A mother who was arrested after obstructing the construction site of a controversial development says it could be too late to replace trees for a “fussy” species of bird.
The site at Sunrise Beach is home to the vulnerable glossy black cockatoos, known as glossies, which only eat from a select number of “favour-feed” trees.
Earlier this month, Maxine Hitchen was arrested for not providing her name to police after obstructing heavy machinery at the entrance to the construction site.
Mrs Hitchen’s 12-year-old son, Spencer, is a passionate advocate for wildlife at the site and has spearheaded the Save Sunrise Glossies campaign for several years.
Another woman in her 70s was also arrested, while several other people were given police orders to move on from the site.
The arrests come after an immediate Interim Conservation Order was issued to the State Government on June 2.
Organised by the campaigners, it called to urgently prohibit or control land clearing of the critical habitat of the glossies at the site.
Construction has begun to build 122 retirement homes on the 4.6-hecatare site as part of Stage 2 of BlueCare’s $100-million Sunrise Beach Village that will eventually home 260 residents.
Situated on Lots 6 and 9 on Grasstree Court, when complete the project will include a new 102-bed aged care facility that is already under construction on a 0.8-hectare site, plus the retirement village.
Ms Hitchen said she and Spencer were putting up community awareness signage at the site on June 15, as they do every day, when a two large trucks arrived with scaffolding and a bulldozer.
“Spencer said to me: ‘Mum, they’re going to annihilate the place and we still don’t know what the ministers will say,’” Mrs Hitchen told Sunshine Coast News.
“So, he stood in the driveway and the truck stopped.”
Mrs Hitchen said their main concern was that, because they had not received a decision from the State Government, that some trees may be removed that did not need to.
She said police were called to the site, where they told Mrs Hitchen and other protesters to move away from in front of the truck.
“That was pretty heavy going. We didn’t intend going down that path,” she said.
“I said we can move away from the truck if we know the ministers have made a decision.
“It was more of a protective thing that we didn’t want them to destroy something so precious and important if the ministers then turn around and change their mind – then it will be too late.
“We want to know what that decision is so if they’re not allowed to do anything they won’t, and if they can then, we can’t really do anything about it because it’s beyond our power.”
The Grasstree Court site was previously used as a sand quarry and partially cleared in the 1990s.
It is located near the Girraween estate, which is a wet and dry heathland that provides a vital link in the Noosa-Maroochy wallum corridor.
Noosa Council identified the site as being suitable for community services use in the 1997 Strategic Plan. This was also reflected in the Girraween Master Plan, endorsed by the council in 2006.
In 2011 a development approval was issued by the amalgamated Sunshine Coast Regional Council permitting the development of an aged care facility and a retirement village.
Spencer said the area was home to the eastern ground parrot, wallum sedge frog and the swamp yabby, as well as the glossies.
“The wallum woodland acts as a buffer to the wallum heathland, protecting it from run off and pollutants,” he said.
“Ten threatened fauna and flora species (two bird species, two mammal species, six plant species) have been found within one kilometre of the development site.”
Spencer has raised particular concern over the destruction of she-oak trees. Glossies have a very restricted diet and only feed on the seeds found in cones of she-oaks.
BlueCare said it had invested in rehabilitating a three-hectare surrounding nature reserve, including the propagation and planting of she-oak seeds.
“Preparation for construction included removal of vegetation not identified for retention in the approved Ecological Management Plan,” a BlueCare statement to Sunshine Coast News said.
“The Sunrise Beach project was assessed by state and federal government and approved by Noosa Shire Council.
“Before the commencement of any works at Grasstree Court, Sunrise Beach, comprehensive project planning took place as well as engagement with the local community.
“As a result of that engagement, BlueCare redesigned the site and invested heavily in the local environment, including a $1 million three-hectare rehabilitation site at the Girraween Nature Reserve, and propagating and gifting more than 7500 she-oaks and other Australian native plants to the local community.”
The 670 she-oak trees planted at the Girraween Nature Refuge rehabilitation site exceed the Noosa Council requirement ratio of 8:1 replacement of trees from the project site.
BlueCare has also indicated it will maintain the precinct for at least five years, after which time Noosa Council will take over maintenance of the site, when it was expected to have almost 95 per cent vegetation coverage.
However, Mrs Hitchen said even with the efforts to plant new trees and seeds, it could be a decade before it is known if any of the trees are “preferred feed trees” for the glossies.
She was worried the “chop down and replace the forest” approach will not work.
“There is no way that offset is going to replace what they’ve got,” she said.
“There’s so many favoured feed trees in the area now.
“It could be another 10 years before we know if any of the trees they plant become favoured feed trees.
“In 10 years’ time it could be too late. What are the birds going to eat now?
“If they do go ahead, it’s 104-plus trees that they’ve taken away – that’s favoured feed trees, plus all the other trees they’ve taken away too.”
In a statement to SCN, BlueCare said had increased security in light of the recent incident and arrests.
“Project security has now been increased at both the aged care and retirement living sites to ensure the safety of members of the local community and construction crews,” the statement said.
The project is due for completion in late 2024, with local construction firm Badge engaged as the builder.
The aerial imagery in this story is from Australian location intelligence company Nearmap. The company provides government organisations, architectural, construction and engineering firms, and other companies, with easy, instant access to high-resolution aerial imagery, city-scale 3D content, artificial intelligence data sets, and geospatial tools to assist with urban planning, monitoring and development projects in Australia, New Zealand and North America.
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