By the middle of the year, the breathtaking beaches of Casuarina Coast Reserve could become the Northern Territory’s newest national park. But some environmentalists are disappointed the government won’t consider buying back the next-door development block, which could soon be bulldozed for a controversial housing development.
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00:00 The sweeping beach and bushland of Kajarina Coastal Reserve, beloved by endangered animals
00:08 and Darwin locals, could soon become a national park under an NT government proposal.
00:14 This feels like a bit of a big win.
00:15 If it means that they're not building here and they're keeping it natural, then that's
00:19 a good thing.
00:20 The change will add extra hoops for developers to jump through in order for any future projects
00:26 to be approved.
00:27 With the national park development process, it has its own strict level of criteria and
00:33 regulation that would need to be adhered to should any development proposal be placed.
00:39 But right next door at Lee Point, long-time community campaigners have mixed emotions
00:46 as they continue a fight to stop developers bulldozing woodland for an 800-home development
00:52 on a block already home to endangered species, including the Gouldian finch.
00:57 Wildlife doesn't just stop at a boundary, it moves through as food and things, flowers
01:03 and insects, so they don't recognise boundaries of national parks.
01:08 While the proposed national park will encompass the entire Kajarina Coastal Reserve and an
01:13 extra 34 hectares of Crown land, the NT government's ruled out buying back the Lee Point development
01:19 site from the Commonwealth.
01:21 The development's on pause until late March, while the federal government considers a claim
01:26 of Larrakia cultural heritage on the site.
01:29 But ecologists say the fates of threatened animals across the two sites are intertwined.
01:34 If you take out a big chunk of their habitat, the park might not support them anymore.
01:40 The government's seeking community feedback on how best to use the park before creating
01:45 a management plan.
01:47 Unless they put their money where their mouth is and actually direct money into managing
01:52 that park, I'd say it really is just window dressing.
01:56 The park could be declared as early as mid-year.
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