Anstey-Keane Bushland

HON ALISON XAMON (East Metropolitan) [10.22 pm]: I rise this evening to talk about an issue I have been assisting with in Forrestdale in the east metropolitan region. The area I am talking about has been described as a “botanical jewel”; it is the Anstey-Keane bushland and wetland in the suburb of Forrestdale. Unfortunately, the integrity of this important area is currently under quite severe threat. As I am sure most members appreciate, the remaining natural areas of Perth are all precious, and in some areas of Perth our bushland has pretty much disappeared, which is obviously quite a tragic loss for our urban amenity. The loss of this amenity has been catalogued over many decades. It is vital that we protect what few areas of bushland we have left. This is not just a policy position of the Greens (WA); it is a position that has crossed many party political lines for quite some time, although perhaps not with the same degree of interest as it has for the Greens. The idea of embracing urban vegetation and landscape protection policies to ensure that future generations will be well served with these areas of natural beauty and that biodiversity is preserved has been something that has crossed across pretty much all parties.

The Anstey-Keane bushland and wetland is an area that is home to some 381 flora species. It has a richer biodiversity than Kings Park, and much of the area has been rated by botanists as having 75 per cent of vegetation that is still rated as excellent to pristine. This is an astonishing natural area that deserves the highest levels of environmental protection for future generations. Luckily, successive governments have sought to protect this important area to some degree. The Anstey-Keane wetland is adjacent to the internationally significant Lake Forrestdale, which is also recognised as being of the highest importance for migratory birds.

Lake Forrestdale is listed under the international Ramsar Convention and a number of other international treaties for its significance. In the Western Australia jurisdiction, the Anstey-Keane bushland and wetland is recognized as being of regional and local significance. The area has been independently and expertly assessed over many years as having immense environmental importance for native vegetation and for the numerous species of fauna that are dependent on the habitat types that are represented in this remnant parcel of land.

The Anstey-Keane Bush Forever site 342 is listed as being of regional significance due to the extensive conservation category wetland of approximately 203 hectares. Conservation category wetlands are the jewels in the crown of our remaining wetland estate on the Swan coastal plain. These policies and formal recognition should not be ignored. The Anstey-Keane bushland and wetland forms one of the fragmented mosaic areas of

Jandakot Regional Park, which is administered by the Department of Environment and Conservation. The Department of Planning Bush Forever program clearly identifies areas of remnant bushland and wetland across the Perth metropolitan area and sets out a clear regime for ensuring that our bushland and wetland areas are set aside in a comprehensive, adequate and representative reserve and protected area system so that we can enjoy them and ensure future stewardship for future generations.

We know the processes that threaten the remaining areas of biodiversity are: unrestrained land clearing; arson; uncontrolled weed and dieback dispersal; the impact of introduced species of domestic animals; illegal dumping of litter and waste; the illegal use of trail bikes and four-wheel drive vehicles in these nature reserves; and, most importantly, the continued fragmentation of these continuous areas of bushland. Our bushland will be healthier and more resilient if there is a larger core area that is protected from threats, which is precisely what the Bush Forever planning strategy and the regional parks policy were designed to achieve. However, the Anstey-Keane bushland and wetland is under threat from the City of Armadale, which is planning to drive what I would argue is a redundant and superfluous road right through the heart of this wetland. This proposal has actually been equated to driving a road through the middle of Kings Park simply to save a couple of minutes’ driving time from the University of Western Australia to Dumas House. Of course, we would consider that unthinkable, yet Anstey-Keane, which has richer biodiversity than Kings Park and is an area of outstanding conservation significance, faces just this threat. A road through the heart of this wetland will create innumerable and avoidable threats. The road will disturb wetland hydrology. Weeds and invasive species will have another entry point to the wetland and, believe me, there are already enough at the moment. Bandicoots and kangaroos will have their populations severely threatened. The area in question is already well serviced with a series of regional and local roads. In many ways, the proposed road through Anstey-Keane has been described as the Armadale equivalent of the Roe Highway stage 8 extension through Bibra Lake. Like Roe 8, the road through the Anstey-Keane bushland and wetland is bad planning and bad policy. Unfortunately, the bushland and wetland area is suffering from the first impacts of the encroaching urban development front. Weekly, the fences are being illegally cut by four-wheel drive vehicles and trail biking hoons and illegal rubbish dumping is becoming a regular occurrence, which is really sad. We need to be looking at management strategies to protect what is already there and not at cutting our Bush Forever sites in half with roads.

The Friends of Forrestdale is a local group that is passionate about protecting the remnant bushland and wetland areas around Lake Forrestdale. It has been working very hard to raise the profile of these valuable wetlands for everybody and is also working hard to have our Bush Forever sites protected. I think some very serious questions need to be raised about what it means to make a site “Bush Forever”, particularly if what we really mean is Bush Forever until such a time as we want to stick a dirty great road through it. Bush Forever should be just that—forever.