This post contains new information to enable the current Federal Environment Minister to reconsider the decision made by the former Federal Environment Minister , to not approve EPBC 2013/7038 TURTLECOVE HAVEN RETIREMENT VILLAGE.

The decision to not approve EPBC 2013/7038 was based on advice the former Minister received from Professor Richard Fuller of FULLER LAB.

Professor Fullers advice was;

‘

Professor Fuller gave Minister Ley this advice , despite the fact that he  has never visited the site  so therefore has made no visual observations,  to validate his opinion , as opposed to scientific observation ,  and has to date refused invitations to visit the site to observe the roosting behaviour of the Easter Curlew.

Professor Fullers advice to Minister Ley for the creation of a suitable buffer was,

‘ One way to measure the disruption caused by a disturbance agent (e.g. person walking) is to measure the distance at which a bird takes flight, the so-called flight initiation distance. There are no relevant studies from the Great Sandy Strait, and the only way to robustly set a buffer zone width for this particular case would be to conduct a study in situ at the planned development site.’[1]

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[1]IBID,

Maintain at least a 250m buffer zone from the highest astronomical tide to the development footprint. No activities may occur within the buffer zone.
In my view, this width of buffer zone is a minimum for managing disturbance impacts to listed migratory species, including the Eastern Curlew.

 Anscape Pty Ltd carried out a disturbance activity at the site on 10 MARCH 2024 when HAT of 4.22m was predicted at 9.30am at Urangan Harbour , which resulted in the mudflat being inundated and this allowed the foreshore to be examined to detect any Numenius madagascariensis roosting at the foreshore( due to the high water level) and for a disturbance activity of driving a 4WD vehicle along the foreshore in plain site of roosting Numenius madagascariensis in an attempt to disturb the waders to take flight as advised by Professor Fuller , to be able to calculate the distance between the source of disturbance and roosting waders , so that a buffer distance could be created , which would suitably manage the requirement for the waders to roost from October to April each year.

The videos below substantially prove that Numenius madagascariensis do not always roost at the foreshore, and that when the mudflat is inundated to a height that they are uncomfortable with , they do in fact leave the site and roost elsewhere.

When the water level drops sufficiently , they return to roost at 50-100m from the foreshore.

The videos also show that when a vehicle is driven at 20m landward of HAT and the foreshore, the waders roosting at 50-100m do not take flight or become disturbed.

This is contrary to Professor Fullers claim that ‘disturbance would unequivocally result in extreme negative impacts to curlews’.

‘ Theses videos indicate that when a vehicle is driven along the foreshore at a distance of 70-120m from the roosting curlews, there is no Flight Initiation Disturbance ( FID) , as described by Professor Fuller.

The curlews were roosting at 50-100m from HAT and did not take flight, as no FID was identified , it is difficult to establish an exact buffer width , suffice to say that if a buffer was created from HAT and extended inland for 50-100m , it would be highly unlikely to create a Significant Impact as defined by the EPBC 1999 Significant Impact Guideline for Wader Birds.

Therefore these videos provide the current Federal Environment Minister with new information which was not previously considered and has been determined by following the advice given to Minister Ley from Professor Richard Fuller to demonstrate what buffer width should be provided at the site , to ensure that a Significant Impact will not result if a 50-100m buffer from HAT is created.