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February 12 2017 Last-minute bid to save significant tree in path of Western Highway .
A local resident stands at the foot of a claimed Aboriginal birthing tree near Mount Langi Ghiran, in western Victoria. Photo: supplied .
A claimed rare Aboriginal birthing tree is at the heart of a last-ditch heritage application to save it from being destroyed this year to widen a rural highway.
The tree, on Djab wurrung land in western Victoria, is in the path of the next stage of the $675 million Western Highway upgrade between Ballarat and Stawell, the biggest regional road project in the state.
It was identified this month by members of Victoria's Indigenous community as a living example of a sacred birthing tree. Three women have since submitted an application with Aboriginal Victoria to have the tree protected under heritage laws, in a last-ditch bid to stop it being cut down.
The tree is on a rural property in the Mount Langi Ghiran foothills near Buangor, on land that has recently been acquired by VicRoads.
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February 21 2017 - Western Highway upgrade suspended over VicRoads planning blunder .
Work to duplicate the Western Highway between Ballarat and Stawell has been suspended indefinitely because VicRoads failed to renew an expired planning permit for the project.
The administrative blunder has put the biggest regional road project in Victoria in limbo, because VicRoads has lost its authority to proceed with the next stage of the $675 million highway upgrade.
The Western Highway, between Ararat and Stawell, is set to be duplicated. Photo: Paul Jeffers .
It is the latest in a series of costly errors made by the authority, which won environmental approval for an earlier stage of the project on the basis of a wildly inaccurate estimate that it would cut down no more than 221 large old trees.
It went on to destroy almost 900 such trees, which were classified as "of very high conservation significance".
VicRoads had little to say about the matter on Tuesday, because the project is currently being challenged in the Supreme Court by western Victorian sheep farmer MairiAnne Mackenzie. Ms Mackenzie is seeking to compel the authority to change the alignment of the road upgrade.
"VicRoads has suspended construction of the Western Highway duplication between Buangor and Ararat due to an administrative issue with the planning permission for the duplication," it said.
"We are working to find a solution and will keep the public informed as we progress."
The suspended section of the road project runs for 12½ kilometres between Buangor and Ararat and deviates through Ms Mackenzie's rural property.
Mairi Anne Mackenzie has taken VicRoads and the state government to the supreme court to stop them building the Western Highway through her property.
MairiAnne Mackenzie has taken VicRoads to the Supreme Court to over the Western Highway duplication project. Photo: Eddie Jim.
Work on the stage had been due to start early this year.
Michael Kennedy, who is acting for Ms Mackenzie, said VicRoads had made an "astonishing" mistake that he hoped would trigger a change of direction by the Victorian government.
"We found it astonishing that this error had been made by VicRoads and we're trying to persuade the [planning] minister [Richard Wynne] to consider the fresh evidence that has come into existence since 2014, which shows that the original environment effects statement was flawed," Mr Kennedy said.
VicRoads admitted in court on Friday that the permit had lapsed and it had failed to apply for an extension.
The Western Highway project.
Almost 900 large old trees were cut down for the Western Highway duplication between Beaufort and Buangor. Picture: Supplied.
Mr Kennedy called on Mr Wynne to convene a new planning panel to assess the project's environmental impact and whether an alternative alignment proposed by Ms Mackenzie should be pursued.
Ms Mackenzie's Supreme Court challenge is based on the argument that VicRoads' planning permit for the project is fatally flawed, because it was granted by the former Napthine government on the basis of wrong information.
VicRoads has previously argued its mistakes when counting large old trees in the path of the road did not invalidate its planning approval for the project.
The latest development comes days after three women applied to have a tree that is due to be cut down for construction of the Buangor-Ararat stage protected under Aboriginal heritage laws.
Government agency Aboriginal Victoria is assessing the application to have the tree registered as a scarred tree, historically used by Indigenous women to give birth inside its hollow.
The Andrews government has been contacted for comment but did not respond by deadline.
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