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INJURY LIST FACES CULL INDY SPORT
SHAKIN’ ALL OVER: Walking partners Rina Verhoef and Jacob Leder felt the chill on Geelong’s waterfront this week as winter made a particularly icy arrival across the region. 139992 Picture: REG RYAN
Dying parrot puts $4B plan in doubt By NOEL MURPHY
THREAT: An orange-bellied parrot.
MOOLAP’S $4 billion Nelson Cove project has been dealt a curve ball with news the orangebellied parrot is facing extinction from an outbreak of beak and feather disease. The former saltworks site is considered crucial habitat to the endangered bird, now down to 50 in the wild. Federal Government has demanded an urgent response to the latest threat, which has killed many of this year’s fledglings. The orange-bellied parrot has been a political issue several times in the past when its presence conflicted with develop-
ments including a petrochemical complex proposed for Point Lillias, a $220 million wind farm at Bald Hills in south-east Victoria and a Mornington Peninsula marina. The bird, which migrates annually between Tasmania and Victoria, has also been regularly involved in Tasmanian forest issues and was used against a now-failed $2 billion wind farm development on King Island. Ridley Corporation’s Nelson Cove, proposing 4000 dwellings, would create thousands of jobs. But Geelong Field Naturalists Club has cautioned against the development and Environment Minister and Bellarine MP Lisa Neville has called for a land-use
study of the area. Threatened Species Commissioner Gregory Andrews was unsure whether the disease was a problem yet for parrots in the Geelong area. “It is too early to say whether the local populations in the Geelong region have been affected,� he told the Independent. “Experts will be reviewing and assessing this next week. Adult birds are much less vulnerable to the disease than nestlings, so birds that have successfully migrated to the mainland are likely to be okay.� Mr Andrews said the Government had put more than $5 mil-
lion toward protecting the bird since 2006, including funding for habitat restoration in Victoria. Monitoring of a Tasmanian breeding site earlier this year found that 19 out of 26 chicks tested positive for the disease, which is common among other species such as sulphur-crested cockatoos and rainbow lorikeets. Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt has demanded an urgent response to the bird’s disease crisis and Mr Andrews has called for scientists with differing views to collaborate on the threat. Continued page 5
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