Documents Regarding Gouldian Finch Habitat Survey.

Written by Claude Haiku 4.5 from the extracted text on 28 Feb 2026. It can miss or misread redacted and scanned pages. Check the source before relying on it.

Defence Housing Australia's surveys of the Lee Point development site (July-October 2022) identified potential Gouldian Finch breeding and foraging habitat, though DHA concluded Stage 2 impacts would not be significant. However, DCCEEW's assessment determined the development may cause substantially greater impacts to the endangered species than identified in the original 2019 EPBC approval (LEX 78369). Rather than suspend or revoke the approval, the department recommended varying conditions to require Gouldian Finch offsets, suspend clearing of Stages 2-3 pending offset strategy approval, and establish a conservation area adjacent to a dam. DHA agreed to these condition variations. The brief indicates tension between the proponent's impact assessment and departmental conclusions regarding significance thresholds for this EPBC-listed species.