Environmental stewardship

The EPBC Act is Australia’s primary national environment law. It protects plants, animals, ecological communities and places that are considered to be of national significance, also known as Matters of National Environmental Significance (MNES).

When a development project has the potential to affect any of these protected matters, the proponent can, or in other cases must, refer the project to the Australian Government for assessment. The Government then considers whether the project is likely to have a significant impact on MNES and decides how it should proceed.

Council chose to self-refer the Birkdale Community Precinct to give the community and the Australian Government full confidence that the project has been assessed against the highest environmental standards available.

Council was not required by law to refer the Birkdale Community Precinct to the Australian Government. The decision to do so was a deliberate choice.

The precinct sits within a landscape that supports nationally protected wildlife, including koalas and three threatened ecological communities. Council has invested seven years and significant resources in understanding those values and designing around them.

Self-referring gives the Australian Government the opportunity to independently assess that work and gives the community confidence that the project’s environmental credentials have been tested at the highest level available.

Council’s view is that the evidence base compiled over seven years is strong. Self-referring is an opportunity to demonstrate that, not a concession that something is wrong.

Seven years of ecological surveys were completed before the referral was lodged. Independent ecologists assessed the Birkdale site against all nine categories of Matters of National Environmental Significance (MNES) and identified seven species and ecological communities warranting detailed assessment in relation to the precinct’s development footprint.

Native Fauna

• Koala (endangered)
• Greater glider – southern and central (endangered)
• South-eastern glossy black cockatoo (vulnerable)
• Grey-headed flying-fox (vulnerable)

Native Flora

• Coastal Swamp Oak Forest of New South Wales and South East Queensland (endangered)
• Subtropical Eucalypt Floodplain Forest and Woodland of New South Wales North Coast and South East Queensland (endangered)
• Subtropical and Temperate Coastal Saltmarsh (vulnerable)

The Moreton Bay Ramsar wetlands, internationally significant wetlands approximately three kilometres north of the precinct, were also assessed for potential hydrological and water quality impacts.

All other MNES categories, including World Heritage properties, national heritage places, the Great Barrier Reef, and nuclear matters, were assessed as not applicable to the precinct.

The referral is supported by a comprehensive body of independent technical evidence, including specialist assessments for each of the seven Matters of National Environmental Significance (MNES) identified above.

For each species and ecological community, the assessment examined whether the precinct’s development footprint had the potential to cause a significant impact. The footprint was deliberately located on less than 20 hectares of land that had been historically cleared for farming and wartime military use, land with substantially lower ecological value than the surrounding conservation areas. This intentional siting minimises potential impacts on high-value habitat and reflects a design approach that avoids sensitive areas wherever possible.

For the Moreton Bay Ramsar wetlands, an independent groundwater assessment by SLR Consulting found the site has limited hydrological connectivity to the downstream catchment, and that no measurable water quality or ecological impact to the Ramsar wetland is expected.

The Significant Impact Assessments, conducted by independent ecological consultancies including Raptor Environmental, Ecoteam Environmental Scientific Services, and 28 South Environmental, concluded that a significant impact to each of the seven MNES is unlikely as a result of the project.

The Australian Government is currently considering the referral. Once the referral is validated and published, anyone can make a public comment for ten business days from publication date on the EPBC Act Business Portal.

The Australian Government’s Environment Minister, or their delegate, then has a further ten business days to make a decision.