Margie Maccoll
Residents have raised concerns about the potential success of an offset site at Wallum Lane, Noosaville, located around a capped dump site, to provide adequate habitat for glossy black cockatoos to replace land cleared for a Blue Care aged care development at Sunrise Beach.
And Noosa Council has responded by restricting the planting area and banning further site offsets proposed by the developer.
The Australian Government in August listed the Glossy Black Cockatoo as vulnerable under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act).
The listing comes with the support of a recovery plan that provides guidance on avoidance, mitigation and offsets for major actions such as urban and agricultural development.
The proposed Blue Care development of a residential aged care home and retirement village sits on Lot 6 and Lot 9, respectively on either side of Grasstree Road, Sunrise Beach with Lot 6 already cleared for the residential aged care home development.
GBC advocates, led by Maxine and Spencer Hitchen, have long known the Grasstree Court habitat at both Lot 6 and Lot 9 had been used by Glossy Black Cockatoos (GBC) for rearing their young. GBC fledglings are dependent on their parents for feeding for one and a half to two years, and when habitat is used for rearing young it meets the definition of animal breeding place.
Last year’s Birdlife Australia’s national GBC count confirmed the area’s significance for the species, that are fussy eaters, feeding only on selected casuarina or she-oak trees.
At the GBC count in September 2021, there were only 164 of the area’s subspecies observed across SEQ and northern NSW, with 25 per cent of those birds occurring at one site in Noosa – Grass Tree Court, Sunrise Beach.
Lot 6 was cleared in March under the proviso replacement habitat with suitable GBC feeding trees was established.
Residents say after concerns were raised about the location of the offset site on capped landfill, trees from Lot 6 were planted outside the landfill site and the use of the area for Lot 9 offset, which is a condition of the development progressing, was withdrawn.
However, they say they continue to hold concerns about mulch and soil transported from Lot 6 they have observed placed over the landfill and have seen visible rubbish appearing in the Lot 6 planting site after heavy rains.
Noosa Council said in response to residents’ questions about the receiving site of Lot 9, officers sought further advice on the suitability of undertaking offset planting on top of a capped land fill.
Chief executive officer Scott Waters said the advice showed it wasn’t appropriate to undertake offset planting on the actual capped land fill area, but planting could occur around the capped landfill area.
“There were too many unknowns to permit the offset planting on the capped landfill at the time, so we subsequently advised Blue Care that only stage 1 of the vegetation clearing offset program could proceed,” he said.
The approved stage 1 works are located outside the capped landfill and fully satisfy the offset vegetation clearing program for lot 6 of the Grasstree site.
“The planting around the capped landfill site for Lot 6 has been completed with over 600 plants installed,” Mr Waters said.
“To plant an offset over this rubbish is not acceptable to our community,“ Maxine said.
“This is not replicating what has been lost at Grasstree Court.
“We are also aware that the refusal of Lot 9 offsets will require the Uniting Church in Australia Property Trust (Q) to put in an application to Council based on the 2016 Planning Act to make a change to their current approval. We believe the Lot 6 Stage 1 offsets should be included in this change.“
