Western Australian Environment Minister Albert Jacob has welcomed this week’s Federal Court decision to refuse an interim injunction on the construction of Roe Highway stage 8.
Mr. Jacob said in a statement that work would now continue following the decision on the application, which was made by the Save Beeliar Wetlands group.
“The Federal Court case related to whether one of the Commonwealth environmental approval conditions had been satisfied,” he said.
“The condition is concerned with offsetting the loss of black cockatoo habitat by way of offset property. The State Government is confident that the condition has been satisfied and will continue to vigorously defend the case in the Federal Court and oppose any permanent injunction.”
Under the Commonwealth conditions, Main Roads Western Australia is required to purchase 523 hectares of black cockatoo habitat to offset the loss of 78 hectares of the total 97.8 hectares that will be cleared for Roe 8.
The Western Australian Government is providing 624 hectares of offset land containing black cockatoo habitat, equal to one-and-a-half times the size of Kings Park, at two sites south of Mandurah. Main Roads is required to fund the management of the property to maintain the quality of the habitat for at least 20 years.
Mr. Jacob said the project had been subject to an exhaustive environmental assessment and was governed by stringent environmental conditions.
“This Liberal-led Government is committed to the extension of Roe Highway. It will take tens of thousands of trucks off suburban streets in the southern suburbs and will drastically improve road safety and traffic flow,” he said.