Little River residents claim freight terminal will ruin ecosystem

LITTLE River residents gathered last weekend to rally against a multibillion-dollar freight terminal proposed for the town, which residents fear will harm the surrounding environment and the endangered species that call it home.

Pacific National, which describes itself as the country’s leading intermodal rail freight operator, wants to construct a 550-hectare rail terminal and surrounding warehousing precinct on the corner of Old Melbourne and Little River roads.

But residents have raised concerns about the impacts of the development, including noise pollution from the freight trucks passing through the town 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and the loss of ‘green wedge’ zoned land that is protected from urban development.

About 300 protestors gathered around a 250m crane on Saturday to illustrate the height of the stacked freight containers to be stored on the site and the subsequent impact it would have on views of the You Yangs if the terminal was built.

Grassy Plains Network facilitator Adrian Marshall said the site proposed for the freight hub was an example of the Western Grasslands of Victoria, a fragile ecosystem that once stretched from the Yarra River to the South Australian border.

“Now we’ve got 1 per cent of them left, and most of that 1 per cent isn’t nearly as good as what’s here (in Little River),” Mr Marshall said.

“This is an excellent example of pretty much the most endangered ecosystem in Victoria, full of endangered plants and animals as well.

“There’s a whole swathe of these species that are dependent on the ecosystem as a whole, and if we start losing the ecosystem as a whole, we lose everything that goes with it.”

Mr Marshall said Australia had recorded 33 mammal extinctions – species that were either dependent or semi-dependent on grasslands.

“The loss of grasslands means extinction. They go hand-in-hand,” he said.

Little River Action Group (LRAG) president Adrian Hamilton said if the terminal went ahead, 1500 trucks would pass through the area every day.

“This freight terminal will bring significant noise, light pollution and fumes emissions to our door,” Mr Hamilton said.

“It makes no sense that residential development is banned on the green wedge, but they are proposing an industrial freight monolith in the centre of a fragile and threatened ecosystem.”

EQ Leaders founder Emma Costin, whose equine-assisted learning program is based in Little River, and her two sons aged 5 and 7 joined the protest.

Ms Costin said the development would be 1.5km from the town’s centre and would be the size of about 350 MCGs.

Legalise Cannabis Victoria Member for Western Metropolitan David Ettershank called on the state government to cancel the project.

He tabled a petition with 5000 signatures opposing the development in Parliament on Tuesday.