The Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) is calling on the federal government to investigate claims of illegal land clearing in Singleton.
A crowd-sourced enquiry, established by the organisation, revealed nine hectares of native bushland – mapped as the Central Hunter Valley eucalypt forest – and woodland had already been destroyed for the proposed McDougall Business Park.
ACF would now like the landowner, Big Ben Holdings Pty Ltd, a subsidiary of the Bloomfield Group, to protect a further parcel of scrubland earmarked for the next stage of the project.
Eight nationally-listed threatened species – swift parrots, koalas, spotted-tailed quolls, gang-gang cockatoos, grey-headed flying foxes, painted honeyeaters, brown treecreepers and glossy black cockatoos – have been recorded close to the location, which forms part of a habitat link between the Barrington Tops and Wollemi and Yengo national parks.
It’s understood Singleton Council’s September 2019 Notice of Determination for the venture clearly advised the applicant it would need Commonwealth approval for any works that “may impact vegetation on the site, particularly that identified as being Central Hunter Valley eucalypt forest and woodland ecological community which is critically-endangered”.
However, the ACF has not been able to find any evidence that authorisation was sought.
“It’s shocking to see this place that’s mapped as critically-endangered Central Hunter Valley woodland – a home for koalas, gang-gang cockatoos and grey-headed flying foxes – being wrecked for an industrial estate,” national nature campaigner Jess Abrahams said.
“Bulldozing bush destroys wildlife habitat.
“So, this destruction underscores again the urgent need for a national environment protection agency (EPA) to crack down on rogue land clearers.
“We are in an extinction crisis.
“More than seven million hectares of habitat for Australia’s threatened species has been destroyed since our environment law has been in effect.
“The Albanese government must pass new nature regulations to create an EPA as early as possible in 2025 to stop vital habitat being wrecked.
“It shouldn’t be up to environment groups like ACF and our volunteer investigators, comparing satellite images on their phones, to uncover and put a stop to blatant nature destruction like this.
“If we want future generations of Australians to be able to see koalas and gang-gang cockatoos in the wild, the government must stop businesses that are doing the wrong thing.”
Once the destruction was identified, from examining changes to satellite data, ACF verified the damage on site and wrote to Bloomfield and the property developer, Hunter Land.
Both are yet to respond.
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