Fined For Fighting Invasive Weeds - Newcastle Council Out Of Touch
Fined For Fighting Invasive Weeds - Newcastle Council Out Of Touch
The issue
Public Appeal Petition
Newcastle NSW — Issued April 2026
Call for Community Support
Penalised for Protecting Our Native Environment
A Newcastle resident faces $6,000 in penalty infringement notices for removing four declared invasive weed trees — the same trees state law and council policy say should be eliminated.
Species Removed
Chinese Tallow Tree
Offence
EP&A Act s.4.2(1)(a)
Issuing Authority
City of Newcastle
Formal Public Appeal Petition To:
The Lord Mayor and Elected Councillors of the City of Newcastle,
The General Manager, City of Newcastle,
The NSW Minister for Planning and Public Spaces, and
All Concerned Members of the Newcastle Community
Presented by the undersigned residents and supporters, May 2026
We, the undersigned, call upon the City of Newcastle to immediately withdraw the penalty infringement notices issued under section 4.2(1)(a) of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (NSW) against a Newcastle resident who removed four Chinese tallow trees (Triadica sebifera) from the front of their home — and to urgently review its enforcement approach to the removal of declared invasive weed species.
This petition does not ask the City of Newcastle to ignore its legitimate responsibility to protect the urban forest. We respect that role. What we ask is that the Council recognise a profound inconsistency at the heart of these penalty notices: the resident who received them did not harm the environment. They actively improved it. They removed, at their own expense and initiative, four specimens of a species that the NSW Government's own legislation, the Council's own Development Control Plan, and decades of ecological research identify as a damaging environmental weed that must be managed and eliminated.
To penalise this action is not only unjust to the individual — it sends a chilling message to every Newcastle resident who might otherwise do the right thing for their local environment. We urge the Council to correct this outcome.
I. What Is the Chinese Tallow Tree?
The Chinese tallow tree (Triadica sebifera, also formerly known as Sapium sebiferum is a deciduous tree native to eastern Asia that was introduced to Australia as an ornamental species. It is formally recognised as an environmental weed in New South Wales by the NSW Department of Primary Industries (NSW DPI, 2025). Most infestations in NSW are concentrated in the North Coast and Hunter regions — precisely the area of Newcastle where these trees stood.
Its invasive characteristics are formidable. A single mature tree produces up to 100,000 seeds per year, viable in the soil for at least two years, and dispersed by birds and flowing water (NSW WeedWise, 2025). It tolerates drought, flood, full sun, shade, and saline soils alike, growing rapidly and outcompeting native vegetation in almost any condition. When cut or burned, it regenerates aggressively from the stump and produces suckers from its root system. The NSW Government's own WeedWise portal describes the Chinese tallow tree as a species that "outcompetes native plants, reduces food and shelter for native animals, is poisonous to people and some animals, and changes soil nutrient levels which enhances its own seed germination and growth, suppressing other plants" (NSW WeedWise, 2025).
Research published in peer-reviewed scientific literature confirms that Chinese tallow invasions can reduce native plant species diversity by up to 70% in severely affected areas, and that the leaf litter of the species, when it enters waterways, significantly impairs the survival of aquatic amphibian larvae — a particular concern in a region already facing pressure on its frog and freshwater biodiversity (Saenz, Fucik & Kwiatkowski, 2013; Farmonaut, 2025).
II. What the Law Says About This Species
NSW Biosecurity Act 2015 — General Biosecurity Duty: Under this Act, all persons who deal with a declared pest plant — knowing, or reasonably ought to know, of any biosecurity risk it poses — bear a duty to "prevent, eliminate or minimise" that risk, so far as reasonably practicable. The Chinese tallow tree is subject to this General Biosecurity Duty across all of NSW (NSW WeedWise, 2025).
