Brisbane council helps turn 'trees into money'

BY TIM STEWART

BRISBANE — In a last-ditch attempt to save Brisbane's inner-city
bushland from a private developer, activists led by the Gully Action Group
launched daily occupations and pickets of Highgate Hill Gully on October
21, when earth-moving equipment was moved in.

On November 5, the last tree-sitter was removed by the police. He was
attempting to protect a Moreton Bay fig tree, which had initially been
protected by a court order.

In order to stall work on site, locals have held week long “tree-sits”
15 metres above the ground; slept with hammocks in dense bush; locked their
feet into concrete blocks; and replanted cleared vegetation with mini-gardens
overnight. Each day, on rocks to the entrance of the site, the protesters
displayed native animals killed by the development, which will include
40 inner-city units on the five-acre site. Signs such as “trees don't grow
on money” and “animals need homes too” dotted the site.

The campaign to save “the Gully” began in the 1970s after the Brisbane
City Council re-zoned the land for medium density development. Originally
the land was publicly owned, but it had been sold in the 1950s. Since re-zoning,
the site has been subject to numerous development applications, all vigorously
opposed by local residents.

The current campaign — initiated by the Highgate Hill Protection Society
and now led by the Gully Action Group — has run a frustrating course of
legal and “consultative” processes through planning and environmental courts
and Brisbane City Council.

Home to native species and rainforest trees up to 35 metres tall, the
waterway and wildlife corridor could have easily been maintained as a nature
reserve or modeled into a “city farm” community project, like other areas
of Brisbane. But the insatiable appetite for destruction of the developer
has driven a successful “dodge and weave” through various government by-laws
and “environmental protection” and “heritage” legislation. Even the use
of Brisbane City Council's “Bushland preservation levy” to preserve the
land for community use has been deemed “inappropriate”.

Local corporate media have recently taken a keen interest in the pitched
battle between activists and police. While protesters' tactics have been
described as “sinister” and “ugly”, the “Police Safety Response Team” allowed
security dogs to bite protesters. The worst injuries sustained by police
were when logged trees fell on top of them.

The developer hoped to clear the site in two days, but protesters' actions
have stalled it for nearly two weeks. At one point, delegates from the
Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union called for a work ban on
the site, due to safety concerns.

Site developer Clembury Pty Ltd claimed the protests are an “enormous
waste of taxpayers' dollars” in the October 23 Courier Mail.

The Gully Action Group, however, has pointed out the frustrations of
opposing unbridled development through “official channels”. The Save the
Gully campaign, it argues, is “not just an ecological issue but an issue
of local democracy and consultation, which has been sadly lacking in this
and other development issues.”

The group has asked supporters to “call on the state and local government
to review the Integrated Planning Act as it is a farce and does not allow
for community control over important issues facing local communities, such
as the Gully, which is symbolic of the need for greater control by communities
over their future to ensure social and environmental sustainability.”

Ironically, one of the key decision makers in approving the development,
local Councillor Tim Quinn, now Brisbane City Council (BCC) chief of local
government planning, stated in April 1990: “Even the briefest glance at
aerial photography of the suburb reveals the importance of this large piece
of green undeveloped space to the highly developed suburbs of the inner
southside.”

In a submission to BCC in 1990 he stated, “I would suggest that council
most seriously consider acquiring this land for public and environmental
purposes. Although this may involve considerable initial outlay, future
generations in Brisbane would praise the foresight of such a move.”

Around 70 members of the Gully Action Group stormed the city council
chambers on October 29, chanting and demanding an audience. In order to
keep the protesters from the public gallery, BCC Mayor Jim Soorley held
a private audience with a delegation of the activists. Their request that
the BCC offer $1.5 million to buy back the Gully was rejected outright
by Soorley, who said no funds were available.

By November 8, the tree sitters were being forcibly removed. However,
a committee with local MP and Queensland education minister Anna Bligh,
councillor Tim Quinn and federal member Arch Bevis, all Labor Party members,
is considering the possibility of siting a joint community/government educational
project at the Gully.

This proposal is a no more than a face-saving attempt for the ALP, which
is under pressure from the popular campaign. While the bulldozers move
in, “due process” and appeals to the political decision makers are painstakingly
played out. The pace at which a natural habitat for 60 species of flora
and fauna has been turned into bare earth has been as breathtaking as the
ALP's attempt to portray itself as a “defender” of community interests.

Gully Action Group spokesperson Brendan Radford told Green Left Weekly
of some of the more unbelievable moments in the Gully campaign, including
an outburst from Quinn declaring that Gully had been “saved” because the
bottom 25% of the site had not been totally cleared.

As “shaun” wrote on the Brisbane Indymedia web site on November 1, “This
event has brought to a head many issues and will be remembered for a long
time as a turning point of historical and political significance in Brisbane.
Government impotency, police powers and corruption, double standards in
occupational health and safety law, media sensationalism and bias and general
apathy… all contributed”.

Fundraisers, including parties and film nights, in support of this spirited
campaign are continuing. To get in touch with the campaign email <gullyactiongroup@yahoo.com.au>.

From Green Left Weekly, November 13, 2002.

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From GLW issue 516