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| Scott, Anna and Sam at the wetlands. Pic by Glenn Hunt |
Here is a transcript of my feature and news story in The Weekend Australian about the drainage of the wetlands (
see here for before-and-after images of that, and links at the bottom for further action options). I try to explore here the wider implications of this disastrous (though reversible) move for environmental decision-making in Australia. Glenn's picture (above) made the front page.
Wildlife left high and dry
Inquirer Section.
Hundreds of ducks,
herons and other waterbirds jostled for space in the calm waters of
the Yandina Creek Wetlands in the heart of Queensland's bustling
Sunshine Coast, as stately black-necked storks and brolgas patrolled
the shoreline. That was the scene until the entire 200 hectares of
wetland, regarded as a site of international importance, were drained
in just 48 hours last weekend.
Swans and other
protected waterbirds were attending nests at the time; an unknown
number of stranded chicks are likely to have starved or fallen prey
to dogs and foxes. The area provided refuge to federally listed
endangered and critically endangered wildlife, along with numerous
migratory shorebirds protected under three treaties to which
Australia is a signatory.
The wetlands had
great potential, according to expert analysis, to mitigate the
consequences of flooding in low-lying parts of the Sunshine Coast -
one of Australia's fastest growing cities – that are highly
flood-prone. Ecologists and wildlife experts who viewed the site
regarded it as having outstanding biodiversity value. Community
groups say that in a region which trumpets its appeal as an
ecotourism destination, the wetlands could have been a big drawcard.
In the end, none of
these arguments counted. In a move that highlights fundamental
pitfalls in environmental decision-making in Australia, the federal
and Queensland governments, along with local authorities, made no
effort to prevent the wetlands from being drained. Why? Environmental
regulators concluded that the Yandina Creek Wetlands were unworthy of
protection because they were unnatural.
Until this week, the
wetlands were a mosaic of mangroves, reed-beds, grasslands and
deep-water pools. Today, what remains is a two kilometre-stretch of
mud and sludge wedged between the imposing peaks of Mt Ninderry and
Mt Coolum. Close by are the Sunshine Coast's sparkling beaches and
the Palmer Coolum Resort, owned by local federal MP Clive Palmer, who
has added his voice to a growing chorus of criticism being directed
at federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt and state and local
authorities for failing to protect the wetlands.
Controversy over the
fate of the wetlands raises wider issues about political correctness
and public service mindset. The wetlands could be drained, according
to government correspondence, because they had been “highly
modified” by human intervention; they were therefore not regarded
as being a “high priority” for conservation. Endangered wildlife
and other attributes were irrelevant because the wetlands did not fit
the regulatory definition of “nature”.
It is the same
mindset that says the rangelands of inland Australia, or the savannah
woodlands of the tropical north, can be protected not by good
management practices on grazing properties, but only by locking up
extensive “natural” areas in national parks. The parks are then
left largely to manage themselves, notwithstanding a host of
human-related problems ranging from plagues of feral animals and
exotic weed invasions to out-of-control wildfires.
It is not just
governments that resonate with this mindset. The country's peak
conservation body, the Australian Conservation Foundation, ignored
repeated pleas from residents and wildlife experts to support efforts
to protect the Sunshine Coast wetlands.
The wetlands
occurred on two properties that grew sugar cane before the nearby
Nambour sugar mill closed in 2003. Much of the 10,000ha of Sunshine
Coast cane land was acquired at the time by property developers as
long-term investments. The owners await the seemingly inevitable time
when authorities, under pressure from the housing needs of South-East
Queensland's booming population, rezone the land from rural so that
real estate projects can proceed.
The Yandina Creek
landholders had over the past decade left their property to fend for
itself. The cane lands are criss-crossed by drainage canals connected
to the tidal Maroochy River, with water flow being formerly
controlled by floodgates. The floodgates fell into disrepair,
allowing low-lying land to be inundated by millions of litres of
water twice daily at high tide.
The result was the
fortuitous creation of a wetland which had the bonus of being
self-managing; the regular flow of saline water ensured that weeds
and vegetation regrowth were kept under control. The resilience of
Australian wildlife was reflected in the way in which the
artificially created wetlands were embraced quickly and
comprehensively by large numbers of waterbirds, native rodents, frogs
and other wildlife.
