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.
“I have made my proposed decision, which is to protect Moreton Bay from unacceptable impacts from a proposed development,” Plibersek said.
“These wetlands are rare, unique and important to prevent the extinction of animals like the eastern curlew and loggerhead turtle.
“My proposed decision says that we can’t destroy portions of this internationally important wetland.”
The proposed decision, if finalised, would bring to an end an almost decade-long battle by environment groups and residents, who have fought to protect the wetland. The site is a habitat for migratory birds, including the critically endangered eastern curlew, which uses the wetland to recuperate and feed after its annual migration from the northern hemisphere.
Moreton Bay is also habitat for dolphins, dugongs and several species of marine turtles.
The site is protected under the Ramsar convention, an international treaty established to halt the global loss of wetlands.
Walker Corporation proposed transforming the area into a residential and commercial complex with more than 3,000 apartments, shops and a 200-berth marina.
The development would have carved out more than 50 hectares of the Ramsar site.
The project has been controversial after the former environment minister Josh Frydenberg went against the initial advice of his department in 2016 that the development was “clearly unacceptable” because of the impact it would have on the wetland’s ecological character.
Frydenberg sent the project to the next stage of the assessment process, a decision that was contrary to advice from the attorney general’s department, which warned it could put Australia in breach of its international obligations.
Documents released to Guardian Australia under freedom of information in 2020 showed the former minister had considered removing the protections from an area of the wetland after he was lobbied by Walker Corporation.
The chief executive of Birdlife Australia, Kate Millar, said the organisation and community campaigners who had fought to protect the site for a decade said they were thrilled “Plibersek has proposed to overturn this completely inappropriate development at such a spectacular and internationally significant site”.
“We thank everyone who’s worked so hard to get to this milestone. We also thank Minister Plibersek for listening to us and understanding the importance of these wetlands to the world’s birds and the local community.
“While we welcome this proposal to reject, this proposal should never have progressed as far as it has.”
The Australian Conservation Foundation said the announcement was a “landmark decision for nature and people”.
“Walker Group’s marina and high-rise apartment plan would have destroyed irreplaceable feeding grounds for migratory birds, a big chunk of the Ramsar wetland and mature eucalypts that are home to koalas and other wildlife,” ACF’s chief executive, Kelly O’Shanassy, said.
“This draft decision is a testament to people power. More than 24,500 people have directly contacted Minister Plibersek, urging her to reject this proposal.
“Thousands have taken to the streets calling on the Albanese government to save Toondah.”
O’Shanassy said the development was an example of why Australia needed strong new nature laws and an independent environment protection agency that allowed for a “fast no” to projects with unacceptable environmental impacts.
“The truth is, a proposal for a massive real estate project on a Ramsar wetland should have been rejected when the department recommended that to [the] then minister Frydenberg in 2015,” she said.
Plibersek’s proposed decision finds that in addition to having an unacceptable impact on the Ramsar site, the development would have an unacceptable impact on a range of threatened and migratory species, including loggerhead and green turtles, the eastern curlew and the grey-tailed tattler. It would also have a significant impact on dugongs, dolphins and other shorebirds.
She said the proposed decision would be exhibited for public comment before she makes a final decision.
She said she had formally advised Walker Corporation and the company had 10 business days to respond to the proposed decision.
Walker Corporation said in a statement it respected the minister’s proposed decision and would take time to review and understand the reasons behind it.
The company said it would then work to “see what opportunities might exist to mitigate or ameliorate the environmental concerns that the department has raised to ensure we provide the best opportunity for this important project to proceed to deliver housing, jobs and new state government infrastructure whilst ensuring world’s best environmental practice”.
In a statement, the Redlands city council said it was “disappointed” by the decision and will write a submission to Plibersek reiterating its continued support for the project.
