News from the GPN #12

View this email in your browser

Asbestos found in dumped fill that destroyed Conservation Area 9

First it was smashing a grassland, smothering the life out of it with thousands of tonnes of dumped fill. Now it’s contempt for human health as well. The dumped soil and building waste that destroyed Conservation Area 9 is contaminated with asbestos. EPA signs now warn of the danger.

The City of Melton, the Department of Land, Water, Environment and Planning (DELWP), the EPA and Federal authorities have been investigating the illegal dumping, and they are now joined by WorkSafe Victoria because of potential significant health impacts to the truck drivers who transported the contaminated material to the grassland and unloaded it there.

The 40 hectare Truganina grassland at 643-707 Mt Atkinson Road, known as Conservation Area 9, has been assessed as one of 36 biodiversity hotspots mandated for protection as part of the joint federal and state government 2010 initiative, the Melbourne Strategic Assessment. The illegal dumping occurred between December 2021 and January 2022, but the devastation was only discovered in April.

Beyond the contempt for the environment and for human life, what this shows us is how vulnerable a grassland in private hands can be. Privately held grassland can be mismanaged with impunity, letting weeds smother the biodiversity, or by overgrazing, and there is nothing that can be done. If the grassland is on a property of less than 0.4 ha, it is not even subject to the Victorian native vegetation clearing guidelines. If there are no federal EPBC Act triggers, the grassland can just be cleared.

The Melbourne Strategic Assessment has been set-up to fail by both the federal and state authorities. The 36 Conservation Areas that are supposed to protect the last remnant vegetation in Melbourne’s vast growth corridors are almost entirely in privately owned. Developers are trying to put build houses on them. Some are heavily grazed. Some are even being cropped. This is an unfolding environmental disaster.

On top of that, 82.5% of the 15,000 ha Western Grassland Reserves is yet to be purchased and remains in private hands. The price the government pays for that land is the same regardless of the quality of vegetation on it. There is little incentive for private owners to undertake conservation actions – control of weeds, fencing for stock exclusion and the like – when it doesn’t add a cent to the compulsory acquisition price.

Read the ABC News report here

For most of the last decade the federal government has been missing in action. Now it is time for them to ensure the promises made in the agreement they signed with Victoria are honoured. We need the federal authorities to:

Ensure all other 35 conservation areas are legally protected and being properly managed
Undertake an urgent independent ecological audit of the Melbourne Strategic Assessment to guarantee its proper implementation
Assess the state of Conservation Area 9 and identify how it can be rehabilitated and restored
Secure an alternative site of the same size and ecological value in metropolitan Melbourne
Reform the land purchase process to reward land holders for conservation actions.

TELL THE MINISTERS WHAT YOU THINK: EMAIL THEM HERE

Cairnlea grasslands by bike

Come join GPN on a bike tour of Cairnlea, taking in Denton Avenue Grassland, Featherheads, Iramoo and passing by the privately-held grasslands of Jonesfield Corner, Reid Street and the Section G Grassland we’ve been fighting hard to protect. Sat 15th Oct 2022, 1:00–4:00 pm. Further info here, and more grassland events here!

Help us by making a donation

grassyplains.net.au m) 0413 757 173 Level 3, 60 Leicester Street, Carlton Vic 3053

Copyright © 2022 Grassy Plains Network, All rights reserved.

Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can unsubscribe from this list.