Hunter Regional Recommended Measure: The Hunter Local Land Services has established specific Regional Recommended Measures for Chinese tallow tree, classifying it as a Regional Priority — Containment species. Across the Hunter region — in which Newcastle falls — an exclusion zone applies across all land outside the core infestation. Within the exclusion zone, land managers are required to notify, eradicate, and keep their land free of this species, and are prohibited from buying, selling, growing, moving, or releasing it (NSW WeedWise, 2025).
City of Newcastle DCP 2023, Section C3: The Council's own Development Control Plan explicitly states among its objectives that the plan will: "Authorise the clearing of priority weeds and other inappropriate vegetation and encourage replacement with appropriate compensatory plantings." (Newcastle DCP 2023, Section C3). This is not peripheral language — it is a core stated objective of the very planning instrument under which the penalty notices were issued.
The resident who removed these four trees was, in practical terms, acting in alignment with the spirit of all three of these instruments. The Biosecurity Act positively obligates landholders to act against this species. The Council's own DCP names the authorisation of priority weed clearing as a goal. Yet the penalty notices treat the same action as unlawful development.
III. The Perversity of the Current Outcome
The penalty notices, as issued, create a damaging and incoherent policy signal: a private resident who removes a declared environmental weed — reducing seed load, allelopathic soil contamination, and the risk of further spread into Newcastle's bushland and waterways — is financially penalised, while the invasive trees themselves carried no legal protection whatsoever as native species or heritage items. This is precisely backwards from the environmental outcome both State and local government profess to want.
The Chinese tallow tree is not a native Australian species. It is not listed as a threatened species or habitat tree for threatened fauna. It is not a heritage item. It does not form part of an endangered ecological community. There is no ecological rationale for its protection. On the contrary — as set out above — there is an active statutory duty and Council policy objective to eliminate it.
Every mature Chinese tallow tree left standing produces tens of thousands of seeds annually. Four trees removed means up to 400,000 fewer seeds entering the landscape each year. That is a meaningful contribution to biosecurity — made voluntarily, at private cost, by a concerned resident. To respond with penalty notices is to punish environmental stewardship.
We also note that the Council operates its own Invasive Species Team, which has the power to enter properties to inspect for priority weeds and takes enforcement action under the Biosecurity Act (City of Newcastle, 2025). It is deeply incongruous that a Council empowered to demand the removal of such species from private land should simultaneously penalise a resident who removes them of their own accord.
IV. A Call for Proportionate and Ecologically Coherent Enforcement
We do not suggest that tree removal laws in Newcastle are without purpose. They serve an important function in protecting ecologically valuable native vegetation and the urban forest. We support that purpose. But the application of those laws requires ecological judgement and proportionality. Treating the removal of a declared invasive weed the same as the unauthorised removal of a protected native tree is a failure of that judgement — one that has real consequences for an individual resident and sends the wrong signal to the entire community.
Other NSW councils have recognised this distinction explicitly. Central Coast Council, for example, provides a specific exemption in its DCP for the removal of "any weed species listed under Schedule 3 of the Biosecurity Act 2015, and/or those weeds listed on the Australian Government Department of Environment & Energy website 'Weeds in Australia'" (Central Coast Council DCP, 2022). Newcastle's own DCP 2023 authorises the clearing of priority weeds as an objective. The gap, it appears, is between the Council's stated policy intent and its enforcement practice.
We call on the City of Newcastle to close that gap — beginning with the withdrawal of the penalty notices that prompted this petition.
V. Our Requests
The Undersigned Formally Request That the City of Newcastle:
Immediately withdraw all penalty infringement notices issued under s.4.2(1)(a) of the
Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979
in relation to the removal of the four Chinese tallow trees at the subject property.
Acknowledge, in writing, that the removal of declared invasive weed species listed under the
Biosecurity Act 2015
— particularly the Chinese tallow tree — is consistent with, and indeed encouraged by, the objectives of City of Newcastle DCP 2023, Section C3.
