Call It!
Tanya Plibersek - We can still Save Wallum
Just Copy - Paste - Send
This small action can make a huge impact
Byron Shire Council has issued the final subdivision certificate at a contested public meeting on Feb 8th, 2024. Bulldozers can now 'legally' enter Wallum and begin clearing the land.✨
Community is maintaining a peaceful vigil on site.
You can still email Tanya Plibersek and ask her to do what the developers won’t and force the development to be referred for assessment under the EPBC act.
You don’t need to be from the Byron Shire to send these, anyone from anywhere can send their
input. You can copy-paste our draft or use bits of it to craft your own.
Giving your letter your own tone is more powerful, but it’s very important that doesn’t become a
delaying factor. It is best if you can speak your own voice and put it into your own words, but if
you don’t have the time, capacity, or ability, please otherwise send this copy and send it now!
Email address to send to:
Minister.Plibersek@dcceew.gov.au
Subject line ideas
(choose one or make your own):
1. Minister Plibersek, please take urgent action for threatened species under threat!
2. Wallum - too precious to lose
3. Please ‘call in’ Wallum, DA 10.2021.575.1
Draft letter:
To the Honourable Minister for the Environment and Water, Tanya Plibersek,
I, ______________, urgently call upon you to exercise your Ministerial powers under the EPBC Act, 1999 in regards to the development of “Wallum” (15 Torakina Rd, Brunswick Heads NSW, 2483), a critically important site containing Matters of National Environmental Significance (MNES) - DA 10.2021.575.1.
Byron Shire Council has issued the final subdivision certificate, clearing the way for the developer to enter the site and begin the destruction of this precious ecosystem. Much could be lost quickly.
“Wallum” consists of ~30ha of irreplaceable and rare coastal ecosystems in the Byron Shire, home to threatened species and ecological communities including the Glossy Black Cockatoo, Long-nosed Potoroo, Koala, Wallum Sedge Frog and many others. It is crucial that the laws that are applicable to the site and the Matters of National Environmental Significance are fully complied with.
I am aware that your office reminded the developer of their legal obligation to refer the development to you, however, they refused to do so. I understand that the developer has formed the view that their development will not likely have a significant impact on the environment and the Matters of National Environmental Significance. Minister, it can't end there because there is a body of evidence from independent experts that says the development is likely to have a significant impact on Matters of National Environmental Significance. I believe that it is therefore now up to you to act before it's too late.
I urge you to now use your power and request the developer to refer the development to you because it is likely to have a significant impact on the relevant Matters of National Environmental Significance.
The power is in your hands to intervene. The risks of not acting are too high. We risk this vital area being bulldozed, further fragmenting critical habitat for a myriad threatened species which are Matters of National Environmental Significance, while exacerbating climate change and associated extreme weather events, which are increasingly prevalent within the Byron Shire and our Northern Rivers region.
As a concerned Australian, I worry about the legacy that we will leave for future generations to come. You have the power to decide whether that legacy is one that includes thriving ecosystems supported by clean air, pristine water, and unpolluted land, or, whether it's scarred by generations of greed and inaction, where natural processes can no longer sustain themselves and, as a result, neither can human populations.
Minister, please don't leave this to the community to have to engage in onerous and resource intensive litigation in the Federal Court to seek an injunction to ensure our federal environmental laws are complied with.
This development has already slipped through so many contemporary environmental safeguards and community consultation requirements at the state level, because it is essentially a 'zombie DA'. We have the chance to properly assess this development's impacts on the relevant Matters of National Environmental Significance, but it will require you to act.
I urge you to do all that is within your power to immediately act and request "Wallum" (15 Torakina Rd, Brunswick Heads, NSW) be referred to you under the EPBC Act, 1999.
Yours sincerely,
Address
Postcode