Save the Cassowary © 2012
THIS IS A SAMPLE LETTER
HAND WRITE or TYPE your own letter then PRINT and POST it to the below address or EMAIL it straight to Minister Burke at Tony.Burke.MP@aph.gov.au TODAY
YOUR NAME YOUR ADDRESS Tony Burke Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Populations and Communities Parliament HouseDATE
Dear Minister Burke,
On the 28th July 2008 the former Environment Minister found a development proposal for Lot 66 Rockingham Close, Mission Beach to be ‘Clearly Unacceptable’ under the EPBC Act because of the threats it would pose to the endangered Cassowary.
“Only around 20 to 25 per cent of former cassowary lowland habitat remains today and this proposed development site is very important as a cassowary movement corridor between the adjoining Wet Tropics of Queensland World Heritage Area and the nearby coastal cassowary habitat” Garrett, 2008.
A second application to develop Lot 66 is currently under assessment by your department as a ‘Controlled Action’. The latest proposal although a reduced number of lots, is configured in a way that would vastly compromise the integrity of what is now known as ‘Garrett’s Corridor’.
Lot 66 is recognised in The Biotropica Wongaling Creek Habitat Linkages report 2008 as the most significant habitat linkage in the Wongaling Creek area at the heart of Mission Beach. It is situated in the middle of a landscape scale corridor connecting critically endangered littoral rainforest to the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area.
It is thought there may be as few as 40 adult birds remaining at Mission Beach and there are at least five adult birds known to utilise ‘Garrett Corridor’. A recent article in the Birds Australia magazine ‘Wingspan’ placed a $1 million dollar value on each Cassowary to the local tourist economy.
A Development Summary Report commissioned by your department in Nov 2008 found a glut of approved real estate at Mission Beach with well over 1000 vacant lots and almost as many units.
The threats to the endangered Cassowary associated with placing 15 residential lots in the middle of the very significant rainforest corridor of essential cassowary habitat are unacceptable, unwarranted and unsustainable.
The Mayor, local Councilors, community groups and individuals are now united in their call for a buyback of Lot 66 to protect it for our future generations.
I ask you to please use your power under the EPBC Act to protect Garrett Corridor by denying the new development proposal and to contribute significant funding for a voluntary buyback of Lot 66.
Yours Sincerely,
YOUR NAME HERE