2021-05-20 Ordinary Meeting Minutes

ORDINARY MEETING MINUTES     20 MAY 2021


                             Attachment 1




                           Page 18 of 29

ORDINARY MEETING MINUTES                                                                 20 MAY 2021

                                                                                         Attachment 1

  Brett de Chastel,
  CEO, Noosa Council
  PO Box 141
  Tewantin, QLD 4565
  Dear Mr. de Chastel,
  Re: Petition to save Glossy Black Cockatoo habitat at Grasstree Court, Sunrise Beach.
  Your attention is drawn to the attached petition of Spencer Hitchen with over 41,000 signatories to
  Save the site at Grasstree Court, Sunrise Beach from clearing and development by the Uniting Church
  Australia, Old Synod/Uniting Care/Blue Care/Lendlease. The petition started on Change.org two
  months ago with a confirm click interface, but 1370 people have taken the time to post comments
  and many others have backed up their signatures with letters and phone calls to the Church,
  Councillors, the Mayor, Blue Care and Lendlease.
  The 41,000 signatures are made up of approximately 2,000 local Noosa residents and many
  thousand more residents in south-east Queensland, Australia and internationally (see
  attached). Given the intemational status of Noosa and its listing as a Biosphere Reserve
  internationally, it is essential that as a Community we look to both what our local residents consider
  and those further afield.
  While the petition is directed at The Uniting Church, we ask for Noosa Council to formally
  acknowledge the huge support Spencer has received locally, nationally and internationally in his
  quest to save this habitat, and we therefore ask for this petition to be presented to the Council.
  In doing so we request that the Council recognise that the site in question is likely to be a critical
  habitat of the Glossy Black Cockatoo and therefore critical to the species survival locally and
  nationally. Can the Noosa Council on behalf of the children and the community, formally approach
  the Uniting Church to discuss options for a land swap or other alternative to help the Uniting Church
  resolve our Communities’ multiple concerns?
  Further, we request for Noosa Council to halt clearing of the site and request a new and
  independent Environmental Impact Statement given that the Ecological Management Plan
  (2021), prepared by environmental consultant Gondwana Ecology Group engaged by the
  Developer in 2018, is defective in two respects. First, it underestimates the ecological
  values present in Sunrise Beach. Second, the report does not frame appropriate solutions.
  First, (i) the report refers to 71 Favoured Feed Trees, where in reality 104 + are possibly present,
  (ii) the report was conducted during October 2018 which is low season and only counts 2 glossies
 where a range of none to 30 can be seen depending on the season. In the autumn /winter period
  this is when we see our winter flock/s. The high use of this area can be easily confirmed currently by
  attending the sites. Fresh orts are visible all over the sites, we are observing up to 22 Glossies flying
  in and out from the West. These Glossies know exactly where they are going. They are flying into
  their feeding grounds and feeding from the trees on both sites. They fly over large areas of trees
  including the proposed offset site not stopping until they reach their destination Grasstree Court,
  Sunrise Beach, Qld. (ili)The reports do not have any mention of where the Glossies that feed on this
  site are coming from and therefore can not possibly evaluate the true value of this site.
  Favoured Feeding ground which the Fussy Vulnerable Glossy Black-Cockatoos are relying on to
  survive. These Glossies may have lost extensive habitat from the drought, storms, development and
  the 2019/20 fires. Losing this feeding ground may topple our already Fussy Vulnerable Glossy Black-
  Cockatoos into Extinction, like what has happened in the South Australian mainland due to habitat
  loss. We should be learning from others’ mistakes not following them.

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