A multi-billion-dollar investment fund has divested from Lendlease, accusing the developer and the New South Wales government of not being transparent about a housing development south-west of Sydney.
Australian Ethical announced it had sold its $11 million stake in Lendlease after discussions with the developer broke down.
The investment fund was petitioning the developer to provide detailed maps of koala corridors on the site of a 3,300-home development at Gilead, 58 kilometres from Sydney.
Ethical stewardship lead Amanda Richman said Lendlease failed to produce the information and Australian Ethical was concerned if the development went ahead, it could threaten one of the last healthy koala colonies in NSW.
"Australian Ethical has been engaging with Lendlease for over four years to encourage it to strengthen koala protection, but our perception is that those talks have stalled," Ms Richman said.
"We are not confident in the process being followed by the NSW Department of Planning in their assessment of this development. We see a lack of transparency that we are really concerned about."
A Landlease spokesperson defended the project and said it was compliant with the NSW chief scientist's advice.
Stand-off over koala corridors
In December, Australian Ethical warned Lendlease it would offload its shares unless the developer disclosed detailed maps of koala corridors of stage two of the Figtree Hill development.
The housing estate is set to be built on a parcel of land which is the shortest distance between the Georges and Nepean rivers, making it a critical passage for koalas.
NSW chief scientist David Phillips recommended corridor widths should be widened to an average size of 390 to 425 metres and include a 30-metre buffer on either side.
In 2021, an independent expert panel chaired by the deputy chief scientist and engineer Chris Armstrong criticised the way Lendlease had mapped its koala corridors.
The panel said the maps provided by Lendlease did not comply with the methodology of the chief scientist and noted "lines appeared to have been drawn at random to meet the minimum width requirement of 250 metres".
The Environment and Heritage Group (EHG), a government panel of independent experts, made a submission on the proposal in December and said it was "inconsistent" with the chief scientist's advice and recommendations.
"Insufficient information has been provided to support the proposed zone boundaries and structure plan," it said in its submission.
"Including the extent of the proposed urban development zone and land proposed for certification, and the clearing of 53.5 hectares of native vegetation and threatened species habitat, which includes critically endangered and endangered ecological communities."
Australian Ethical said it appeared Lendlease and NSW Planning and Environment (DPIE) were interpreting the advice in a way that was better for developers than koalas.
"Lendlease and the New South Wales Department of Planning are looking at the overarching average width requirement and ignoring the embedded methodology that includes a minimum width," Ms Richman said.
"They are choosing to ignore certain sections of the report.
"In that way, they are able to say that they're meeting the requirements of the chief scientist but will still have a development that adversely impacts this healthy koala colony."
Efforts to protect koalas 'hollow'
Last year the Perrottet government announced Figtree Hill would be fast-tracked and that the planning minister would have the final say on the project.
Australian Ethical said the state government should commit to holding fresh public consultations on the proposal once all the relevant information was made available.
"We want the minister to hold a public consultation on the environmental impacts of this development with all the information on the table, including the quality corridor map with the methodology of how the corridors have been calculated," Ms Richman said.
"There has been a previous consultation on the development, from our perspective it is redundant from a biodiversity standpoint, because the public hasn't been given the full picture."
New South Wales independent upper house candidate Elizabeth Farrelly said the fast-tracking reflected poorly on the state government's commitment to protect the vulnerable species.
"I think that the government's promise to protect koalas looks really hollow at the moment," Ms Farrelly said.
"They are saying that they want to protect them, but what they are actually doing is not only approving, but fast-tracking, rezoning proposals, which will threaten the last healthy koala colony in the state.
"To pull the wool over the eyes of the public by not, for example, not providing maps on which consultation could sensibly be based and the corridors could be judged."
'Microcosm' for urban sprawl
Conservationist scientist Stuart Blanch, from the World Wildlife Fund, said similar situations to what was happening south-west of Sydney were playing out across Australia.
"I think this really is a microcosm for urban development in threatened species habitat in Australia," Dr Blanch said.
"If we can't save chlamydia-free koalas at Campbelltown, Appin and Wilton, you've got to think, what animals will survive in urban fringes [as] houses keep going out into wildlife habitat?"
He said other companies may follow Australian Ethical's lead and reconsider investing in companies they believed were not putting the environment first.
"Australia Ethical is one of the leading financial institutions of Australia, when it comes to environment and climate, and they have moved their money after doing what they could to get Lendlease to move.
"Lendlease didn't move enough and Australia Ethical has walked.
"I hope it sends a signal to other big banks and pension funds and super funds, that you have to be nature positive."
Lendlease defends koala protections
A Lendlease spokesperson said the company was following advice.
"We have engaged with Australian Ethical over a number of years to share our plans for the Gilead project, which fully adhere to the independent and expert recommendations of the New South Wales chief scientist," the spokesperson said.
"Our $35 million investment into conservation at Gilead includes creating koala corridors that have been independently assessed as meeting the recommendations of the chief scientist in terms of width and connectivity."
A DPIE spokesperson said all maps of the development remained online and publicly available, and the department would consider all submissions.
"Transparency has and always will be an important part of our assessment processes," they said.
"The Gilead stage two planning proposal, including its supporting documentation and maps, was placed on public exhibition from 21 November 2022 to 19 December 2022.
"The Environment and Heritage Group participated in the Technical Assurance Panel (TAP) program, which ensured the draft proposal met the advice of the chief scientist and engineer."
The department's detailed assessment will be publicly released as part of its final assessment report later this year.
