REDLANDS councillor Paul Golle says he will “protect life and infrastructure first” amid backlash over a council submission on habitat protection and vegetation management.
Speaking after the latest General Meeting, the Division 3 councillor defended the submission to the Queensland State Government which outlines how environmental corridors are defined and how bushland across the Redlands should be managed.
Cr Golle said the issue had been brought into sharp focus following the recent cyclone, which saw hundreds of trees fall across the region.
“Through the cyclone, we had around 3 or 400 trees come down, and a lot of those trees were in areas where it was a heavily populated area,” he said.
While acknowledging strong community support for koala conservation, Cr Golle said there needed to be a balance between environmental protection and public safety.
“Now, I totally understand that everyone loves koalas and we want to protect the environment. There’s no doubt about that. But what about your kids? What responsibility do you want me to take in protecting your family?” he said.
“When a 30 or 40 foot gumtree comes down across your house in a cyclone, because other locals had chastised council and said, you need to protect that tree just in case a koala goes up that tree.
“How do we, in good conscience, mitigate the fact that someone’s caravan just got crushed, or their car was damaged, or something else catastrophic took place, where large trees, in built up areas, came down through storms like we saw through the cyclone.”
Cr Golle said there were community groups pushing for stronger tree preservation measures, but warned against a one-sided approach.
“Because there are groups in the area who want us to preserve every single tree to make sure that a koala has somewhere to climb,” he said.
“Now, there is absolutely no doubt that we have koalas, and over the last 10 years, I’ve worked to protect those koalas,” he said.
“I’ll be the first one to go to court and fight against development applications to actually make sure that we get a fair and equitable outcome to preserve our environment.”
However, he said he could not support measures that risked human safety.
“But I can’t, in good conscience, sit back and let individuals dictate to me, when it’s the right thing to do to protect human life, or protect your infrastructure,” he said.
Cr Golle said the council submission aimed to strike a “fair and equitable” balance, rather than locking up vegetation from any form of management.
“It wasn’t just a one way street of lock everything up, so nothing can be managed,” he said.
In Division 3, he said many acreage properties required active vegetation management, and excessive regulation could create unintended risks.
“If I tie them up in red tape and exorbitant costs in applications, they’re not going to manage their property, but there will be big storms coming where we end up with life and limb in trouble,” he said.
Cr Golle also pushed back on criticism circulating on social media, urging residents to seek clarity before forming conclusions.
“So before everyone jumps on social media and goes, oh, they’re evil councillors. No, we actually took a very pragmatic approach and we did the right thing by the community to protect life and limb,” he said.
He stressed the submission was part of a broader state-led process, not a finalised local policy.
“It was a submission to the Queensland State government. It wasn’t our submission of what we’re going to do. It’s what we wanted to see the state government reinforce,” he said.
“At the end of the day, my priority is clear — I will protect life and infrastructure first.”
