SCEC’s EPBC referral submission 05 May 2015
Title of Referral: Department of Transport and Main Roads/Transport – land/Glenview/QLD/Bruce Highway upgrade Caloundra to Sunshine Motorway Project no: 280/10A/1. SUBMISSION by the Sunshine Coast Environment Council. The Sunshine Coast Environment Council (SCEC) is the peak regional environmental advocacy group on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland. Established in 1980, it currently represents 50 community groups working on conservation and sustainability with a combined membership of over 15,000 individuals.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
We submit that the proposed action would have unacceptable impacts on Matters on National Environmental Significance and should therefore not proceed in its current forum. At the very least, it should be deemed a CONTROLLED action. However, a higher level of assessment would be appropriate in our view. The Mooloolah Logging Area (locally known as the Steve Irwin Way Forest) within Beerwah State Forest lies partly within the project footprint and therefore subjected to direct impacts. Associated indirect impacts would affect a much larger area of the forest. Despite historical native logging activity, this critical portion of state forest was earmarked to transition into National Park tenure under the South-East Queensland Regional Forestry Agreement (SEQRFA) due to its high conservation values. This robustly negotiated agreement was arbitrarily and contentiously withdrawn by the former Queensland LNP government in late 2013. The transition process of state forest to protected estate is being revisited since the change of government following the Queensland State election on 31st January 2015.
The significant conservation values which elevated this area for transition remain intact and warrant appropriate and in-perpetuity protection. This project would fragment an integral part of a ‘bioregional corridor’ from the coastal lowlands to the hinterland vital for wildlife movement and the viability of species. We submit that the suggested mitigation measures by the Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR) in no way provide the necessary protections or justification for impacts on MNES and should not proceed. There are also unacceptable intrusions into the Palmview Conservation Park – a core connecting conservation reserve in the locality.