Urgently review and amend the Newcastle DCP 2023 to introduce an explicit exemption from development consent requirements for the removal of species declared as environmental or priority weeds under NSW or Commonwealth legislation, in line with comparable exemptions adopted by other NSW councils.
Issue public guidance clarifying to all Newcastle residents the rights and obligations applying to the removal of declared weed species — including the Chinese tallow tree — from private and streetside land within the Newcastle LGA.
Commit to an enforcement posture that distinguishes clearly between the protection of ecologically valuable native vegetation and the management of declared invasive weed species, ensuring that residents who take responsible biosecurity action are supported rather than penalised.
We make this appeal respectfully, but firmly. The environment is best served when law, policy, and community action are aligned — not in conflict. The City of Newcastle has the power to correct this misalignment. We urge it to do so without delay.
Petition Signatures
By signing this petition, I indicate my support for this appeal and call on the City of Newcastle to withdraw the penalty infringement notices and reform its approach to invasive weed species removal.
Sources Referenced in This Petition
City of Newcastle (2025). Private Tree Removal. newcastle.nsw.gov.au/living/environment/trees/private-trees
City of Newcastle (2025). Invasive Species. newcastle.nsw.gov.au/living/environment/invasive-species
City of Newcastle DCP 2023, Section C3 – Vegetation Preservation and Care. dcp.newcastle.nsw.gov.au
Farmonaut (2025). Chinese Tallow Tree: Impact & Uses in Sustainable Farming. farmonaut.com
NSW Department of Primary Industries (2025). Chinese tallow tree (Triadica sebifera). NSW WeedWise. weeds.dpi.nsw.gov.au/Weeds/ChineseTallowTree
Saenz, D., Fucik, E.M. & Kwiatkowski, M.A. (2013). Synergistic effects of the invasive Chinese tallow (Triadica sebifera) and climate change on aquatic amphibian survival. Ecology and Evolution, 3(13), 4432–4441. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3867914/
Central Coast Council DCP (2022). Chapter 3.5 – Exempt Tree Works. centralcoast.nsw.gov.au
138
The issue
Public Appeal Petition
Newcastle NSW — Issued April 2026
Call for Community Support
Penalised for Protecting Our Native Environment
A Newcastle resident faces $6,000 in penalty infringement notices for removing four declared invasive weed trees — the same trees state law and council policy say should be eliminated.
Species Removed
Chinese Tallow Tree
Offence
EP&A Act s.4.2(1)(a)
Issuing Authority
City of Newcastle
Formal Public Appeal Petition To:
The Lord Mayor and Elected Councillors of the City of Newcastle,
The General Manager, City of Newcastle,
The NSW Minister for Planning and Public Spaces, and
All Concerned Members of the Newcastle Community
Presented by the undersigned residents and supporters, May 2026
We, the undersigned, call upon the City of Newcastle to immediately withdraw the penalty infringement notices issued under section 4.2(1)(a) of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (NSW) against a Newcastle resident who removed four Chinese tallow trees (Triadica sebifera) from the front of their home — and to urgently review its enforcement approach to the removal of declared invasive weed species.
This petition does not ask the City of Newcastle to ignore its legitimate responsibility to protect the urban forest. We respect that role. What we ask is that the Council recognise a profound inconsistency at the heart of these penalty notices: the resident who received them did not harm the environment. They actively improved it. They removed, at their own expense and initiative, four specimens of a species that the NSW Government's own legislation, the Council's own Development Control Plan, and decades of ecological research identify as a damaging environmental weed that must be managed and eliminated.
To penalise this action is not only unjust to the individual — it sends a chilling message to every Newcastle resident who might otherwise do the right thing for their local environment. We urge the Council to correct this outcome.
I. What Is the Chinese Tallow Tree?
The Chinese tallow tree (Triadica sebifera, also formerly known as Sapium sebiferum is a deciduous tree native to eastern Asia that was introduced to Australia as an ornamental species. It is formally recognised as an environmental weed in New South Wales by the NSW Department of Primary Industries (NSW DPI, 2025). Most infestations in NSW are concentrated in the North Coast and Hunter regions — precisely the area of Newcastle where these trees stood.
