墨爾本的西部草原：去，去…

該40公頃的現場仍在州和聯邦環境當局進行調查，儘管該年齡段報導，毫無疑問，梅爾頓市議會，負責當局

Almost 10 years ago Melbourne’s western grasslands: going, going… was published with a photo from Faulkners Road on Mount Cottrell (south of Melton) looking east towards Naarm/Melbourne across one of the properties that was (and still should be) destined to become part of the Western Grassland Reserves.

大約10年前，墨爾本的西方草原：走，走……出版了一張來自梅爾頓山（Melton）山（Melton）山（Melton）山（Melton）山（Melton）的福講道（Faulkners Road）的照片，向東望向納爾納姆（Naarm）/墨爾本（Naarm）/墨爾本（Melbourne），穿過（並且仍然應該）注定要成為西方草原儲量的一部分。

In recent months, the grassland has been illegally bulldozed to oblivion. So, going, going … and now gone.

近幾個月來，草原被非法推銷至遺忘。所以，去，走了……現在走了。

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The destruction of this 40-hectare site is still being investigated by state and federal environmental authorities, although The Age reported that, bizarrely, Melton City Council, the responsible authority, was aware of the illegal land clearing but did nothing.

州和聯邦環境當局仍在調查這個40公頃現場的破壞，儘管該年齡段報導說，怪異的梅爾頓市議會是負責的當局，他意識到非法土地清理，但什麼也沒做。

The site is subject to a Public Acquisition Overlay, meaning that government is scheduled to acquire it for the Western Grassland Reserves.

該地點將受到公共收購覆蓋的約束，這意味著政府計劃為西方草原儲備收購。

But this site was destroyed during a court case, in which developer You Min Wu was fined $260,000 after one of his contractors scraped bare another nearby 19-hectare site, known as “Conservation Area 9”, and covered it with tons of asbestos-contaminated fill in 2021-2022. The contractor was fined $210,000.

但是該地點在法庭案件中被摧毀，在該案件中，您的開發商Min Wu被罰款260,000美元，此前他的一位承包商將附近的另一個裸露裸露的19公頃現場（稱為“保護區9”）被罰款，並以2021年至2022年的大量石棉污染的填充物覆蓋了它。承包商被罰款210,000美元。

The developer is still to face court, in a case brought by federal environmental authorities over the asbestos clean-up costs.

在聯邦環境當局對石棉清理成本提出的案件中，開發商仍將面臨法院。

Given that a 220–230 square metre house and land is selling for more than $500,000 in the area, I doubt the developer is going to be very much out of pocket if it gets away with developing the land (19 hectares of housing sold at a low $500,000 per 230 square metres is about $413 million in the final sale price).

鑑於該地區的220–230平方米房屋和土地的售價超過500,000美元，我懷疑如果開發商逃脫了土地（19公頃住房的售價為19公頃，以每230平方米500,000美元的價格出售，最終銷售價格約為4.13億美元）。

Both these sites are listed for acquisition as grassland reserves.

這兩個地點都被列為草地儲量。

Once the grassland is gone, the owners probably expect they will be able to develop it, since there seems little point in the government purchasing this disaster for a grassland grassland reserve.

一旦草地消失，業主可能會希望他們能夠開發它，因為政府為草地草原保護區購買了這場災難似乎並不重要。

Or is there?

還是在那裡？

There are two good reasons to legally confiscate these properties and turn them into grassland reserves.

有兩個充分的理由可以合法沒收這些特性並將其變成草地儲備。

First, if these developers get away with this power play, why won’t every other landowner in the proposed Western Grassland Reserves, and elsewhere, bulldoze any environmental assets on their property, pay the token fine and make big bucks selling it for development?

首先，如果這些開發商擺脫了這項強力遊戲，為什麼擬議中的西部草原儲備中的所有其他土地所有者都不會在其財產上推銷任何環境資產，支付象徵性的罰款並讓大筆款項銷售開發呢？

It’s not just the Western Grassland Reserves, but the principles and integrity of public planning are threatened by these greedy developers. You can be sure that these cases are being watched with a vulture stare by the rest of their class.

這不僅是西部草原儲備，而且這些貪婪的開發商威脅著公共計劃的原則和完整性。您可以肯定的是，這些案例在其餘的班級中都凝視著禿鷹。

The second good reason is that a scraped-bare paddock is a good place to restore a native grassland, if it can be resown with appropriate seeds before millions of invasive weeds take hold.

第二個充分的理由是，如果可以在數百萬侵入性的雜草拿起之前，可以用適當的種子恢復適當的種子，那麼刮擦的圍場是恢復本地草原的好地方。

It will not be as good as the original old-growth grassland, but it could eventually return to a similar condition.

它不會像原始的舊生長草那樣好，但最終可能會恢復類似的狀況。

The Victorian government’s grasslands management program is being implemented with good intentions by the Department of the Environment’s Melbourne Strategic Assessment team and Parks Victoria.

環境部墨爾本戰略評估團隊和公園維多利亞州的維多利亞州政府的草原管理計劃正在以良好的意願實施。

Yet, after 15 years of the assessment, five years after 100% of the reserves were promised to be purchased (but only about 10% have been), there is still no native grassland seed production strategy to be seen, let alone a seed orchard.

然而，經過15年的評估，承諾購買100％的儲量後五年（但只有大約10％的儲量），仍然沒有當地的草原種子生產策略可以看到，更不用說種子果園了。

Will Labor let the developers get a pass and a token fine for their criminal acts? Or will they be forced to pay token fines and offset money, which they can easily recoup from developing and selling the land?

工黨會讓開發商通過其犯罪行為獲得通行證和令牌罰款嗎？還是他們會被迫支付令牌罰款和抵消款項，他們可以輕鬆地從開發和出售土地上恢復這些款項？

Offsets are the government’s easy way out; the whole Western Grassland Reserves are, in fact, an offset.

偏移是政府簡單的出路。實際上，整個西方草原儲量都是偏移。

A very small, but much better condition grassland, is currently being bulldozed by the government, with offsets, of course, for a new train station car park at Watergardens.

當然，一個非常小但更好的草原草地正在被政府推銷，當然，偏移是在水上鎮上的新火車站停車場。

Fifteen years of government dragging its heels while proposed grassland reserves (offsets) deteriorate from weed invasion and, now, active destruction of areas intended for conservation, is rolling up the point that conservation and planning experts said from the outset (reinforced by the Auditor General in 2020): it would be more effective for conservation, and much cheaper, to purchase the entire proposed reserve area via compulsory acquisition right away.

十五年的政府在提議的草原儲備（偏移）中拖延了腳跟，導致雜草入侵惡化，現在，積極的破壞了旨在保護的地區的積極銷毀，這是一種觀點，即保護和規劃專家從一開始就說過（由審計師將軍加強2020年，在2020年加強）：可以有效地購買保護區，並且可以購買整個建議，並提供了整個建議，並提供了整個建議。

Exactly why Labor has failed for all these years to achieve such an obvious solution is not clear, but its disdain for nature conservation is.

這些年來，勞動已經無法實現如此明顯的解決方案的原因尚不清楚，但是它對自然保護的不屑一顧。

[Ben Courtice is a botanist and conservationist based in Naarm/Melbourne.]

[本·考特斯（Ben Courtice）是位於納爾姆/墨爾本的植物學家和保護主義者。]