Call on the Federal Environment Minister to Save Wallum | Act now to Save Wallum

Call on the Federal Environment Minister to Save Wallum

Can you help us place pressure on the Minister to use their powers to intervene and help us to Save Wallum?

Where do you live?

Compose your email

Name

Email

Subject:

To the Honourable Minister for the Environment and Water, Tanya Plibersek.

I urgently call upon you to exercise your Ministerial powers under the EPBC Act, 1999 in regards to the development of “Wallum” (15 Torakina Rd, Brunswick Heads NSW, 2483), a critically important site containing Matters of National Environmental Significance (MNES) - DA 10.2021.575.1.

“Wallum” consists of ~30ha of irreplaceable and rare coastal ecosystems in the Byron Shire, home to threatened species and ecological communities including the Glossy Black Cockatoo, Long-nosed Potoroo, Koala, Wallum Sedge Frog and many others. It is crucial that the laws that are applicable to the site and the Matters of National Environmental Significance are fully complied with.

I am aware that your office reminded the developer of their legal obligation to refer the development to you, however, they refused to do so. I understand that the developer has formed the view that their development will not likely have a significant impact on the environment and the Matters of National Environmental Significance. Minister, it can't end there because there is a body of evidence from independent experts that says the development is likely to have a significant impact on Matters of National Environmental Significance. I believe that it is therefore now up to you to act before it's too late.
I urge you to now use your power and request the developer to refer the development to you because it is likely to have a significant impact on the relevant Matters of National Environmental Significance.

The power is in your hands to intervene. The risks of not acting are too high. We risk this vital area being bulldozed, further fragmenting critical habitat for a myriad of threatened species that are Matters of National Environmental Significance, while exacerbating climate change and associated extreme weather events, which are increasingly prevalent within the Byron Shire and our Northern Rivers region.

I worry about the legacy that we will leave for future generations to come. You have the power to decide whether that legacy is one that includes thriving ecosystems supported by clean air, pristine water, and unpolluted land, or, whether it's scarred by generations of greed and inaction, where natural processes can no longer sustain themselves and, as a result, neither can human populations.

Minister, please don't leave this to the community to have to engage in onerous and resource intensive litigation in the Federal Court to seek an injunction to ensure our federal environmental laws are complied with.

This development has already slipped through so many contemporary environmental safeguards and community consultation requirements at the state level, because it is essentially a 'zombie DA'. We have the chance to properly assess this development's impacts on the relevant Matters of National Environmental Significance, but it will require you to act.

I urge you to do all that is within your power to immediately act and request "Wallum" (15 Torakina Rd, Brunswick Heads, NSW) be referred to you under the EPBC Act, 1999.

How we use the data you enter on this form

Do Gooder (the advocacy platform powering this online action) processes personal information from you that you enter on this form so that we can provide the functions and related services to you and The Campaigner (the organisation responsible for this online action) for their legitimate purposes, including possibly exporting it to other systems, and to effectively respond to enquiries and communications related to those services.

Specifically when you enter:

Your location data (residential address or postcode) it is used to locate your elected representative, to pre-populate your email signature and to provide The Campaigner with a visualisation of the location of the support for this campaign.
All other data you may enter, including your email address, name, telephone number, commentary and so on is used by The Campaigner to advocate for the campaign’s goals and where required may be sent to the target of the campaign.

The data collected by Do Gooder is also used by us in aggregate form to improve the service and may be held on your behalf outside your country of residence by our third party service providers. These providers are bound by contract to only use personal information on our behalf, in accordance with agreed terms. While the privacy laws of the country in which personal information is stored or transferred may be different from those in your country, we will always have safeguards in place when storing or transferring personal information. We will never sell, rent, loan or in any other way pass your information on to other parties other than to provide this service to you and The Campaigner.

The personal information collected by Do Gooder is held subject to a Data Processing Agreement between Do Gooder and The Campaigner in compliance with the EU's GDPR and Australian law.

Learn more about our privacy policy here

How is my data used?