SEITA

Victorian Biodiversity Green Paper signals Black Day for Biodiversity

Submission in response to the Victorian Government&;s Information provided in the Green Paper highlights the rapid decline in the quality of our environment. The blame is mainly put on global warming and, thankfully, also on the government&;s persistent push for economic and human population growth. This &;growth&; will exacerbate the present decline not only in the environment but also in the future welfare of the people. It is the government&;s first duty to make sure that we can survive. This will obviously not happen if it does not change its policies. Those who make peaceful changes impossible, make violent changes inevitable! Unfortunately, no politicians have the guts to treat the population and growth issue with the seriousness it deserves. This seems to be due to political cowardice and blind obsession. Sadly, the Green Paper offers mainly band-aid solutions. Whatever the conscientious little man achieves is more than undone by the present policies of the government. Hence, we keep on losing thousands of species of plants and animals resulting in local and national extinctions. The Green Paper admits that &;This level of growth ( of human population) will necessitate the release of significant areas of new land for urban development and the building of more than 600,000 new households, as well as increasing the demand for the food, fibre and other services our ecosystems provide.&; And, &;as the population increases and economic growth continues, the demand for land and housing as well as for energy, transport and water infrastructure also grows. This inevitably places pressure on native vegetation.&; Because of the way our activities are endangering so much life on earth, we need to have a serious and honest look at ourselves and realise that, objectively speaking, we are in fact the greatest pest species on earth. In this light, it should not be difficult to see that all our environmental and social problems are directly and proportionally linked to the obsessionally driven population and economic growth rate. " id="DemocraticViewsIgnored">Democratic views ignored Community recommendations to submissions like this are mostly ignored, in violation of the democratic process.
  • Page 8 shows the bioregions of Victoria but does not show urban bioregions of urban cities and towns.
  • Pages 13 and 14 do not show when country towns ran out of water and when water restriction were implemented.
  • Page 17: Why is there no text for fig, 7, &;Summary of threatened animals in Victoria, 2007?&;
  • Page 40: 6.6, Building ecological connections is continuously ignored in outer urban areas where existing wildlife corridors are wantonly destroyed.
  • Page 46: The desperate water issue has not been sufficiently linked with population growth! The blame has been manly put on global warming and an uncertain future. Why then gamble with increasing the human population?
  • Page 52: &;While some adopt modern approaches and consider principles of sustainability and biodiversity, others are outdated and do not consider recent knowledge and threats.&; An example is the proposed Frankston Bypass where road easements were reserved in 1960, a totally outdated decision.
    There is also a constant &;nibbling&; at the Green Wedges, resulting in environmental groups suffering burnouts through constantly fighting VCAT&;S etc.
  • Page 89: Consultation paper submission raised concerns about the continuing population growth, increased resource use, urbanisation, pollution and the sea change/tree change phenomenon, which means I am not alone in highlighting the absurd and obsessed push for population and economic growth. The 2030 plan expects over one million more people in the Melbourne growth areas and another 50,000 on the Mornington Peninsula. On top of that we have an artificially created baby boom by giving $5,000.00 for every new borne baby, and added to this we allow 170,000 more migrants to come here each year.
My major concern is that the Green Paper will give people false hope. We have to realise that it is us, and rapidly more of us, that are destroying this earth by pollution and over use of resources such as fuel and water as well as destroying the environment. And, importantly, we must not blame global warming and climate change for the rapid decline in biodiversity etc., since it is also all of us who have caused it and keep on increasing it. Finally, we must still go on and do what we can to protect the species we still have but also strongly and openly protest against the &;poles apart&; policies of the Government. Hans Brunner, Wildlife Ecologist, Frankston, Melbourne Hans Brunner is an animal hair specialist who is famous for his in showing that hairs in the were dog hairs (Dingos are dogs), and who made the world news a couple of years ago through his assistance in a in Indonesia.

Australian Wildlife Protection Council submission to the SEITA concerning the Frankston Bypass

To: Ken Mathers, Chief Executive Officer, SEITA, admin [AT] seita.com.au
Cc: Tim Pallas, Minister for Roads and Ports tim.pallas [AT] parliament.vic.gov.au.
Cc: Martin Pakula, martin.pakula [AT] parliamentvic.gov.au
Cc. Joel Benjamin, Biodiversity Vic Roads, joel.benjamin [AT] roads.vic.gov.au
Cc: Bruno Aleksic, Manager Planning, bruno.aleksic [AT] doi.vic.gov.au

May 14, 2008

Dear Mr Mathers,

RE: - FRANKSTON BYPASS: Seita Ref: DO1072588

Your response (Seita ref: DO1072588) fails to adequately address the concerns I raised on behalf of the Australian Wildlife Protection Council or the Coalition of Wildlife Corridors. These concerns were specifically about the threat posed to wildlife and their habitat by the infrastructure and traffic which will be created if the SEITA proposed bypass route goes ahead.

Our own observation as well as discussion with persons well-informed in road-engineering, population and land-use planning, Peninsula Biosphere maintenance, wildlife-ecology and social amenity leaves us in no doubt that

a) the proposed route will severely impact on scarce habitat for local, regional and State biodiversity

b) SEITA and the government have not seriously examined viable alternatives

c) Pines draft master plan - part two and part three fail to remedy these problems

d) Pines draft master plan suggestion of a connection between the parts of the Reserve it will split would only present a very insignificant mitigation of the overall drastic damage

e) the proposed restructuring and popularisation of the reserves inaccurately markets new and additional habitat-stress as habitat and wildlife friendly

The proposed route will divide the Peninsula in two, making any hope of interconnecting wildlife corridors extremely difficult, if not impossible.

It is not acceptable for the government or its chosen contractors to go ahead with a structure which, despite some rhetorically supportive policies in Pines draft master plans, parts two and three, is in practice oppositional to international, Australian, and local practice and science for protecting the needs of wildlife. At the moment Frankston and the Peninsula, although part of an international UNESCO agreement for a biosphere that protects fauna and flora, are facing unacceptable decimation of indigenous animals in all or most areas where they struggle to survive. Roads, through habitat fragmentation and isolation, through very high rates of road-kill, and through their spear-heading of suburban expansion, are the drivers of animal deaths and species loss.

SEITA will only encounter and should only encounter opposition if it fails to use alternative routes to protect any indigenous fauna habitat from being cut off from the rest of the Pines, or indeed where similar fragmentation is threatened for any other habitats. Australian fauna is at greater risk than at any other time in history due to climate change, drought, habitat-fragmentation and annihilation. The need for more, not fewer, bio-links to save species and individual animals is critical.

With regards to the other areas of Frankston and the Peninsula, if SEITA continues with the same lack of awareness as previous road-builders in this country, of the many modern methods for mitigating road-kill, such as bridges, tunnels and overpasses, then it cannot expect and will not deserve support. This is quite apart from the fact that the population growth and urban expansion which it is relying on in Australia for customers and investors is not supported by the incumbent population and will probably become very problematical very soon due to oil depletion.

Sincerely,

Maryland Wilson, President

Australian Wildlife Protection Council Inc
247 Flinders Lane Melbourne, Victoria 3000
Coalition for Wildlife Corridors
03 59 788 570 ph 03 59 788 302 fax
Mobile 0417 148 501
kangaroo [AT] peninsula.hotkey.net.au
web site:
Registered Charity A0012224D
"As long as people will shed the blood of innocent
creatures there can be no peace, no liberty, no
harmony between people. Slaughter and justice
cannot dwell together."
Nobel Prize Winner ISAAC BASHEVIS SINGER