Its invasive characteristics are formidable. A single mature tree produces up to 100,000 seeds per year, viable in the soil for at least two years, and dispersed by birds and flowing water (NSW WeedWise, 2025). It tolerates drought, flood, full sun, shade, and saline soils alike, growing rapidly and outcompeting native vegetation in almost any condition. When cut or burned, it regenerates aggressively from the stump and produces suckers from its root system. The NSW Government's own WeedWise portal describes the Chinese tallow tree as a species that "outcompetes native plants, reduces food and shelter for native animals, is poisonous to people and some animals, and changes soil nutrient levels which enhances its own seed germination and growth, suppressing other plants" (NSW WeedWise, 2025).
Research published in peer-reviewed scientific literature confirms that Chinese tallow invasions can reduce native plant species diversity by up to 70% in severely affected areas, and that the leaf litter of the species, when it enters waterways, significantly impairs the survival of aquatic amphibian larvae — a particular concern in a region already facing pressure on its frog and freshwater biodiversity (Saenz, Fucik & Kwiatkowski, 2013; Farmonaut, 2025).
II. What the Law Says About This Species
NSW Biosecurity Act 2015 — General Biosecurity Duty: Under this Act, all persons who deal with a declared pest plant — knowing, or reasonably ought to know, of any biosecurity risk it poses — bear a duty to "prevent, eliminate or minimise" that risk, so far as reasonably practicable. The Chinese tallow tree is subject to this General Biosecurity Duty across all of NSW (NSW WeedWise, 2025).
Hunter Regional Recommended Measure: The Hunter Local Land Services has established specific Regional Recommended Measures for Chinese tallow tree, classifying it as a Regional Priority — Containment species. Across the Hunter region — in which Newcastle falls — an exclusion zone applies across all land outside the core infestation. Within the exclusion zone, land managers are required to notify, eradicate, and keep their land free of this species, and are prohibited from buying, selling, growing, moving, or releasing it (NSW WeedWise, 2025).
City of Newcastle DCP 2023, Section C3: The Council's own Development Control Plan explicitly states among its objectives that the plan will: "Authorise the clearing of priority weeds and other inappropriate vegetation and encourage replacement with appropriate compensatory plantings." (Newcastle DCP 2023, Section C3). This is not peripheral language — it is a core stated objective of the very planning instrument under which the penalty notices were issued.
The resident who removed these four trees was, in practical terms, acting in alignment with the spirit of all three of these instruments. The Biosecurity Act positively obligates landholders to act against this species. The Council's own DCP names the authorisation of priority weed clearing as a goal. Yet the penalty notices treat the same action as unlawful development.
III. The Perversity of the Current Outcome
The penalty notices, as issued, create a damaging and incoherent policy signal: a private resident who removes a declared environmental weed — reducing seed load, allelopathic soil contamination, and the risk of further spread into Newcastle's bushland and waterways — is financially penalised, while the invasive trees themselves carried no legal protection whatsoever as native species or heritage items. This is precisely backwards from the environmental outcome both State and local government profess to want.
The Chinese tallow tree is not a native Australian species. It is not listed as a threatened species or habitat tree for threatened fauna. It is not a heritage item. It does not form part of an endangered ecological community. There is no ecological rationale for its protection. On the contrary — as set out above — there is an active statutory duty and Council policy objective to eliminate it.
Every mature Chinese tallow tree left standing produces tens of thousands of seeds annually. Four trees removed means up to 400,000 fewer seeds entering the landscape each year. That is a meaningful contribution to biosecurity — made voluntarily, at private cost, by a concerned resident. To respond with penalty notices is to punish environmental stewardship.
