2024-07-05
On 4 July, the Federal Court granted an injunction that will stop work being undertaken at the Save Wallum site, other than the installation of nest boxes, by Clarence Property or its contractors. The injunction will prevent work from occurring over the weekend, through to 9 July, when the matter will return to court for further argument.
Greens MP and spokesperson for planning and the environment Sue Higginson said “The community that have formed Save Wallum have been taking every road available to them to try and protect this precious coastal heath environment. This injunction is a sign that there is a legal question to be answered about the lawfulness of the Wallum development,”
“So far, both the State and Federal Government’s have refused to use their lawful power to intervene in the proposed destruction of nationally and state listed threatened species and their habitat at this site in Brunswick Heads. It is down to the tenacity and determination of the community that the legality of this development is being challenged,”
“I have personally written to both the NSW Planning Minister and the Federal Minister for the Environment, highlighting their responsibilities and powers when it comes to making sure that developments do not destroy matters of national environmental significance. Unfortunately, they have refused to act and have thrown away their responsibility to communities and the environment,”
”I find it abhorrent that Governments have received report after report that our environmental laws are not only failing, they are driving the extinction of some of our most threatened wildlife and ecosystems, and yet when they have the opportunity to do something, they choose not to and instead pass the buck,”
“It shouldn’t have to fall on communities to go through this ordeal, just to uphold the law - but as is often the case it’s the community who are connected to the environment and each other who will fight for environmental justice in the face of our broken environmental laws,”
“The Save Wallum community have worked tirelessly with courage in the face of environmental injustice. They have stood in front of earth moving equipment and peacefully stopped damage to this precious environment. Now they are in the courts, taking action where their Government has failed,” Ms Higginson said.