The WA Government has confirmed it will reject a plan put forward by two Perth councils, intended to protect the city's shrinking tree canopies, partly due to pressures it would place on new housing. However, the Planning Minister denies accusations his decision was swayed by pressure from property developers.
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TVTranscript
00:00 It's another 40 degree scorcher in Perth.
00:05 Just to give you an example of that, so pointing at the ground here, just to give us a quick
00:11 one, 64 degrees.
00:12 A few metres over here, into the shade.
00:17 Greens MP Brad Pettit believes it's obvious why Perth needs to become a leafier city.
00:23 But after initially denying a decision had been made, the state government today scrapped
00:28 proposals from the Netherlands and South Perth councils to protect mature trees.
00:34 What they've walked away from today though is actually doing any action on private land.
00:39 Over 75% of our trees, of our tree canopy is on private land.
00:45 The new rules were hoped to have been the beginning of state-wide measures to protect
00:50 trees in Australia's least leafy capital.
00:53 Ultimately we have already introduced a range of planning reforms that either have mandated
01:00 soft landscaping or facilitated and incentivised tree retention.
01:05 The minister rejected assertions he's succumbed to pressure from property developers.
01:10 The Netherlands proposal wasn't affecting the big developers, it was actually affecting
01:16 mums and dads and other households in those low dense areas.
01:21 The state government has announced it's working on a broader proposal, but the mayor of Netherlands
01:26 argues it won't be enough to save Perth's dwindling canopy.
01:30 [BLANK_AUDIO]