Last week, a development project went ahead at a place called Grasstree Court that we have been campaigning against for years. It is a really tough time to witness an old growth forest, full of life, be massacred. Worse still, a young boy - 10 when he started this petition - gathered the signatures of over 83,000 people asking the developers to leave these trees standing. The petition fell on deaf ears. He stood witness to the deforestation last week. The project was controversial for many reasons, not least, it was approved back in 2011 and councillors say that it would not have been approved were it submitted today. The law has changed so that this forest would be protected because the birds feeding there - glossy black cockatoo - are now listed as endangered on the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. They were not at the time of the application, and that overrules sense. Our community has written countless letters to the Ministers, Councillors, Uniting Church and Blue Care (whose project this is) and lendlease (the developers). None were enough to prevent the destruction. This is my last letter - a poem - to help process the grief associated with the lost forest. 

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Our Community lost today

Flattened burned and crushed

What does the word uniting-church mean to you?

Sanctuary, kindness, love?

For now to me it means greed and selfishness, loss of life - death

When will enough be enough?

We have turned this heaven into hell

There's nowhere left to go

Our fears of archaic regulations

Leave an empty road

A devastating hopelessness,

ripped branches, grey despair - 

For those in the know...

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Wake up all who seek a profit

Wake up those taking too much

How much do you really need to steal? From this perfect planet?

We are creating grey grit - slow death

No more air, nor clean water, it's 'England's Law'.

Crush and take 'progress'.

If we are truly a smart species then letting life be is surely our wisest route

Today I mourn another loss, another forest gone,

another moment we will recall when youngsters ask - what was birdsong?

Today our loss will echo across the world

for no old growth forest should be cut,

the wound is too deep to heal,

So no healing can be done. 

Remember - what we do in life echoes for eternity.

When life is gone, we will follow - blind and deaf.

Thieves and fools have stolen Earth

Fuck you the greedy few.

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Some good has come from the efforts of Spencer Hitchen - the now 12 year old leader of the petition and fight to protect the forest - and his community. The project in its entirety highlighted some serious concerns for Environmental Protection that included allowing development proposals to continue even if later Planning Schemes superseded those that enabled the initial permissions to be given. Council raised, in June 2023, concerns over Article 50 of the Planning Regulation 2017. This condition gave the Chief Executive Officer power to extend the approval period of the development at Grasstree Court, rather than returning the decision to elected Councillors. There is great controversy with this decision because the power of Council should not have been exercised by the CEO if an application was deemed of significant community interest. What can be done? Spencer's efforts are leading to significant change. 

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Council are reviewing the Delegations of Power. They will be running workshops to look at thresholds and triggers for development applications, particularly for big developments, those over a certain cost, and those requiring Environmental Management Plans. Council are also revisiting sunset clauses and currency extensions so that, if the science indicates negative impacts, applications can be stopped that no longer serve the best interests of the community or natural environment. Defining what constitutes community concern is important. The Council published a synopsis of the Grasstree situation here (check out the fact sheet). 

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The Council, following Spencer's vision, have adopted a Threatened Fauna Recovery Road Map. This was initially going to list Nine species to support, but Spencer recognised the need to expand this to many more so itis now called the "Noosa Nine & Co"  

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Another controversial part of the development was its use of offsets. Developments that use offsets to justify any habitat loss must use these as a last resort and satisfy stringent targets to maximise ecological survival. This application has had since 2011 to act. The trees that the glossy's feed on are rare - not in number but the birds choose specific trees and little is yet known as to why. The developers have grown saplings that are less than a meter tall having only started in 2019. The feed trees tend to be at least 6m and older, most were at least 20 years or more. Offsets will never satisfy ecologically conscious people, though perhaps they are better than nothing. Thanks to the efforts of Spencer, the Council here have learned much on the important contribution of different habitats so that consideration of the iterative impacts from destroyed ecosystems can form part of decision making processes. The decision makers and developers know that the eyes of the public are on them and that they must step up.

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"The world is in greater peril from those who tolerate or encourage evil than from those who actually commit it".

(attributed to Albert Einstein) 

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The EPBC Act is being reformed as the country more generally recognises it's failings to protect Australian wilderness and biodiversity (https://epbcactreview.environment.gov.au/). The Voice is an upcoming vote to convene an independent advisory body, that would advise parliament and the government on matters affecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians. Communities living here once understood the connection with Country and there is hope that The Voice can recover some of the much needed caring practices that once were the laws of this land and integrate these together with English Law so that all people and natural habitats are better off. I am reading a book at the moment called "The Way of the Ancestors" by Marcia Langton and Aaron Corn about the laws of Indigenous cultures found in Australia. There are two sections that resonate: 

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"..[L]aw is a system of rules created and observed within societies to instil people with good values and encourage beneficial behaviours"

"Law, then, is constantly evolving in response to new needs and circumstances. It emphasises continuity with the ancestral past as the sacred bond that links people to their homelands, but offers each new generation the possibility of adding their own understandings and innovations to the ancestral store of knowledge."

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Reading these, it is striking that in my experience, the English Law (Crown Law) that serves the Western society is falling short in both instilling values that encourage beneficial behaviours, and incorporating knowledge into our society. The science around biodiversity loss and climate change is solid and clear, yet forests such as that at Grasstree have no legal protection. The upcoming vote is the first step toward protecting Country stringently, giving those with strong ties to the health of habitats a louder voice. I hope it is passed.

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I thank Cr Amelia Lorentson for advice on this list, she has tirelessly supported the efforts of Spencer and brought these changes into effect. 

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While pulling this post together, I found an open letter from emminent scientists asking Ministers in Queensland, Australia, to step up. You can read it here.

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And lastly, I share a powerful letter, written yesterday by Mililma May asking to protect Queensland the forests

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