Victorian State Member of Parliament, Neale Burgess, has alerted the public to the fact that Minister Gavin Jennings has introduced, through Peter Batchelor, a BILL in Parliament to ensure the lowest possible Classification of Devilbend as a Natural Features Reserve.
This will ensure priority for recreational fishing, horseriding, and other recreational activities inimical to wildlife, in an area which has protected indigenous fauna to date.
Devilbend is precious keystone wildlife habitat essential to Frankston and Peninsula Wildlife Corridors. (See www.awpc.org.au for the corridor plans). The Wildlife corridors are needed to save Peninsula wildlife from extinction via development. Toll-way developers and other friends of Mr Brumby’s can make the idea of turning Devilbend into a glorified sportsground sound environmentally and community-friendly, completely failing to mention that they will thereby destroy a lynchpin in a proposed wildlife corridor for Melbourne’s Southern region.
Extinction of native fauna throughout the Peninsula will permit greedy developers and cold-hearted, exploitative politicians to simply fill the Peninsula with housing and industrial developments like the 400 ha one planned for Port of Hastings. This is an outrage! Soon Victoria will have no more wildlife than Singapore - which has one single mudskipper species listed.
It is so essential that Devilbend be RE-Classified as a NATURE CONSERVATION RESERVE to save rapidly disappearing, remaining native animals on the Mornington Peninsula.
Brendan Sydes, of the Environment Defenders Office, (EDO), has suggested that if we act before tomorrow, there is a way to turn this around by making an Amendment to the present BILL in Parliament.
The Amendment needs to make Devilbend a Nature Conservation Reserve, instead of a 'natural features reserve'.
So if anyone has an MP sympathetic to wildlife, please write seeking the Amendment in the Lower House BEFORE the vote which is tomorrow. Thursday.
The Land and Biodiversity is a waste of time. Minister Jennings hypocritically fails to protect wildlife by ensuring their decimation on the one hand in the BILL and then on the other with his pathetic Green Paper for Biodiversity in a time of Climate Change, which only serves to waste Wildlife defenders’ time and energy and drive them to despair.
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AWPC was alerted by Neale Burgess, local MP and Brendan Sydes Chief Solicitor EDO, to the suggestion of such an ammendment.
Yesterday AWPC called Neale Burgess office requesting that Burgess MOVE the AMENDMENT through Barry in his office.
AWPC has also been in touch with GREEN MP Sue Pennicuik ( office in Brighton), and sent a lot of material to Cameron Pidgeon.
AWPC will call Edward O'Donahue, Upper House MP in Pakenham, who lives on the Mornington Peninsula
Labor Upper house man for the region is johan.scheffer[at]parliament.vic.gov.au
Please let him know how you feel he should vote.
It is essential to move on this today to prevent the Bill from passing without an amendment in the Lower House and proceeding to the Upper House.
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