BY TYRION PERKINS
CANBERRA — On the border of the ACT lies Mount Jerrabomberra, a landmark of Queanbeyan and one of the last mountains in the region with rare native plant species. Despite its listing as National Estate by the Australian Heritage Commission in 1992, the mountain is now privately owned and a developer is bulldozing areas for residential development.
Dodgy land deals are a running theme in the history of Mt Jerrabomberra. In the 1920s, a speculator advertised residential subdivisions in London as "the closest freehold to Parliament House" even though it lay over the NSW border. He was forced to change the advertisement, but no further action was taken. Many blocks were sold but, according to Frank Brennan's book, Canberra in Crisis, buyers "were left to repent at their leisure".
In the 1960s, proposals to have the mountain protected as a National Park came to nothing as the Yarralumla shire did not have the to co-purchase the land. In the 1980s, there were moves to "develop" the mountain top with a restaurant and cable car. In 1984 the land was purchased by Lidoform, owned by land speculator Alex Brinkmeyer.
According to a 1990 Canberra Times article titled "The land lord of Canberra", Brinkmeyer owned 30% of available residential land in Canberra and 90% in Queanbeyan. Brinkmeyer began in land speculation by selling Gold Coast canal developments and in the 1970s went on to land developments in Miami, Florida and the Bahamas.
In 1981, he returned to Canberra where a connection sold him the Mt Jerrabomberra land. He began selling it in 1984 using the old subdivision plan for about $11,000 per lot, with further payments to be made when the land was serviced. The Real Estate Institute warned the deals were problematic as the land was zoned "rural" and the Council had not yet approved the subdivision.
While Brinkmeyer's relationship with the Queanbeyan City Council (QCC) started up badly, it later viewed Brinkmeyer as promoting and improving the Queanbeyan.
The Canberra Times article describes Brinkmeyer's other interests including: the Canberra Cannons' basketball team; a real-estate agency; a number of home builders and an insurance brokerage. By his own estimate, Brinkmeyer's assets were valued at $70 million. "We have never bought anything at its real value", he boasted. Suggestions have been made in state and federal parliaments that he used his former presidency of the Queanbeyan branch of the Liberal Party to secure approvals that would not otherwise have been obtained.
The August edition of the Queanbeyan newsletter QueenBeeAnne's Community News describes the controversial way in which the development was allowed to proceed:
"The rezoning was passed by the Queanbeyan City Council (QCC) seven votes to five. At the time a councillor claimed 'We were bullied and bribed by the developer, he put so much pressure on us that we even approved the wrong set of plans'.'The plans they approved allowed development 30 metres higher into the top area originally meant for environmental protection."
The National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS), the NSW Department of Environment and Planning, the CSIRO and the NSW Heritage Council strongly objected to the development proposal. The NWPS believes Mt Jerrabomberra to be significant due to several extremely rare species of plants and plant communities.
The Mt Jerrabomberra Preservation Society was formed by nearby residents to preserve its unique vegetation, fauna habitat and Aboriginal heritage (including scar trees and other artefacts). The Preservation Society, along with the Department of Environment and Planning and NPWS, lobbied the Australian Heritage Commission to list the mountain on the Register of the National Estate.
Liberal backing
Brinkmeyer was elected president of the Queanbeyan branch of the Liberal Party and several other shareholders of his Jerrabomberra Estates Limited were elected to the party's leadership. In March 1998, Liberal leader Nick Greiner became the premier of NSW and soon afterwards made his close connection to Brinkmeyer public by opening his land sales office.
When Brinkmeyer was told the Heritage Council would consider protecting areas of the mountain, he replied that Greiner had given him an undertaking the development would proceed.
The day before the site was to be nominated for protection, Brinkmeyer ordered the area to be bulldozed, arguing this was necessary to create a fire break. When the NPWS complained about the loss of rare plants, Queanbeyan's mayor replied, "The owner was exercising the right to be on his own land". The Department of Environment and Planning files show the minister directed his department to "approve the lot".
The Heritage Council and later the NPWS were silenced by the minister according to the QueenBeeAnne's Community News. "Officers and employees ... were told if they didn't comply they would be 'instantly dismissed and become unemployable'. Some of these people are willing to testify to these and more serious allegations in the event of a Royal Commission."
In August 1998, an application to declare the Local Environment Plan (LEP) invalid was filed in the NSW Land and Environment Court by Richard Jones, member of the NSW Legislative Council, and later Michael Calkovics of the Mt Jerrabomberra Preservation Society (MJPS). They won the case, but the QCC immediately began to prepare another identical LEP.
The MJPS and concerned politicians referred the case to the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) for investigation. An ICAC officer allegedly told several people the matter had to be dropped because of pressure from Greiner.
Land slip risks
The LEP ignored the possibility of land slips. A 1974 report by the Bureau of Mineral Resources, Geology and Geophysics stated: "There is some evidence of old rock sides and of minor slumping along the scenic road and the movement of saturated ground after rainfall is likely. Removal of vegetation, trenching and benching in such areas makes such material unstable and increases the potential of erosion."
According to the June QueenBeeAnne's Community News, the LEP's authors avoided the land-slip issue because of their connection with the developer's company, Lidoform. Don Fox Planning, which prepared the LEP, had shares in the developer's publicly-listed company of Jerrabomberra Estates. They used a report by geo-technical consultant Andrew Shirley and Associates, who was commissioned by Lidoform. The Snowy Mountains Engineering Corporation was also used.
The Soil Conservation Service objected to the findings of the two geo-technical consultants saying, in a letter in 1990 to the QCC town clerk, "The risks associated with development on highly erodable soils on steep slopes is not acceptable".
Some of the land owners were burnt from the more recent land subdivision. For example, Steve Harrison says in the October QueenBeeAnn's Community News his land became part of a road and 230 blocks of land were fleeced from purchasers in stages three, four and five of the development. Attempts to take the matter to court were unsuccessful until in 1998 a class action was initiated in the Federal Court. Eighteen months later, the claimants lost money and their land in an out-of-court settlement.
The selling, bulldozing and building of houses has proceeded on Mt Jerrabomberra. Estates now run half way into the area listed as National Heritage in 1992. Many land owners are unhappy and Brinkmeyer is increasing his fortune while getting away with irresponsible practices.