Stop Roe Highway and Save Beeliar Wetlands!

I am strongly opposed to any plan to extend Roe Highway through the Beeliar Wetlands. This plan is unsustainable, unnecessary and unwanted.

The days of covering wetlands with bitumen are gone. Building ever-more roads only leads to more traffic, more pollution and more impacts on the health of our communities and environment.

This proposal would destroy critical habitat for endangered species including the Carnaby’s Cockatoo and the Graceful Sun Moth, and would have catastrophic impacts on unique wetlands and bushland containing 220 plant species and 123 bird species in an area larger than Kings Park.

The wetlands are one of the most significant cultural sites for Aboriginal people in the Southern Metropolitan region, and the beautiful parklands are used by thousands of local people and visitors per year.

There is no possible way for this project to go ahead in a sustainable or environmentally acceptable way - building a highway through this Regional Park would destroy the aesthetic, recreational, cultural and environmental values of the area forever.

Building this road will simply shift traffic congestion problems from one place to another, and the proponent has not demonstrated that alternatives to this road have been properly investigated.

Rather than wasting money on this unacceptable road proposal, I support investment in public transport and improved freight rail networks to address Perth’s transport needs.