26-05-2025
Defence Housing Australia fined for unlawful land clearing at Darwin's Lee Point
A Commonwealth-owned defence housing company has been fined more than $18,000 for unlawfully clearing land at a popular birdwatching area on the outskirts of Darwin.
Defence Housing Australia (DHA) is planning to build a residential housing complex for military personnel and their families at the site at Lee Point, to support an expanding defence presence in the Northern Territory.
The project has long faced opposition from environmentalists and some Larrakia people due to the risks posed to cultural heritage and threatened species, including the Gouldian finch.
DHA resumed bulldozing trees at the site in April last year following a tense showdown with protesters that led to multiple arrests and sparked claims of unlawful land clearing.
After a year-long investigation into the claims, the federal environment department has now issued DHA an infringement notice of $18,780 for clearing land at Lee Point in breach of its environmental approvals.
The breach relates to clearing land outside of the approved stage of development.
In a statement, DHA said it "takes compliance matters seriously and is committed to ensuring strict adherence with approvals across all development projects".
"The infringement was issued following DHA clearing a small area between 30 April and 2 May 2024 that was not in compliance with its Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 conditions at the time," a DHA spokesperson said.
"This infringement notice does not affect the validity of DHA's environmental approvals."
Australian Conservation Foundation lead investigator Annica Schoo said she was pleased DHA had been fined, but frustrated the land was unlawfully cleared in the first place.
"And yet they were still able to breach their environmental approval doing something that destroyed habitat — this exact habitat that everyone cares so much about."
Environment Centre NT executive director Kirsty Howey said the fine was "little more than a slap on the wrist" and "shows how profoundly broken our environmental laws are".
The controversial housing development has faced significant delays in recent years.
DHA paused works for about 12 months in 2022 while then-environment minister Tanya Plibersek assessed the project's impact on the endangered Gouldian Finch.
In August 2023, works were again paused for eight months after Larrakia elders made an emergency application to Ms Plibersek.
Larrakia Danggalaba community leader Lorraine Williams is now calling on federal Environment Minister Murray Watt to revoke DHA's approval "to stop any further cultural and ecological destruction at Lee Point".
Mr Watt has been contacted for comment.
