I recently sent a letter to the Editor of The POST newspaper that was critical of the plan by the Government to use a BushForever site (AK reserve) for athletics facilities.

I probably should have discussed this with Giz Watson (The Greens) before writing the article. Here is Giz's view of what happened.

The Greens have negotiated to protect AK reserve bush

by Giz Watson, Greens MLC, North Metropolitan

The last thing that the Greens wanted was to be the meat in the sandwich in the interminable and nasty dispute between Mayor Anderton and her supporters on the Town of Cambridge (ToC) and the Planning Minister Allanah McTiernan over who should redevelop the Perry Lakes stadium site and build new sports facilities. However, as had been predicted for some time, the Government responded to the impasse with the Town by introducing a Bill, late last year, to resume certain land from the ToC and take over the building of the three new sports facilities and the redevelopment.

From all the plans and documentation as well as extensive discussions and briefings it was clear to me that both the ToC and the Government intended to put the three new sports facilities on AK reserve and whoever had control of the development would destroy the Bushforever bush.

The two Greens MLCs hold the balance of power in the Legislative Council (LC) and therefore depending on the position taken by the Liberal party in the LC our vote on this Bill was likely to be critical.

Fairly early in the process of discussions on the Perry Lakes Redevelopment Bill I was approached by the leader of the Liberal's in the LC, Norman Moore, who asked for our support for amendments that the Liberals wanted to ensure a better financial deal for the ToC. If these amendments were accepted either by Greens or the Government then the Liberals would give their support for such an amended Bill and the Government would take over the redevelopment. Make no mistake whatever they say publicly the Liberals were going to support the Government taking over the development.

The Greens had the choice of either: 1. Agreeing with the Liberals amendments; 2. Standing aside from the process altogether; or 3. Negotiating with the Government for some specific outcomes and assurances. If we had done either 1. or 2. the Government would have taken over the redevelopment and the Bushforever bush would have been lost. Instead I chose to negotiate with the Government for the protection of the maximum amount of the bushland; preservation of the mature remnant native trees on the Perry Lakes site; and a commitment to best practice sustainability design and building in any new building.

The result of exhaustive negotiations, several site visits (with people including Kingsley Dixon from the Kings Park Authority, Mary Grey from Urban Bushland Council and any number people from the Departments of Planning and Sport and Recreation) and enormous pressure from the Government to pass the Bill before Christmas the Government agreed to the following conditions in the legislation:

That the Minister must not approve a draft redevelopment plan for the AK reserve redevelopment area unless satisfied it contains provisions that ensure: that as much of the existing flora on the AK reserve land as possible is conserved in a corridor running in a broadly east-west direction; and that the corridor is enhanced with flora that is indigenous to the land so as to create a continuous belt of such fauna.
Extensive and specific commitments to sustainable development including energy and water efficient design and building, increased use of recycled materials and decreased waste from demolition.
That at least 15% of the land at the Perry Lakes stadium site be reserved as public open space (POS) (normally only 10% would be required) and that POS contain and conserve as many of the trees that are indigenous to the land as possible in the land adjacent to Brookdale and Alderbury streets. Thus the majority of the mature tuarts and flooded gums on the site will be retained and also act as a visual buffer to the redevelopment.
That redevelopment provides for accommodation design for seniors.
That there be a height limit of 5 storeys on any building in the redevelopment.
That the resumption of land did not include any land to the north of Bold Park. (It had been suggested that the resumption of land was a sneaky way to bring the Stephenson Highway down through Wembley Golf Course and Bold Park)

I also sought and got commitments on the record that:

The Riding for the Disabled would be suitably relocated to their satisfaction.
That there will be improved walking and cycling access to both developments and that public transport be increased.
That the new sports facilities and the redevelopment be subject to full environmental impact assessment and community consultation.
That the new rugby stadium not be sited on AK reserve but on degraded already cleared land to the south.
That the new basketball stadium be built on the already cleared land at AK reserve.

My first preference was for the new athletics stadium to be rebuilt on the existing site. I argued for this but the Minister made it very clear this was not an option they would consider.

