Save Moreton Bay - Stop Toondah Harbour development

Save Moreton Bay - Stop Toondah Harbour development

65,627 have signed. Let’s get to 75,000!
Started
Petition to
The Hon Tanya Plibersek MP (Minister for Environment and Water) and

Why this petition matters

Started by Dylan Olliver

Please save Toondah Harbour's irreplaceable, internationally significant wetlands, its rich biodiversity, and nearby foreshore koala colony from being destroyed by Walker Corporation’s greedy, private 3600 unit development on public parkland and out in the Moreton Bay Marine Park. 

Sacrificing 42ha (48 football fields) of Ramsar treaty wetland (meant to be internationally protected) will spell disaster for Toondah’s critically endangered shorebirds (Eastern Curlew), vulnerable shorebirds, turtles, dugongs, dolphins, mangrove forests and seagrass beds. 

If approved, this massive, multi-storey ‘suburb in the sea’ will dredge out, and concrete over, the inter-tidal and shallow sub-tidal feeding and roosting habitat of migratory shorebird species, seriously disrupting their life cycle. Please Respect Ramsar!

Unless the Federal Government rejects this development or the Palaszczuk Government revokes the Toondah Harbour Priority Development Area over the Toondah Ramsar wetlands and withdraws its support for this development, this ecological paradise will be lost forever.

Allowing this development, including its own marina, to proceed will cause 'permanent and irreversible damage’ through impacts such as:

  • removing approximately half a million cubic metres of seabed and wetland destroying widespread seagrass beds and hectares of mangrove forests, disturbing sediment, reducing light penetration and potentially exposing acid sulfate soils to oxidising (acidifying) conditions
  • requiring this spoil to be dumped elsewhere (likely in the Bay) and ongoing dredging to maintain the new harbour that will replace the RAMSAR wetland
  • thousands of residents creating extra noise, light disturbance, pollution, traffic movements etc.
  • loss of iconic views to the bay and islands
  • increased litter, stormwater and light pollution, damage from boat anti-fouling paint and boat strikes on loggerhead, hawksbill, green and leatherback turtles
  • likely damage to important nearby shorebird, coral and satmarsh habitat at Oyster Point, Cassim Island and the Nandeebie claypan. 

Instead of selling off this public land, locking those who don't live there out and losing this valuable coastal marine environment with blue carbon potential, invest in upgrading the existing ferry terminal and locate a smaller-scale development on the land - there’s plenty of car park and other disrupted land in and around the terminal.

The current proposal does not fund the additional road (few roads out - traffic congestion) rail (single track not next to development), health and education infrastructure to support such a large population increase. 

There is only one Moreton Bay! No 'offset' elsewhere (especially in countries Australia has no jurisdiction over or enforcement capability) will compensate for losing another slice of this marine sanctuary. Once it's gone, it's gone :((

Please reject donations from Walker of $225,000 to the federal Liberal Party and $23,000 to Queensland Labor during the approvals process and act to help keep Moreton Bay’s 43 shorebird species, seven of the world’s eight turtle species (including endangered loggerheads) rare dugongs, 355 marine invertebrate species and its unique natural beauty.

As custodians of our environment, we urge you to change course and reject this development to prevent this catastrophe.

If you do, your legacy will be one that ensures current and future generations can continue flock to the shores of our beautiful bay to enjoy the remarkable sight of koalas, turtles, maybe even a dugong as well marvel at shorebirds flying in from 10,000+ kilometres for up to eight days non-stop to feed and rest here every summer.

Please listen and do the right thing! 

 

65,627 have signed. Let’s get to 75,000!