Following a complaint from the Grassy Plains Network, the Chief Executive Agriculture Victoria has written to Axxcel Management, the owner of the Ajax Road Grassland site, reminding them of their obligations to manage noxious weeds under the Catchment and Land Protection Act.
The Grassy Plains Network is concerned that the land owner may be deliberately letting weeds spread so as to reduce the conservation significance of the property, making it financially easier to develop. We believe such actions are unconscionable, especially when the developer is aware of the conservation significance of the vegetation that is, in effect, being cleared through inaction. Such clearing of native vegetation through stealth would show an egregious disregard for both the law and decent behaviour.
Allowing weeds to spread also impacts the environmental values of adjacent and nearby biodiversity hotspots, including Truganina Swamp and Maidstone Street Grassland.
Grasslands such as Ajax Road Grassland are critically endangered, and Ajax Road Grassland is home to critically endangered Spiny Rice-flower as well as the state-listed threatened Tussock Skink.
You can read our letter to the Ag Minister here, and the reply from the Chief Executive Agriculture Victoria here.