Tanya Plibersek rejects Toondah Harbour project over impact on globally significant wetlands

The Toondah Harbour wetlands at sunrise. The site is protected under the Ramsar convention, an international treaty established to halt the loss of wetlands. Photograph: Judy Leitch

The environment and water minister, Tanya Plibersek, has announced she will reject an apartment and retail development on an internationally important wetland at Queensland’s Moreton Bay.

Plibersek said on Tuesday she would refuse Walker Corporation’s Toondah Harbour project – first proposed eight years ago and opposed by a long-running community campaign backed by scientists and conservationists – because it would have an unacceptable impact on the Ramsar site.