Margie Maccoll
As bulldozers downed trees on Grasstree Court Sunrise Beach, Glossy Team Sunrise member Desiree Gralton described the situation as a “failure of leadership“.
She said while an amalgamated Sunshine Coast Council approval was given 10 years ago, it was only in 2018 that the chief executive officer rubber-stamped the project to go ahead without community consultation. Not once had all stakeholders been able to sit down and put forward their opinions, she said.
“They completely failed in community engagement,“ she said.
Maxine Hitchen said her 11-year-old campaigner son Spencer broke down and cried when he saw the trees being cut down and other school children were also crying at the site.
“I know he’s angry and I’ve never seen him angry,“ she said.
“It’s just not OK for the church to make them feel like that.“
She said one child, a regular church attendee, approached the group, asking, “what God does this?“
Maxine said not only did the group fear for the future of the vulnerable glossy black cockatoos and other wildlife in the habitat set for destruction, they were concerned for the safety of future residents of the facility in the event of a bushfire.
Maxine said the bushland had experienced several fires that were locally recorded and it was inevitable there would be future bushfires in the national parkland that surrounded the development.
She said in the event of a fire the completed aged care home, which will accommodate 102 people and occupants of 122 residential villages, along with staff could amount to 300-400 people who would have to be evacuated via a single dead end road, that was shared with a church and shops and connected to a service road to Sunshine Beach schools.
“It’s putting the area at risk. We know they’ve had multiple fires here,“ she said.
Resident Barbara McPhee likened its potential to a situation experienced by another Noosa aged care facility when 90 residents, corralled in the foyer, had to be evacuated after it came under threat from bushfires in 2019.
She said 25 fire units surrounded the facility which sent out calls for help to the community to evacuate residents.
“In the end, firefighters risked their lives to save the residents,“ she said.
Both Noosa Council and Blue Care confirmed works had commenced this week on prescribed roadwork and intersection upgrades for the Blue Care development that would follow.
This week’s land clearing was for works external to the project and included the removal of a strip of vegetation on the verge to make way for a new bus stop and a strip either side of Grasstree Court partly within the lots for services, including an Energex transformer, they said.
Council’s development assessment manager Kerri Coyle said the developer had all the necessary approvals in place for the project to proceed.
“This includes a Bushfire Management Plan July 2020 which features a number of measures to minimise and address the potential risks of bushfire to future residents and employees,” she said.
“The plan was prepared by an experienced bushfire consultant and reviewed internally by Council officers who have training in bushfire management.
“To also address the habitat loss from the site, the developer is required to implement a five-year vegetation clearing offset program and propagation and replanting (on council land at Girraween) of Glossy Black food trees at a ratio of eight to one from the parent tree.“
Council said the development application included a number of environmental conditions to address habitat loss including the identification of all active glossy black cockatoo food trees within the development footprint or areas likely to be impacted, with some feed trees required to be retained on the development site.
Both Blue Care and Ms Coyle confirmed the approved development was a staged project, with stage one to be the aged care component on the northern side of Grasstree Court with the self-contained retirement units to follow on the southern side.
“Clearing of the vegetation is also required to be staged, with the northern lot to be cleared first, with the southern lot not permitted to be cleared for construction until the required offset planting has been undertaken,” Ms Coyle said.
Maxine said it was ironic that on the day before land clearing began the Uniting Church congregation gathered on Sunday in the Grasstree Court church for a day of mourning to express sadness for past injustices to First Nation Peoples.
“We are called to love God and to love each other,“ the church informed its congregation.
“It means being advocates for a fair system, speaking out when we see injustice, and standing with our brothers and sisters in times of sorrow. This is why we will gather on the Sunday before Australia Day.“
She called out to parishioners at the end of service to say they could do something about the injustice to wildlife before them.
Blue Care issued an email to stakeholders last week to say it had the go-ahead to proceed with construction of stage one of the facility, the residential aged care facility on the northern side of Grasstree Court, and early works contractor, Carruthers, would commence works this week.
Maxine said the the conservation group was shocked when contractors began removing trees on the southern side of the road and when they went to view the damage, police were called, a move she described as “just flexing their muscles“.
Noosa police senior constable Justin Heinemann told the group the foreman had called police because there had been “interference in the workplace“.
He and another Noosa Police officer spoke to the group to tell them of their rights to a peaceful protest but warned them against trespassing on the site.
Maxine told police the group had not interfered with the work and were not intent on breaking the law but were there to document what was happening.