Importantly, old
aerial photographs suggest that the new wetlands closely resembled
natural habitat that occurred widely in the Maroochy River lowlands
before the development of the cane industry last Century.
Commonwealth
guidelines indicate that the wetlands are internationally and
nationally significant - a point not disputed by government. Under
the Ramsar Convention on wetlands protection, the numbers of Latham's
Snipe and other migratory shorebirds that find refuge in the area
were sufficiently large to warrant that status.
Greg Hunt was
alerted last December to plans by landholders to drain the wetlands
so the area could be converted to cattle pasture. The plans faced
hurdles under the federal Environment Protection and Biodiversity
Conservation Act. The wetlands harboured two federally listed bird
species: the critically endangered Curlew-Sandpiper and the
endangered Australian Painted-Snipe. They were the refuge of
internationally protected shorebirds. Either issue is regarded as a
matter of national significance under the EPBCA and could trigger
Canberra's intervention, in much the same way that the Rudd
Government blocked the Traveston Dam in the Sunshine Coast hinterland
in 2009.
Hunt ordered the
department's Compliance and Enforcement Branch to investigate. At the
time, Hunt insisted it did not matter if the wetlands were created
artificially. “The EPBCA applies on the basis of consequences,”
Hunt said. “If an action is likely to have a significant impact on
a matter of national importance, then the Act will apply.”
Following Hunt's
move, the landholders changed plans. They leased the land back to the
cane farmers who had sold it to them a decade earlier. The farmers
signalled their intention to proceed with drainage plans by repairing
the damaged floodgates, but that instead of cattle pasture, the
properties would again be planted with sugar cane. The new plan was
evidently intended to circumvent Commonwealth law by continuing a
legally existing land use.
As evidence mounted
in recent weeks that drainage was imminent as the floodgates were
repaired, hundreds of residents and several community groups wrote to
Hunt, asking for federal intervention. Hunt ignored them.
Late last week, the
wetlands were drained after newly installed floodgates were opened at
low tide. More than 1000 people have since signed online petitions
and letters calling on Hunt to order that the floodgates be opened
again tp allow water to return to the wetlands. Yesterday, in
response to questions from Inquirer, Hunt said through a
spokesman that his department was seeking further information to
determine if the drainage may have breached the EPBCA.
Governments around
the world spend large sums creating artificial wetlands because so
little of the habitat survives naturally. BirdLife Southern
Queensland convenor Judith Hoyle describes the
drainage of the
wetlands as “tragic”. Says Hoyle: “Any notion that wetlands
are of less value because they are deemed to be highly modified or
whatever is nonsense. Wildlife doesn't care one iota about that.”
Environmental
consultant Brett Lane says the fate of the wetlands reflects the
narrow view of environmental values held by Australian regulators:
“To claim that "unnatural wetlands" are irrelevant
ignores that nature can adapt to human changes to the landscape.
Given the loss of natural habitats, unnatural ones are increasingly
important in preventing extinction and offer a way forward to
sustainable development.”
Canberra's
indifference was echoed by the Queensland Government. State
Environment Minister Steven Miles referred in correspondence to the
wetlands as a “highly modified system that had previously been used
for sugar cane production”. His department publicly dismissed the
wetlands as being only of “local” significance, although wildlife
there included species listed as vulnerable and near-threatened under
the state laws. A departmental spokesperson conceded the assessment
was made on the basis of a single site inspection; no surveys were
conducted or commissioned.
The wetlands include
an extensive stand of mangroves, which are protected under the state
Fisheries Act. Heavy penalties apply to “unauthorised disturbances”
that impact on mangroves on private land. The Department of
Agriculture and Fisheries investigated the drainage plans but took no
action to block them.
The CSIRO conducted
a scientific investigation of land use options for the Maroochy River
cane lands following the closure of the Nambour mill. The CSIRO
warned that the area was flood-prone and poorly drained, and its
future rested in part with the conversion of former cane land to
wetlands. “Maintaining or restoring wetlands is an important
opportunity associated with any future land use change,” the CSIRO
report says.
While Canberra and
Brisbane were sidestepping the issue, the Sunshine Coast Council was
under pressure to acquire the properties under its environmental levy
program so they could be protected as a reserve. However, the council
determined that the wetlands were not a high priority. The council
insists that acquisition proposals are subject to technical
assessment, but no assessments were made of the Yandina Creek
proposal. Council sources say wildlife surveys and other assessments
are made after, not before, property acquisitions. Sunshine Coast
mayor Mark Jamieson declined to meet with community groups to discuss
the proposal.
