Save western Sydney’s former ADI Site. Website of the ADI Residents Action Group
The National Estate

The ADI Sites significant conservation and heritage values have been formally recognised by the listing of 828 hectares of the site in the Register of the National Estate.

ADI RAG and many others argue that the area listed in the Register of the National Estate is far less than it should be and that the assessment of the places heritage values was corrupted resulting in a favourable outcome for Lend Lease and its joint venture partner, the Federal Government.

Extract from Penrith City Councils submission to the draft SREP 30

The Register of the National Estate Database Place Report for the ADI site describes it as ‘one of the major natural habitats for the region’ and states: -

"The vegetation remaining on the site is one of the largest remnants of the vegetation communities that were once widespread on the Cumberland Plain. This vegetation combined with that on the adjoining Register of the National Estate listed Llandilo Natural Area, constitute the largest remaining stand of these woodland types and represents a significant portion of these communities still present in Western Sydney."

Only 6% of the pre European settlement extent of Cumberland Plain Woodland remains. Within the City of Penrith, there is 178 ha of the listed lands located outside of the proposed Regional Park zone proposed to be destroyed. This constitutes a significant part of the largest remaining stand of Cumberland Plain Woodland in Western Sydney. The importance of preserving this vegetation in its entirety is enhanced by the fact that the very size of this stand makes it ecologically more viable than many other areas.

The Australian Heritage Commission gave a large proportion of the site an interim listing on the Register of the National Estate in 1997 [1100 ha]. In making that listing, the AHC said of the ADI site: -

• A priceless piece of our heritage;
• One of the last surviving areas of grey box woodland which once dominated the Cumberland Plain, west of Sydney;
• A rare experience to have such a natural treasure so close to the heart of a major international city;
• One of the prime natural habitats for the region and a home of various endangered native plants and vulnerable animal species;
• Several layers of historical importance

See 1100 ha Interim listing RNE.pdf 45kb

There are also parts of the ADI Site listed in the Register of the National Estate because of their European Heritage significance

They are: The King Family Farms and the Jordan Hill Site.

In 1997 1100 hectares was interim listed in the Register of the National Estate by the Australian Heritage Commission (AHC). Lend Lease objected to this interim listing and the AHC commissioned Biosis Research to review Lend Leases objections. Biosis upheld part of Lend Leases objections recommending a slight reduction to the 1100 hectare listing. 

Lend Lease, not satisfied at this small win, objected a second time. This time the AHC commissioned Ian Perkins Consultancy Service to spend time at the site doing field surveys of the areas Lend Lease claimed had no Heritage value. Perkins findings resulted in the AHC declaring that 828 hectares would be listed. See this document.pdf 55kb for a summary of Perkins findings.

ADI RAG questions this whole process. 

Lend Lease appears to have received enormous latitude from the AHC to have had a second objection heard, especially as it is known that the AHC was under resourced and rarely went to such lengths with other objections to its interim listings. It is understood that at the time of Lend Leases objections the Chairman of the AHC was a member of the Liberal Party, Peter King, who later resigned as Chair of the AHC to become the Federal Member for the blue ribbon Liberal seat of Wentworth in Sydney. We must remember that the Federal Government, through their government business enterprise company, Comland, were joint developer partners with Lend Lease in the development so they like Lend Lease would have been financially affected if 1100 ha of the ADI site was unable to be developed. It is obvious then that pressure would have been exerted on Peter King to ensure not only a good outcome for Lend Lease but also for the Federal Government who would also lose out financially if more land was listed in the Register of the National Estate.

The methodology used by Ian Perkins to ascertain the final size of the area to be listed in the Register of the National Estate appears questionable. Perkins was assisted in his assessment by renowned botanist Teresa James. Ms James later told the NSW Land and Environment Court, in her evidence in the Xavier College case, that Perkins work for the AHC assessing the disputed Western part of the ADI Site was conducted under 'express limitations'. 

Ian Campbell, the Federal Environment Minister, stated in his Statement of Reasons to reject Jackie Kelly's Emergency National Heritage Listing of the Western Precinct of the ADI Site that:

"The Perkins study covered the entire Western Precinct using a 500 metre grid system, with each grid-cell traversed at least four times. These traverses were used as a basis for identifying areas as comprised primarily of either native or exotic vegetation. I found that two subsequent plots in the Western Precinct were then used for comparative purposes with plots in other parts of the place".

Basically Perkins walked the western end of the site and then did a further two plot surveys in an area of around 250 hectares. This would explain why he failed to identify populations of the endangered Pimelea spicata in the Western Precinct.

This hardly appears scientific yet Greg Plummer of the Department of Environment and Heritage told ADI RAG in a phone conversation (24 March 2005) that DEH considered this acceptable survey work. Mr Plummer is the DEH bureaucrat that handles most issues with the ADI Site and would have been involved in assessing Lend Leases objections to the 1997 interim listing and Jackie Kelly's 2004 Emergency National Heritage listing of the 230 ha Western Precinct.

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