Maleny protesters defiant at eviction order

Jim McIlroy, Brisbane

Protesters continued to occupy the site of a proposed Woolworths supermarket development at the Sunshine Coast hinterland town of Maleny, defiant in the face of an eviction order served on them on July 6. The protesters, who set up Camp Platypus on the site on June 19, ceremonially burned the eviction notices.

Protesters say the site is honeycombed with platypus burrows. The platypus is a protected species in Queensland.

Platypus Action spokesperson John Woodlands said on July 6 that the entire town of Maleny, total population 6000, was braced for any eviction. He said protesters had no intention of moving.

"[Premier] Peter Beattie and his government are nothing but environmental vandals", Woodlands said. "The reason we are here is because the state government will not act in accordance with its own laws in relation to platypuses and their habitat. It's shocking they can allow this to happen."

He also called on Beattie to sack environment minister Desley Boyle, who has refused to place an interim conservation order on the site and who last month told protesters to "go home and cry".

The eviction order from developer Hutchinson Builders ordered the protesters off the site by noon on July 7. A crowd of demonstrators had gathered by that time, but no action was taken by police on that day.

From Green Left Weekly, July 13, 2005.

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From GLW issue 633