Media release

From: BirdLife Australia

• Walker Corporation’s Toondah Harbour project proposal disregards the sanctity of one of the oldest and most respected international conservation treaties, the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Significance.
• Walker Corporation’s project proposes to permanently destroy over 40 hectares, or the equivalent of about 10 MCGs, of the treaty-listed Moreton Bay Ramsar Site to build a private luxury apartment and retail complex.
• The project area is an important feeding habitat for the Critically Endangered Eastern Curlew, a bird that flies to the site from the Arctic every year to spend its winter and one of 20 priority birds identified in the Federal Government’s new 10 year Threatened Species Action Plan.
• This level of private development within a Ramsar site would be unprecedented and could literally pave the way for similar projects within Moreton Bay, Australia and the world.

“This development will not only impact important habitat for wildlife in Australia, it will also have global ramifications by undermining the Ramsar Treaty,” said BirdLife CEO Paul Sullivan.

“While we anticipate it will take days to dig through and analyse the thousands of pages Walker say are in their draft EIS, it is already clear that this proposal should not be approved by Federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek.

“There’s absolutely no environmentally justifiable argument for this construction to go ahead within the boundaries of the Ramsar site.

“We know that environmentalists and bird scientists across the world are keenly watching the outcome of this process with grave concerns for the potential impact in other nations as well as to species in Australia.

“It is absolutely shocking that Walker Corporation have described concerns by scientists as scaremongering.

“The population of Eastern Curlews has declined by over 80% in the past 30 years, largely due to similar coastal development projects across their range, and this development will also impact a number of other bird and animal species.

“We stand together with local residents in the Redlands who also want to protect this special place and what it means to their community.

BirdLife Australia, and our international bird conservation partners, are watching this process closely and fully expect Minister Plibersek to uphold Australia’s national and international conservation obligations and reject this completely inappropriate project later this year.