Community should have last word on Satterley’s Perth Hills estate, Greens say

The WA Greens will push for Satterley’s controversial housing estate in the Perth Hills to be permanently scrapped if they hold the balance of power in the upper house after the state election in March.

Last month, a South Australian delegate to Federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek granted the developer a 110-year environmental approval to offset the destruction of an estimated 60,000 native trees, some older than 200 years, across 200 hectares of land.

Greens MP Brad Pettitt said Satterley Property Group, hired to develop the land for the Anglican Church, had waged a decades-long battle to get its “dangerous fringe development” approved, but failed to acknowledge climate risk, bushfire concerns and loss of endemic species.

“Nothing about this development makes sense,” he said.

“Perth desperately needs to stop the urban sprawl, which means not clearing important bush habitat to build these kinds of car-dependent developments in bushfire prone areas that have limited access to essential services and employment opportunities.

“When this project was first conceptualised way back in 1991 there was less of an understanding of the impacts of climate change; now there is no excuse.”

Greens Kalamunda candidate Janelle Sewell said in the past 20 years both major parties had accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations from the property developer.

“Only the Greens can be trusted to protect and preserve Perth Hills because we are the only party that does not take corporate donations from property developers ... and we have a proud history of supporting this community campaign from the beginning, through consecutive Liberal and Labor governments that had ample opportunity to stop it,” she said.

“It’s a fundamental duty of care to ensure that any development in our region safeguards, not endangers, our bushfire-risk communities; recent fires in California have only fortified this position.”

WA’s State Administrative Tribunal will make a final determination in late 2025 over the plans to develop a townsite for 2800 people, three schools and a 193-hectare conservation area.

Another protest will be held this weekend. Credit: Save Perth Hills

The North Stoneville development application has been rejected by the local community since 1991; by the Shire of Mundaring council and the Department of Fire and Emergency Services; in more than 4000 public submissions; and twice by WA’s highest planning authority since 2020.

Save Perth Hills chair Peter Brazier said the action group and the Mundaring Shire Council hoped there may be provision to revoke the delegate’s “longest-ever approval” under Australia’s Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.

“In the absence of a revocation, Save Perth Hills are confident of solid grounds for a judicial review,” he said.

A rally will be held on Sunday at the Mundaring Sculpture Park.

Satterley has been contacted for comment.

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