in the interest of future generations, biodiversity, moral decency and the very identity of our state.
Protect our koalas—do not pass this bill.
Yours sincerely
Name and address
Daytime phone number
