A proposed Defence Housing Australia development in Belconnen could destroy nearly 16 hectares of critically endangered ecological communities, according to environmental groups.

The Conservation Council ACT Region and Friends of Grasslands have called on the Federal Government to stop ‘Lawson North’, a proposed 145-hectare development built on the site of the former Belconnen Naval Transmitting Station that will be home to 416 Defence families.

The DHA formally lodged a Commonwealth referral under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act 1999 with the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water. The referral is available for public comment until Wednesday.

The development would entail clearing up to 42.25 hectares of vegetation, of which 17.11 hectares are natural temperate grassland and box-gum grassy woodland, considered critically endangered ecological communities under Commonwealth laws.

• Endangered grasslands ‘vulnerable’ to proposed development (26 August 2020)

Less than 1 per cent of natural temperate grasslands, once widespread across south-east Australia, are formally protected, Rainer Rehwinkel, an ecologist with the Friends of Grasslands, said. The ACT is a national stronghold for natural temperate grassland – an “incredibly diverse” ecology, home to more than 500 native plant species and an even greater number of animal species, most of which are insects.

Two threatened species, the golden sun moth and the striped legless lizard, were found at the site, while six more threatened species are likely to occur.

“Destroying their habitat at Lawson will only make their survival more precarious,” Mr Rehwinkel said.

“The housing development would cut the threatened ecosystem in two, and greatly increase the danger to the surviving remnants from weed invasion and recreational use, and fragment populations of the vulnerable striped legless lizard,” the environmental groups stated.

In its Biodiversity Impact Assessment, DHA stated that the development would avoid and minimise, where possible, impacts to the ecological communities and threatened species.

They intend to retain most of the larger area of natural temperate grassland, including high quality habitat and the core areas of golden sun moth activity; most of the available habitat for the striped legless lizard; and most of the habitat for two other species.

They would also retain most of the box gum woodland, and minimise impacts to planted native trees, including hollow-bearing trees.

Detailed mitigation measures would be implemented under each phase to reduce impacts to biodiversity values.

The environmental groups, however, are convinced that environmental damage will occur should the development proceed.

“It’s disappointing to see DHA persist with this project knowing that these nationally significant environmental values exist at the site,” Mr Rehwinkel said. “While the proponents claim that protecting the rest of the site is an adequate offset, the reality is we should not lose any more of this critically endangered ecosystem. There comes a point when you can’t offset environmental destruction anymore.”

More than 100 experts and environmental organisations opposed the development, and more than 650 people signed a petition calling on DHA not to proceed, the environmental groups stated. In the lead-up to the 2022 federal election, more than 70 Canberrans rallied at the site opposing the development, and many more wrote to their local candidates calling for action.

DHA acquired the 145-hectare site in February 2017. Helen Oakey, executive director of the Conservation Council ACT Region, claims that the DHA knew at the time that the environment at Lawson was nationally significant, while current planning laws determined that most of the site should only be used for conservation.

The Conservation Council and Friends of Grasslands find it particularly disappointing that DHA, a federal agency, is proceeding with the project, given the Labor federal government’s shared concerns about the recently released 2021 State of the Environment Report, which showed most of Australia’s environmental indicators are in decline.

• Australia’s environment sick, getting sicker: report (19 July)
• Alicia Payne: A decade of environmental neglect to end under Labor (30 July)

“We are living in an extinction crisis,” Ms Oakey said. “The state of our natural environment is in a poor or declining state almost everywhere across the country. Against this backdrop, it is obvious that proposing to build over critically endangered grasslands at Lawson is unacceptable.

“Two significant reports in the last two years – the Samuel Review into the EPBC Act and the 2021 State of the Environment report – have clearly demonstrated that the federal environment laws are failing to protect the environment. Species and habitats that should be protected are actually in decline.

“The federal government is the proponent in this project – the same federal government that was concerned and outraged at the findings of the State of the Environment report. Here is a great opportunity for Ministers Matt Thistlethwaite and Katy Gallagher, with their shared oversight of DHA, to cancel the project and conserve the environmental values at this site.”

Canberra Daily has contacted Senator Gallagher’s office and the DHA for comment.