I believe I have been able ensure the best outcome for the Bushforever bushland that I was able to negotiate. If I hadn't negotiated much more if not the entire bush corridor would have been lost. Further for the first time ever (at least in WA) the protection and enhancement of this bush is stated in law as well as commitments to sustainable development.

If you want to see the details either of the new legislation or the debate you can read them on the Parliament web site: www.parliament.wa.gov.au . Also I am more than happy to answer any questions people may have.

Oh and by the way I'm a member of the Friends of Bold Park, the Friends of Shenton Park Bushland, the Friends of Trigg, Cambridge Coastcare and South Cottesloe Coastcare. I really hope people understand my passionate commitment to bushland conservation and will see that I have put blood, sweat and tears into trying to achieve the best outcome in imperfect political arena!

Key Performance Indicators

By John Adeney

Recently I attended a meting of Local Government Bush care officers. We were discussing Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for Urban Natural Area Management

My interest in this subject is because assessment of bushland will be in the future, if not now, be managed on an outcomes basis, particularly in the Perth Metropolitan Area. Thus if we are aware of the KPIs we can coordinate our activities with our own local council, the Nedlands City Council to maximize our effort. As well, the KPIs allow a comparison to be made of effort expended or lack of expenditure on bushland areas within a Local Government boundary.

The KPIs have been selected to cover the areas such as Key Threatening Processes, Budgets, Management, Community Perceptions and Conservation Land Allocation. Though quite a mouthful and quite extensive, each indicator can be represented numerically. As an example, Environmental Weeds (part of the Key Threatening Process Indicators) would be expressed as % weed cover/hectare and the Management Indicator could be hours/year/hectare.

Much of the information is available from Council budgets but Bushland Groups can be seen to have a contribution and that contribution can be acknowledged.

Other KPIs that have been considered or are being considered are that of Revegetation and Weed control i.e. spraying hand removal etc and Fire. I feel that that such KPIs will be trialled for a few years before they are officially sanctioned but they are an important start to measure our bushland conservation efforts. Jackie Stansfield of Melville City Council is leading the discussion with representatives from the City's of Canning, Joondalup, South Perth, Cockburn, Melville and Wanneroo.

Coming Activities

Carnaby's Cockatoo Count

There are three days where volunteers are required for the cockatoo counts:

Sunday 12 February
Sunday 26 March
Sunday 14 May

Contact Sue Mather (sma12577@bigpond.net.au) at Birds Australia if you wish to be involved.

Bushland Activities

We meet each Sunday morning from 8 to 10 am to work on various bushland regeneration activities. Contact Dani (08 9381 3470 or bojel@it.net.au) if you wish to join us.

At present we are working on the Health Department land adjacent to Grace Vaughan House in prepration for implementing the SALP grant we obtained for this year.

Bush to Beach Trail Funding

We plan to meet on Sunday 26th Feb at Swanbourne Beach Cafe (9-10am) to discuss our funding proposal for the bush to beach trail. Please contact Dani (08 9381 3470 or bojel@it.net.au) if you are able to help us write up the funding application.

Bush to Beach Walk

The annual bush to beach walk is scheduled for 3rd Sunday of September (17th) - please mark it in your diaries!

Calendar of Committee Meetings

Suggested calendar of committee meetings for the Friends of Shenton Bushland Inc :

16th Feb - plan SALP grant activities
20th April - weed control
15th June
17th August - bush to beach walk planning (for 17th September)
19th October - monitoring / grant applications
14th December - evaluation

Next Meeting

Thursday, 16th February 7.30 pm at 117 Derby Rd. Plan SALP grant activities.

Contact Dani (9381 3470 for details.

This newsletter is produced by the Friends of Shenton Bushland Inc. Contributions by Daniel Boase-Jelinek, Giz Watson, and John Adeney . Edited by Daniel Boase-Jelinek, 117 Derby Road, Shenton Park WA 6008.

Created by Daniel Boase-Jelinek August 2004

All photographs are copyright of Daniel Boase-Jelinek unless otherwise indicated.

The logo of the Friends of Shenton Bushland is copyright of June L. Weller

Last updated November 2006