Developer withdraws from controversial Toondah Harbour project

Walker Corporation has withdrawn its proposal for an apartment and retail development on an internationally important wetland at Queensland’s Moreton Bay.

Walker Corporation withdrew its application after Plibersek proposed rejecting the development because of the unacceptable impact it would have on the Ramsar-listed wetland and threatened species such as the critically endangered eastern curlew.

The company said it had been on a “long journey to deliver a world class vision for a revitalised Toondah Harbour” but it respected the minister’s opinion that the project in its current form did not provide the necessary protections for the environment.

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“These include loggerhead and green turtles and the critically endangered eastern curlew, which migrates 12,000 kilometres from Russia to Australia and relies on Moreton Bay as habitat for feeding and roosting.

Frydenberg sent the project to the next stage of the assessment process, a decision that was contrary to advice from the attorney general’s department, which warned it could put Australia in breach of its international obligations.