We also note that the Council operates its own Invasive Species Team, which has the power to enter properties to inspect for priority weeds and takes enforcement action under the Biosecurity Act (City of Newcastle, 2025). It is deeply incongruous that a Council empowered to demand the removal of such species from private land should simultaneously penalise a resident who removes them of their own accord.
IV. A Call for Proportionate and Ecologically Coherent Enforcement
We do not suggest that tree removal laws in Newcastle are without purpose. They serve an important function in protecting ecologically valuable native vegetation and the urban forest. We support that purpose. But the application of those laws requires ecological judgement and proportionality. Treating the removal of a declared invasive weed the same as the unauthorised removal of a protected native tree is a failure of that judgement — one that has real consequences for an individual resident and sends the wrong signal to the entire community.
Other NSW councils have recognised this distinction explicitly. Central Coast Council, for example, provides a specific exemption in its DCP for the removal of "any weed species listed under Schedule 3 of the Biosecurity Act 2015, and/or those weeds listed on the Australian Government Department of Environment & Energy website 'Weeds in Australia'" (Central Coast Council DCP, 2022). Newcastle's own DCP 2023 authorises the clearing of priority weeds as an objective. The gap, it appears, is between the Council's stated policy intent and its enforcement practice.
We call on the City of Newcastle to close that gap — beginning with the withdrawal of the penalty notices that prompted this petition.
V. Our Requests
The Undersigned Formally Request That the City of Newcastle:
Immediately withdraw all penalty infringement notices issued under s.4.2(1)(a) of the
Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979
in relation to the removal of the four Chinese tallow trees at the subject property.
Acknowledge, in writing, that the removal of declared invasive weed species listed under the
Biosecurity Act 2015
— particularly the Chinese tallow tree — is consistent with, and indeed encouraged by, the objectives of City of Newcastle DCP 2023, Section C3.
Urgently review and amend the Newcastle DCP 2023 to introduce an explicit exemption from development consent requirements for the removal of species declared as environmental or priority weeds under NSW or Commonwealth legislation, in line with comparable exemptions adopted by other NSW councils.
Issue public guidance clarifying to all Newcastle residents the rights and obligations applying to the removal of declared weed species — including the Chinese tallow tree — from private and streetside land within the Newcastle LGA.
Commit to an enforcement posture that distinguishes clearly between the protection of ecologically valuable native vegetation and the management of declared invasive weed species, ensuring that residents who take responsible biosecurity action are supported rather than penalised.
We make this appeal respectfully, but firmly. The environment is best served when law, policy, and community action are aligned — not in conflict. The City of Newcastle has the power to correct this misalignment. We urge it to do so without delay.
Petition Signatures
By signing this petition, I indicate my support for this appeal and call on the City of Newcastle to withdraw the penalty infringement notices and reform its approach to invasive weed species removal.
Sources Referenced in This Petition
City of Newcastle (2025). Private Tree Removal. newcastle.nsw.gov.au/living/environment/trees/private-trees
City of Newcastle (2025). Invasive Species. newcastle.nsw.gov.au/living/environment/invasive-species
City of Newcastle DCP 2023, Section C3 – Vegetation Preservation and Care. dcp.newcastle.nsw.gov.au
Farmonaut (2025). Chinese Tallow Tree: Impact & Uses in Sustainable Farming. farmonaut.com
NSW Department of Primary Industries (2025). Chinese tallow tree (Triadica sebifera). NSW WeedWise. weeds.dpi.nsw.gov.au/Weeds/ChineseTallowTree
Saenz, D., Fucik, E.M. & Kwiatkowski, M.A. (2013). Synergistic effects of the invasive Chinese tallow (Triadica sebifera) and climate change on aquatic amphibian survival. Ecology and Evolution, 3(13), 4432–4441. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3867914/
Central Coast Council DCP (2022). Chapter 3.5 – Exempt Tree Works. centralcoast.nsw.gov.au
138
Petition Updates
Share this petition
Petition created on 3 May 2026