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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2001 Week 6 Hansard (14 June) . . Page.. 1724 ..

MR CORBELL (continuing):

small amount of this level of woodland being reserved across the region. That figure falls significantly below the nationally agreed target of 15 per cent of each forest ecosystem type being protected in a comprehensive, adequate and representative reserve system, as part of a national forest agreement.

The ACT is a participant in this process, and the ACT does on the whole have a very good record when it comes to protecting endangered ecological communities and endangered ecosystems, as well as species themselves. But if we look at what is left of this type of community, which is well below the nationally agreed figure for the preservation of such a forest type, and the fact that this particular site has considerable capacity for regeneration of degraded understorey, it warrants this Assembly looking at the issue again.

One of the key factors in the Labor Party's consideration of this issue was the protection of the woodland component of the site. I must very clearly state that it was a decision of a former Labor government to originally designate this site for residential development. But as new information comes to light and new factors come into being, it is appropriate to reconsider those issues, and that is what all of my colleagues and I have been doing in the past 12 months.

One of the key factors has been the release of a report entitled, The ecological values of the Watson woodland: a case for preservation, which was commissioned by the Watson Community Association. The report notes that the woodland is important because it represents this type of forest community and it is at the lowest altitudinal component of the gradient of open forest and woodland communities that extends from the ridge of Mount Majura down to the limestone plain floor. It also notes that there is a rarity of examples of this type of transition community already in the ACT.

The report identifies that this sort of woodland community-in particular, this site-has been identified as a habitat for a range of endangered woodland bird species and that there are already sites adjacent to the Watson site where bird species such as the regent honeyeater, the hooded robin, the swift parrot, the superb parrot and the painted honeyeater have been known to nest or visit.

The government proposes that this site be developed for residential use in the next two to three years. The government argues that the site can be retained and protected for development through appropriate management measures, tree preservation measures for many of the trees on the site and the inclusion of a small 5-hectare site as urban open pace.

I argue that the government's approach is fundamentally flawed. It is flawed in one very important respect: that preserving only part of the site diminishes the capacity of the site to be a representative element of this endangered ecological community. Just as importantly, permitting residential development in the remaining component, with tree protection measures, does not allow that woodland to continue to operate as an intact ecological community. Indeed, given the nature of the trees on the site, it is commonsense to see that residential development within the site will lead to pressure for tree removal and changes to the woodland setting over time.

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