The environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, has approved habitat clearing for a defence housing development in Darwin despite acknowledging there is a significant risk for what has been described as one of Australia’s most beautiful endangered birds.
Plibersek had been asked last year to reconsider the development in savanna woodlands at Lee Point after more than 100 endangered Gouldian finches were spotted in bushland marked for imminent clearing.
On Friday Plibersek said she had determined the project would have a significant impact on the birds but it could still proceed with some changes to the original proposal.
Those changes include a requirement for a 50m buffer around Gouldian finch habitat, which is concentrated around a waterhole.
In a letter to Environmental Justice Australia (EJA), which was acting on behalf of the Environment Centre NT (ECNT), Plibersek said she had received advice the buffer would “allow the finches to roost and forage in a natural environment that should allow them to flourish within the area”.
“It will also significantly improve the beauty of the area for the new residents and other members of the community,” the letter says.
Defence Housing Australia will also be required to identify environmental offsets before any clearing takes place near the waterhole.
But the ECNT said it was outraged by the decision to allow the development to proceed given the acknowledged risk to the birds and Australia’s “terrible record on extinctions”.
“Minister Plibersek came to office with a mandate to end the extinction crisis, so this decision is heartbreaking to Lee Point and bird lovers alike,” the savanna and freshwater campaigner Jess Black said.
“The minister needs to step up and stop the destruction of Gouldian finch habitat at Lee Point.
“Land clearing is rampant across the territory and we’re seeing the collapse of tropical savanna ecosystems before our eyes.”
Ellen Maybery, a senior specialist lawyer at EJA, said the decision was “illogical” when Australia had a zero new extinctions target.
“Our client is devastated by the minister’s response to the obvious risks this development poses to Gouldian finch habitat,” she said.
Plibersek said the proposal in its original form would have resulted in an unacceptable impact on the species.
But she said the varied approval had led to a redesign that would “avoid the most adverse impacts on matters of national environmental significance and result in a nature-positive outcome”.
“We need to invest in more housing for communities, but we also have a responsibility to reduce our impact and protect our threatened species and the places they call home,” she said.
Plibersek said the buffer zone would protect the most important habitat and retain a wildlife corridor that would benefit residents.
She said changes would be made to clear invasive gamba grass and replace it with native grass species that the Gouldian finch can feed on. She said access points to Casuarina beach had also been changed to avoid disturbing migratory birds that used the beach to roost and breed.
