Thank you 4 Corners for exposing how politicians championing economic development and partnering with developers are wiping out our wildlife at the highest rate in the world. 

The Toondah section of this report starts around 27 minutes into the program. 

It’s disgraceful that successive environment Ministers have chosen to ignore departmental advice stating this 3600 unit development over 42ha of RAMSAR wetland will cause ‘irreversible damage’. 

They have since advised this would ‘seriously disrupt the life cycle of the Eastern Curlews and other migratory species’ and it was  ‘likely to have significant impacts on dolphins, turtles dugongs and koalas’ and that ‘no development of this scale or likely impact has been approved within an existing RAMSAR site in Australia’. 

By sponsoring the approvals granted so far they are enabling Walker to exploit loopholes such as purchasing offsets overseas where the Australian Government has no jurisdiction or authority to enforce or check compliance, in the meantime their migratory roost on our doorstep is in danger of being destroyed.

So often the Federal Minister, the Queensland Government and Redlands City Council tell us to wait until we know the science of the impact of this development. This science is determined by an EIS statement commissioned by the Walker Corporation! What evidence do we need when the area where there is now wetland will be dredged and replaced with concrete and become home to at least 8,000 people? 

Instead of acting within their powers to stop this environmental catastrophe and introducing stronger legislation to protect critically endangered species, they are fast-tracking their extinction. 

Thank you for the almost 5600 of you who have taken a stand to stop these preventable extinctions by signing this petition :))