GREENS Senator Larissa Waters last week delivered to Parliament the Woogaroo Forest petition demanding bushland be protected for the survival of wildlife like koalas, powerful owls and gliders.

Ms Waters said the private profits of property developers should not be more important than “critical habitat and the community’s wishes”.

“Bulldozing this critical habitat, that has 130 species living on it, will not solve the housing crisis,” Ms Waters said.

Around 16,500 people signed the petition to save the land at western Springfield.

Council this Friday is likely to rubberstamp the area development plan and subdivisions for Village 3 at the site.

The Springview Villages 2 and 3 Precinct Plan application was lodged in June 2023 for the land at 7001 Mur Boulevard, 7006 Panorama Drive and 1 Telopea Way, Springfield.

Stockland wants to build 1,800 dwellings even though the green lung is home to flora and fauna with vulnerable, endangered and threatened status.

The Greens have said it would use the revenues currently going to property investors in tax perks to set up a public property developer that would sell and rent houses at prices people could afford.

“We would also ensure our homeless community gets the permanent, supportive housing they deserve,” Ms Waters said.

The Save Woogaroo Forest Group last week held a lunchtime demonstration outside the Richlands office of Federal Member for Oxley Milton Dick.

Brookwater resident Joe Ungaro told the Tribune: “We often walk this forest and love it there dearly; it is a key asset which, if lost, will stop the interbreeding movements of koalas, meaning they will eventually die out here.

“Other species will also be gravely impacted. We implore the council to do the right thing and speak up for nature.”

The Tribune asked Mr Dick for comment on the demonstration or the forest, but he remained silent.

The final decision on whether the forest is destroyed now hangs with the Federal Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (EPBC).