Clearing of native vegetation and forest to make way for the southern section of Western Australia’s most expensive road project, which bypasses Bunbury, will go ahead after a federal court challenge to stop works was knocked back on Tuesday.
An 11th hour bid by South West environment group Friends of the Gelorup Corridor to stop the clearing of 71.5 hectares of habitat containing threatened plant and animal species, including the critically endangered western ringtail possum, was launched on Friday and led to a temporary halt on works.
Activists stand in the way of clearing works for the Bunbury Outer Ring Road earlier in August.Credit: South West Forest Defenders
The Bunbury Outer Ring Road project will see 60 hectares of western ringtail possum and black cockatoo habitat felled while threatened ecological communities of banksia woodlands and tuart trees will also go.
Advice from the WA Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions to the state’s Environmental Protection Authority over 2021 said it would be difficult to ascertain whether the Gelorup possum population, which consists of about 72 animals, would survive displacement.
The case brought by the lawyers for the environment group to the federal court, against the federal environment minister, centred on a technical claim that approvals for clearing had been granted in a way which did not comply with the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.
But Justice Craig Colvin had to determine the strength of the environment group’s case and whether it warranted a continued halt to works which could see construction held off until March because of the impending possum breeding season.
Lawyer Angel Aleksov, who acted for the Friends of the Gelorup Corridor, told the court there was a serious legal issue around the lawfulness of the clearing and that Justice Colvin should consider how the possum could soon “vanish from the earth”.
WA Solicitor General Joshua Thomson SC, acting on behalf of Main Roads WA, said the authority had followed all the process expected of it.
“There have been extensive community consultations. There have been surveys in relation to the animals in this area,” he said.
“Other alternative routes have been examined and discarded. There may be environmental consequences either way, whatever route is used.
“This application is made to hold up a project and in circumstances where that may lead to a seven-month delay because of the breeding season of the ringtail possum being imminent.”
A previous delay to the ring road between April and August this year cost the government $10 million.
Justice Colvin ultimately did not believe there was sufficient legal merit in the case raised by the community group in making his decision on Tuesday.
“Cases of this kind are difficult because of the competing priorities and considerations that are at stake and the need to address important matters urgently,” he said.
“I’m not satisfied that the contentions have sufficient legal merit to support the grant of the relief sought in all of the circumstances. And it follows that the application must be dismissed.”
A spokesperson for the community group said members were devastated by the decision.
“Our community has been strengthened and splintered by this action, and the enormous distress of watching our 400-year-old trees shredded through a woodchipper will now recommence,” they said.
“We thank all of our supporters far and wide and we are truly sorry that we were unable to stop this senseless destruction.
“Yet again the environment will be the loser in the fight against human’s desire to ever expand into our wild spaces and destroy them.
“The assertion that the impacts to our critically endangered wildlife can be managed and mitigated has been shown to be brutally wrong. The Federal Minister still has it within her power, particularly in the light of this devastating news so early into the project, to halt all works and reassess.”
WA Premier Mark McGowan said on Monday that building the road would save lives in the South West.
“We’ve done everything we can to ameliorate the environmental impacts by offsets and other plantings and fauna initiatives costing many millions of dollars,” he said.
“The corridor itself has been in place for 40 years to build the road.
“I understand people’s concerns, we just want to get on and complete this project.”
Mr McGowan said the ring road was nothing like the Roe 8 and 9 project in Perth that was rejected by the Labor government over environmental concerns.
“A road around bunbury will just save many lives and ensure that peoples’ communities between the South West and the city is much more efficient and quick,” he said.
A Main Roads spokesperson said pre-clearing activities would resume on Tuesday afternoon with clearing to continue on Wednesday.
Follow WAtoday on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter for handpicked selections of the day’s biggest local, national and international news.