<
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/sep/18/lane-cove-sydney-300-trees-killed>
"I have a dream. It’s all about the day on which the first of Sydney’s
antisocial tree vandals cops a truly punitive fine or, better still, prison
time as they more likely would if they’d so cynically destroyed private
property or public infrastructure just for the sake of a water view.
The next best thing, for the time being anyway, is hearing that another stolen
view for which hundreds of native trees were wilfully lopped has been
retributively denied to one more narcissistic environmental felon.
The epidemic of illegal tree felling to enhance views, especially around Sydney
Harbour, is perhaps the ultimate in “FU society” acts of wealthy entitlement.
So when a local council responds with a sucker punch (as Lane Cove council has,
like others, to an appalling act of environmental terrorism last year by
obscuring the view with a giant banner), the many of us who are fond of urban
trees can’t help but spontaneously cheer from the cheaper seats.
Sydney is a city of sea and vivid light. Any of us with the bodily ability and
access to public transport can walk by the sparkling ocean or the azure
harbour, just as we can delight in the majesty of the national parks
surrounding the place or in the maze of copses of ancient figs, eucalypts and
casuarinas on our public suburban spaces.
But Sydney is also a city of glaring social, economic and housing inequality, a
place of startling rapacity and greed as evidenced by its long history of
widespread alleged and established corruption involving developers and
authorities. It is the Australian city that wears the disproportionate wealth
of its few more ostentatiously than any other.
Such exclusive conspicuous wealth is manifest in many ways, not least in cars
and boats – but particularly in waterside property where the sea is visible
from the house. Just a mere “glimpse” (forgive the real estate agent parlance)
of Whiteley-esque harbour or bridge from the corner of the upstairs dunny
window can bring enormous extra value to a Sydney house, while an expansive
view can literally add millions to a waterfront palace. Trees just get in the
way even though they were there first – often by hundreds of years.
But such is the avarice of some developers that they apparently arrogantly bake
in the piddling cost of any modest potential fine and reputational damage for
felling publicly owned trees. They know they are unlikely to be caught and if
they do the fines will be a pittance against their obscene profits. Jail? Don’t
be ridiculous. They’re just trees ...
Councils can issue on-the-spot fines for illegal tree removals of $3,000 for
individuals and $6,000 for businesses if they can prove culpability. But
prosecutions in the New South Wales land and environment court, where the
maximum fine for tree removal by an individual is $220,000, are notoriously
hard to achieve."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
