It started with three friends walking their dogs.
When locals Chris Walker, Stephen MacDonald and Tom Taranto learned one morning that Australia’s largest private developer, Walker Corporation, had their eyes on Toondah Harbour they were shocked into action. A movement began, initially a trickle but soon to become a tidal wave. I heard about it in 2015 from my friend, Sheena Gilman, the chair of BirdLife Southern Queensland’s conservation subcommittee.
Until this seminal moment, I’d thought – and naively so – that our national environment laws were protecting our most threatened birds and their habitats. Moreton Bay is a Ramsar site, a marine national park and a key biodiversity area. The Ramsar convention is the world’s oldest international conservation treaty. Never had I considered that any part of it could be up for grabs for private development to be trashed for profit.
The knowledge that this was indeed a possibility triggered a seismic shift in my environmental education, and it marked the day I stepped into the world of conservation advocacy. I have a long association with these mangroves and mudflats and the endangered migratory shorebirds that depend on them, and I felt a personal responsibility to do everything in my power to make sure they stayed protected.
At the time, I was convener of the southern Queensland branch of BirdLife Australia and working alongside other organisations including the Australian Conservation Foundation, Redlands2030, the Queensland Wader Study Group, and the Koala Action Group in what later became the Toondah Alliance. Toondah quickly became one of BirdLife Australia’s major campaigns. Together, we were able to mobilise tens of thousands of people to take action with more than 120,000 public comments, emails, calls, social media posts and petition signatures calling for the federal government to save Toondah Harbour and reject Walker’s wetland-destroying proposal.
When Walker Corporation released its final environmental impact statement in December – supporting the construction of 3,600 apartments and marina complex within the boundaries of the Moreton Bay Ramsar site – they made much of the fact that 75% of public submissions came from outside Queensland, ignoring the inconvenient truth that demonstrated what we’ve been saying all along. This was a local and regional issue with huge national and international implications. Critically, the minister understands this too.
Last month, environment minister Tanya Plibersek met myself and other members of the Toondah Alliance to listen to our concerns. While the decision is still not yet final and the consultation process is ongoing, to read the power of the minister’s words was a great moment for all of us involved in the campaign. After so many years, it was wonderful to hear Plibersek acknowledge that Walker Corporation’s proposals would indeed affect the survival of critically endangered species like the eastern curlew and would set a dangerous precedent that would undermine the protection of Ramsar sites both in Australia and abroad.
We are celebrating today, but I can’t help but reflect on how it never should have reached this point. If the former environment minister Josh Frydenberg had acted on his department’s initial advice – that the development was clearly unacceptable – it would never have made it to this stage of assessment.
It’s my hope that one day Toondah will be more a success story than a cautionary tale – and that the final decision will herald the start of a new era in conservation in this country. For threatened species like the eastern curlew and other migratory shorebirds, it couldn’t come soon enough.
Here in Brisbane, the excitement is palpable. I’m overwhelmed and so grateful to everyone for doing everything they can to get this over the line. The power of ordinary people coming together to get us to this point has been nothing short of staggering. To our volunteers and supporters who’ve contributed tens of thousands of hours to this campaign, and to the tens of thousands of people who have taken direct action – thank you! We all have every reason to be proud of our efforts.
Judith Hoyle is chair of the Toondah Alliance and board member of BirdLife Australia
Tanya Plibersek’s proposal to save Toondah Harbour is a win for both threatened species and people power
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10.04.2024
It started with three friends walking their dogs.
When locals Chris Walker, Stephen MacDonald and Tom Taranto learned one morning that Australia’s largest private developer, Walker Corporation, had their eyes on Toondah Harbour they were shocked into action. A movement began, initially a trickle but soon to become a tidal wave. I heard about it in 2015 from my friend, Sheena Gilman, the chair of BirdLife Southern Queensland’s conservation subcommittee.
Until this seminal moment, I’d thought – and naively so – that our national environment laws were protecting our most threatened birds and their habitats. Moreton Bay is a Ramsar site, a marine national park and a key biodiversity area. The Ramsar convention is the world’s oldest international conservation treaty. Never had I considered that any part of it could be up for grabs for private development to be trashed for profit.
The knowledge that this was indeed a possibility triggered a seismic shift in my environmental education, and it marked the day I stepped into the world........
© The Guardian
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