Councils call on NSW government to step in after mass tree … – ABC News

Councils call on NSW government to step in after mass tree destructions in Sydney's waterfront suburbs
Wherever there are harbourside views to expand, rising property prices, and millions more to be made in development, this crime runs rampant.
And mostly, unpunished.
Tree destructions and vandalism have been a problem in Sydney for decades.
But ecosystem and forest science expert, Greg Moore, said the size of the massacres in recent months were "almost unheard of".
This week it was revealed almost 300 trees and plants were discovered chopped down in the affluent harbourside suburb of Longueville, in the Lane Cove Council area.
It comes just months after 265 trees were poisoned and cleared at Castle Cove, located in the Willoughby Council area, in August.
Despite gloves and syringes being discarded at the scene, the council still don't know who is responsible. It has up to two years to build a case and prosecute. 
Willoughby City Council Mayor Tanya Taylor is worried they still haven't been able to bring charges against the person responsible.
"Potentially what's happened in Lane Cove has been spurred on by what's happened in Castle Cove and people think they can get away with it now," she said.
Lane Cove Mayor Scott Bennison said the council had information the trees in his area were cut down using handsaws in the dead of night.
"[It's] pretty hard to extract trees, so the question has to be asked: How come no-one heard anything?"
Mr Bennison is confident authorities are narrowing down the culprit, who the council intends to prosecute in the NSW Land and Environment Court.
But it is extraordinarily rare for tree destroyers to ever face charges, and if Lane Cove is successful in prosecuting this case, it will be an outlier.
University of Melbourne ecologist Dr Moore described tree protection laws in Australia as "completely inadequate".
"Very often the state legal systems see trees as ornaments, bits of decoration, and they've failed to keep up with the times as we approach climate change," he said.
"They're so bad in most states you would almost describe them as anti-tree, and pro-development."
It's difficult to charge people for tree destruction, without hard evidence, or a witness.
"You normally don't get them on a nice piece of CCTV that shows the villain creeping up to the tree, drilling the hole and putting the chemical in," Dr Moore said.
"And in many cases the fines for deliberately killing a tree are pitifully low compared with the value of the tree killed."
He said it usually came down to a fine of a few thousand dollars per tree, often for ancient specimens worth in excess of $50,000.
"And when you lose trees on that level, it completely changes the habitat of that area … even just one tree, the fungi, the bacteria the birds and native marsupials."
Dr Moore pointed to a recent study on the loss of one mature Oak in Europe, which found 48,000 seedlings were required to replace the carbon from that single tree.
Mr Bennison hopes information council has gathered about the incident will lead to the maximum penalty of $1 million being imposed, saying the punishment needed to be high to act as a deterrent.
Dr Moore said tree poisonings were uncommon in most of Australia, but concentrated in certain neighbourhoods.
"Very often they are associated with development or with people wanting views," he said.
"They have definitely become more common in the last few years."
He said there had been cases in Melbourne, Adelaide and Brisbane, but the size and scale in Sydney was shocking and "brazen".
Lane Cove MP, Anthony Roberts, said the destruction of the trees had left the community horrified.
He said the operation was sophisticated, planned and probably by someone who could probably afford the consequences.
"Lane Cove was found to be one of the top five most livable places in Australia, and one of those reasons is that we've got fantastic bushland," he said.
"I've seen people many times just write the cheques, these minor fines are no issue, whatsoever."
The state Liberal MP said the fines should be in proportion to any benefit that comes from the destruction, and whoever is responsible should also have to pay for the re-planting of mature trees.
Ms Taylor has penned a letter to send to Planning Minister Paul Scully, to address penalties as a matter of urgency.
Dr Scully this week called the Lane Cove incident an extraordinary act of environmental vandalism.
"If we have to address the penalties to make sure this sort of stuff isn't repeated, then we'll have a good look at that," he said.
The ABC asked every council in Greater Sydney, and found at least 1,704 trees had been vandalised over the past 12 months.
Stories of destruction ranged from the poisoning of a large ancient Moreton Bay fig in Randwick to Ku-ring-gai Council issuing 90 separate infringement notices between 2022-2023.
That number is likely far higher due to the difficulty councils have quantifying the number of trees affected. 
Only a small handful of charges from all 35 councils were handed out in the past year.
At least 10 Sydney councils told the ABC the laws were not effective in deterring the crime, or leading to prosecutions.
North Sydney recently investigated a poisoning in Forsyth Park, door-knocked homes in the surrounding area, and offered a $10,000 reward for any information leading to a successful prosecution. 
To date, nobody has come forward. 
"It is very difficult, if not impossible, to prosecute tree vandals," North Sydney Council said in a statement.
Councils in the past have found creative ways in creating visual barriers to deter further vandalism, including erecting large banners in the cleared space, and installing shipping containers.
The ABC understands at least one Sydney council has hired an officer whose job is to crack down on tree vandals due to the prevalence of incidents in the area.
But many believe the state government now need to step in. 
Willoughby Council and several others have formally called on the Minns government to comprehensively review the legal framework for tree protection.
Councils can issue a maximum on-the-spot fine of $3,000 for illegal tree removals by individuals, or $6,000 for businesses.
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