A letter from Victoria National Parks Association (25/2/25)…
Help protect our grasslands
Grassland at Mount Cottrell has been destroyed. Local, state and federal authorities looked on as 40 hectares of Critically Endangered grassy meadows were bulldozed.
Our grasslands are precious and there’s less than one per cent left. Wildlife threatened with extinction, like Legless Lizards, Grassland Earless Dragons and Spiny Rice Flowers depend on them. Yet they’re being wiped out.
Enough is enough.
Ask your elected leaders to protect our grasslands
I spoke to The Age, to get the word out about the decimation of this irreplaceable grassland.Every inch of remaining grassland in Victoria is precious. But developers ignore the law and raze our grassy meadows, gambling their profit-at-any-cost habitat destruction will create a path to future riches.
It’s a practice we’re all sadly too familiar with.
Back in April 2021 at nearby Truganina, a developer destroyed 19 hectares of grassy meadows, smothering them in asbestos-contaminated fill.
This wanton destruction has finally made it through the court system. We were hoping for justice for our decimated grassland. But it didn’t happen.
The grassland destroyers got away with barely a slap on the wrist.
The developer was fined a meagre $170,000, plus $90,000 costs and escaped criminal conviction.
With the land purchased for $11M, the fine is pocket change, just part of the cost of doing business….