Jamieson did not
respond to an offer from the Protect the Bushland Alliance for a team
of scientific experts to examine the wetlands, at no cost to the
council, to determine their full environmental value. The council
also ignored an offer from a community group to fund a $4,500
bird-watching hide on the site.
While three levels
of government signalled disinterest, the landholders had gone to the
council with a scheme that would have addressed competing interests.
The proposal would have protected some wetlands. Farming would
proceed on part of the area and a site would be developed as an
ecotourism destination; levy banks in the wetlands provided excellent
conditions for viewing wildlife for cashed up wildlife enthusiasts
from interstate and overseas. Nothing came of the plan; the council
declines to comment on its merits.
A similar site in
north Queensland, Tyto Wetlands, attracts 21,000 visitors annually
and employs more than 20 staff. Federal, state and local governments
have collectively poured $15 million into the development of Tyto as
a reserve and ecotourism destination. The contrast between government
perspectives of the two areas could not be more stark.
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| Steve Miles, Peter Wellington, Narelle McCarthy, Judith Hoyle, Greg Roberts |
The publication coincided with a visit to the site by state Environment Minister Steve Miles and local MP and parliamentary Speaker Peter Wellington. More on that later. Dr Miles and Mr Wellington are mentioned in the news story, the transcript of which follows.
‘Artificial’ wetland drained
A wetland on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, regarded as internationally significant and home to endangered wildlife, has been drained because authorities deemed it as artificially created and not natural.
Federal and state authorities, along with the Sunshine Coast Council, rejected pleas from residents, wildlife experts and community groups to protect the 200ha wetland after regulatory officers determined that it was unnatural.
The controversy has sparked debate about a fundamental principle at the heart of environmental decision-making in Australia: whether or not an area that may have outstanding conservation value should be protected if it has been shaped or enhanced by human activity.
Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt yesterday ordered his department to establish whether the draining of the wetland late last week breached Commonwealth law.
Farmers who drained the wetland insisted that federal officers had indicated the move could proceed without fear of Commonwealth intervention.
The draining has left a stark, bleak landscape where once there were hundreds of migratory and resident waterbirds nesting and wading through the shallow waters that flowed into the area through compromised tidal floodgates.
Local resident Anna Dwan said she was distressed many protected waterbird chicks had been left stranded by the draining. “I am mortified that governments stand back and do nothing to prevent a wonderful area such as this from being destroyed because they think it is artificial.”
“It is a desolate wasteland out there now,” Ms Dwan said.
Mr Hunt’s Queensland counterpart, state Environment Minister Steve Miles, has also intervened in the wetland controversy after being urged to do so by the parliamentary Speaker, Peter Wellington, whose support is needed by the minority Labor government of Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk.
Dr Miles had previously dismissed the wetland as unimportant on the advice of his department but yesterday he visited the site behind Coolum Beach with Mr Wellington.
It had been decided that the wetland should not be protected because it had been “highly modified” by human intervention.
The wetland provided refuge to wildlife listed as endangered and critically endangered under commonwealth law.
The wetland is on land formerly used to grow sugarcane. Farming ceased when the land was sold following the closure of the Nambour sugar mill in 2003. Floodgates that controlled flows from the Maroochy River to drainage canals on the land fell into disrepair, allowing tidal water to inundate the area and create the wetlands.
The floodgates were repaired recently by cane farmers who had leased the land. The area was drained over 48 hours last week.
Acting federal Greens leader Larissa Waters said it was “deeply alarming” that state and federal governments failed to intervene.
Mr Hunt said yesterday that he had not given approval for the wetland to be drained. “In order to determine if the action is compliant (with commonwealth law), the department is seeking further information,” his spokesman said.
The Queensland Environment Department admitted its conclusion that the wetlands were not worth protecting was based on a single site visit, and that no scientific studies had been conducted.
Mr Wellington, who is the local MP, said he asked Dr Miles to intervene because he was convinced of the case to protect the wetlands.
“Since the demise of the sugar industry, these areas now have a significant role as reserves for wildlife,” Mr Wellington said.
