Government refuses to rule out coastal bushland development

Fabian Loschiavo & Bea Brear, Sydney

The waves crash onto the base of sheer cliffs on the ocean side. In the bay they are more gentle. The coloured sandstone — golden, purple and orange — shows itself among the native heath and shrubs. Old World War II gun emplacements and observation towers rust and crumble silently. Little bats hover in the dark tunnels.

This is Malabar Headland, one of the largest areas of native bush remaining in Sydney's eastern suburbs. But for the past six years the federal government has refused to commit to the preservation of Commonwealth land, instead closing the area to the public and sitting on its hands. It has rejected a proposal from Randwick City Council to hand the land over to the residents of NSW, and to re-zone the area to include two sections of national park and a central Open Space zone.

The federal government has not even carried out its existing responsibilities, and has made no effort to reverse the degeneration of bushland and historic relics located on the site, or to deal with contamination caused by the "rifle range".

The government's motive for this neglect is most likely greed and plans are already being developed to sell off a section of the headland for housing. Local residents and environmentalists are becoming concerned that the site will become a housing developer's dream, rather than a public park for recreational use by the people of NSW.

NSW Premier Bob Carr (whose electorate includes Malabar) has petitioned the federal government to protect the land and hand it over to the people of NSW, and a broad campaign organised by the Friends of Malabar Headland has the support of the Randwick City Council and Greens Mayor Murray Matson, as well as many local residents.

Malabar Headland is a site of great environmental and cultural significance. It is home to the almost extinct Eastern Suburbs Banksia and also supports at least 283 endemic native plant species and 177 bird species. It also contains Aboriginal engravings and significant World War II historic sites including forts, gun emplacements, underground defence tunnels and a sunken munitions railway. The headland's fate now seems to hang in the result of the upcoming federal election.

For more information visit: <http://homepages.tig.com.au/~matson/keyissues/malabarheadland>.

From Green Left Weekly, June 2, 2004.

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From GLW issue 584