Wildlife’s future still in doubt

Carnaby's Black-Cockatoo Photo: Ian AshbaughWith land clearing under Jandakot Airport’s master plan due to begin at the end of the month, questions are being raised about what has been done to ensure flora and fauna are protected.

Local resident and former Melville deputy mayor Patricia Phelan has been vocal about her concerns, particularly for the endangered Carnaby’s black cockatoo.

“Where I live, I’m smack bang in the middle of the migratory pattern of the cockatoos, so we all notice because they make such a bloody racket,” she said.

“But the flocks have been decimated. We have lost 50 per cent in the last few years.”

In a letter to Federal Environment Protection Minister Peter Garret, Ms Phelan asked why he would approve the future development.

She wrote: “This decision might be a local and somewhat insignificant one for someone in Sydney, but it will certainly have national consequences and be seen as another example of how your department didn’t protect the fragile environment as was expected.”

Ms Phelan told the Gazette offset was a good idea in theory but wildlife was “genetically encoded to feed in those areas”.

“What are they going to do? Give the cockatoos a GPS? How will they ensure they even know where to go?” she said.

The convener of Friends of Ken Hurst Park, Dr Eddy Wajon, said in a letter to Jandakot Airport Holdings last year that “irrespective of the percentage of the available suitable habitat that is being cleared, the fact remains that 167ha of remnant bushland is being removed”.

Fremantle MHR Melissa Parke said the purchase of the land would be supervised by the WA Environmental Protection Authority and the Federal Department of the Environment.

“While I argued for less on-site clearing at Jandakot than was approved in the master plan, I do acknowledge that the required environmental offset package is onerous, as it should be,” Ms Parke said.

The Government has not yet stipulated the location of the offset.

“We don’t know if they’ve actually purchased the offset and if it’s even large enough to be of any consequence,” Ms Phelan said.

City of Cockburn planning and development director Daniel Arndt said the council was unaware whether Jandakot Airport Holdings had selected or purchased any environmental offsets.

He said the monitoring would be undertaken by the departments of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government as they were the legislative bodies responsible for issuing the approval.

“The City, however, will continue to liaise closely with JAH and independently monitor development of Jandakot Airport,” Mr Arndt said.