Page 4244 - Week 14 - Tuesday, 29 November 1994
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in the ACT, namely, Gungahlin, the lower Majura Valley and adjacent to Lake Burley Griffin ... It is the considered opinion of the working party that, based on current knowledge of the distribution of D. impar, its rarity and the serious decline in its habitat, the D. impar population in the Gungahlin area is amongst the most significant in Australia and its conservation is essential to continuing survival of the species in the ACT and region ...
Sites within the Gungahlin Town Centre and precinct contain the most significant populations of D. impar in the ACT ... Until and unless further sites of comparable significance and viability are discovered and conservation assessments reviewed, their protection and appropriate management is vital to the continuing survival of the Gungahlin population as a whole.
This is truly a significant population of these creatures. To continue:
... interim protection of Town Centre sites pending further survey work in the Gungahlin area is required ...
Potential habitat linkages between populations in the Gungahlin Town Centre should be protected and rehabilitated until the relative significance of individual populations in terms of long-term viability can be assessed ...
A best-practice strategy for the ACT to achieve conservation objectives for D. impar ... [includes] sites containing D. impar [should be] quarantined from development or detrimental management changes pending further survey ...
The committee was left, on the basis of the evidence before it, with the future of the striped legless lizard in its hands. We would be regarded as environmental vandals if we were to abandon our responsibilities in relation to this endangered species and allow the bulldozers to go in. It was a matter of some concern that our delay in consideration of this matter might impact on the people of Gungahlin, but I know that the people of Gungahlin would be sympathetic towards the future of this species.
One of our concerns was that these variations came before the committee without having the issue of the survival of the species resolved beforehand. We understood that there were some timeframe problems. The discovery of much of the material in relation to Delmar impar arose out of the working party report, which was completed in October 1994. We strongly urge the Government to ensure that all environmental issues are resolved by the Planning Authority before variations are brought to the committee; otherwise they will be held up again. It is inappropriate, in our view, for this to occur. The committee supported the principles and policies, and I refer members to the following recommendation:
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