THE Canberra grassland earless dragons are the “Goldilocks indicator” for a healthy grassland, which makes protecting the critically endangered species absolutely vital, says Friends of Grasslands president Jamie Pittock.

In 2009, the Canberra Airport Group proposed to build a road a “long way north” of Malcolm Vale Road – a closed, dirt road off Majura Road – to avoid interrupting the Canberra grassland earless dragon’s natural habitat, he says.

“But the Airport Group asked the federal government to change the approval in early 2020, to stick a two-lane bitumen road on Malcolm Vale Road, which would cut the dragon population in half,” he says.

“The airport was having an argument with the Department of Defence about where to put the road.

“The Department of Defence lets off things that go ‘boom’ and they didn’t want the road going through the middle of their training area, restricting where they can play with their toys – so the road plan was moved to right at the very end of the airport runway.

“Unfortunately, this causes the greatest ecological damage.”

The Canberra grassland earless dragons have been labelled the “Goldilock indicator” because they need their grassy environment to be just right: “not too much and not too little”.

“They need a bit of grass to hide from predators, but they need it to be open enough to hunt insects, and this also means there are gaps for wildflower species to grow, and where other threatened animals live,” says Jamie, 56.

“So, if the dragon is in trouble, the whole grassland ecosystem is in trouble. There have only been four dragon sightings at Malcolm Vale Road in the past year.

“Until recently, the dragons were regarded as one species that spanned from western Melbourne to this Canberra region and through to Bathurst.

“More recently, scientists have divided them into four separate species.”

Jamie says one of those species is only found in eastern Canberra and only in 26 square kilometres of remaining grassland.

“A lot of that is the military training area and the airport grounds, other bits are down around Symonston and Jerrabomberra, and that’s it.”

Jamie says the road proposal change was approved by the former Morrison government, however it is now under review by the Federal Environment Minister, Tanya Plibersek.

“There are a number of things about the proposal that are concerning, questions about whether the drainage works and bus stops associated with the new road have been properly approved,” he says.

“Friends of Grasslands have asked Ms Plibersek to revoke the approval, on the basis that since 2009, and just in the last few years, this new and more critically endangered species has been recognised.

“Canberra’s own dragon has been selected as one of 110 nationally threatened species that the federal government has said is a priority to conserve.

“In fact it’s bizarre, the ACT and federal governments have just funded a captive breeding program at the University of Canberra and Tidbinbilla, so it’s completely contradictory to then destroy the dragon’s habitat.”

Canberra Airport’s head of Aviation Michael Thomson says the proposed works are an upgrade of an existing road.

“As part of our planning framework, airports must prepare master plans incorporating an environment strategy,” he says.

“Our plans include all the appropriate approvals, management plans, protocols, pathways for continuous improvement of our practices and monitoring programs.

“Canberra Airport has also provided extensive funding for independent research of the Canberra grassland earless dragon and participation in a breeding program at Tidbinbilla. 

“Our incremental on-the-ground experience gained over the past 24 years and ongoing consultation with experts is the backbone of our capacity to upgrade the northern road while mitigating any environmental impact.

“We continue to work with the Department of Environment to ensure the proposed road does not negatively impact any native flora and fauna at the airport.”

Jamie disagrees saying: “They keep saying they’re an environmentally responsible company, they’ve got a lovely mural of the Canberra grasslands earless dragon in one of their office buildings, and so I think it’s the height of hypocrisy for them to then turn around and build a road that will carve up the population that they are responsible for.

“We want to see the road cancelled. There’s no justification for it. There have been three reasons put forward for building this road, but there’s already a perfectly good road from Fairbairn Avenue to around the south of the airport. This road is completely unnecessary.”