Melbourne Developer Fined for Environmental Destruction

A property developer from Melbourne and his company have been penalized after authorities discovered that several hectares of native vegetation had been irreversibly damaged. The developer, Peter Wu, who owns Centreland Agriculture Co, purchased a property situated on Mount Atkinson Road, Truganina, for $11 million in 2021. The land was under protection due to an agreement between state and federal officials and was one of the last holds of Victoria's native grasslands.

During the development process, imported fill was deposited on the land, a move that lawyers for Melton City Council argued amounted to a failure of due diligence by Mr. Wu in his capacity as a director. This activity led to the destruction of approximately 19 hectares of kangaroo grass, effectively altering the natural landscape—a change that was described as "moonscaped" by the council's legal representatives.

In a subsequent hearing at the Sunshine Magistrates Court, Mr. Wu accepted responsibility with an early guilty plea, which allowed him to avoid a formal conviction. Nevertheless, the court imposed fines of $70,000 on Mr. Wu and $100,000 on Centreland, with an additional mandate to cover the council's legal fees amounting to $90,000. Magistrate Mark Sabljak emphasized during sentencing that the incident was a serious violation, noting that the fines would have been even steeper had the case proceeded with a not-guilty plea.