2025-02-25
Lines attributable to Shane Rattenbury, Leader of the ACT Greens:
“Since 2022, the ACT Greens have been supporting the community-led battle to protect Ainslie Volcanics – a precious, community-managed grassland with immense ecological value to Ainslie residents and to the wider Canberra region.
But since the formation of the new government, we have seen no effort from Labor to protect this precious grassland habitat. Instead, they seem to be prioritising the interests of big corporations.
“One of those corporations is Indara Communications, a company that represents industry giants like Optus and Telstra. They want to bulldoze this ecologically significant site and so far, Labor has no plans on stopping them.
“Today the government has allowed works to begin on this site despite community opposition and despite the potential ecological value.
“The government’s own planning documents confirm that there is no need to build a cell tower on this potentially significant site. Instead, the government could require Indara Communications to build at another nearby site.
“During post-election negotiations, the Greens fought hard to secure protection for Ainslie Volcanics as a condition for the formation of this government, ensuring that its preservation would be non-negotiable.
“Now, it seems Labor is not committed to fulfilling their signed promise, allowing this precious site to be destroyed for corporate gain, breaching our power sharing agreement and ignoring the pleas from the community.
“Today, the ACT Greens are calling on Labor to halt the destructive works that have begun at this site and work with Indara Communications to resettle the site practically and reasonably, nearby on less ecologically significant land.