Tomorrow, Threatened Species Day, the Conservation Council ACT Region will hold a protest outside Defence Housing Australia’s headquarters, to oppose DHA’s proposed ‘Lawson North’ development.
The snap action will be held at the DHA Head Office, corner of Hinder St and Flemington Road, Gungahlin, at 10am.
The Conservation Council claims that the proposed 145-hectare development, on the site of the former Belconnen Naval Transmitting Station, will destroy nearly 16 hectares of critically endangered grassland, home to threatened species including the golden sun moth, perunga grasshopper, and striped legless lizard.
National Threatened Species Day also marks the day that community consultation closes on the DHA’s Commonwealth referral, lodged under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act 1999.
In its Biodiversity Impact Assessment, DHA stated that the development would avoid and minimise, where possible, impacts to the ecological communities and threatened species.
- Environmentalists oppose Lawson housing development (5 September)
The Conservation Council, environmental groups, and locals have called on the Federal Government to withdraw the proposal.
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 Conservation Council 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.
