Frankly, there should be jail time for this level of environmental vandalism. Especially since the defendants haven’t shown even the slightest bit of remorse:
A judgment published on Friday said the prosecutor had noted there was “no evidence of insight, contrition, or remorse from the defendants and the defendants concede that there is no evidence of remorse.”
Yep, if you have enough money to build a private airport, a million dollar fine is probably just the cost of doing business.
Ronald Greentree and co have been fined repeatedly in the past for illegally clearing habitat, https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/feb/04/australias-biggest-wheat-farmer-faces-more-charges-of-illegal-land-clearing
If the consequences for crimes are a fine, it’s only a crime for the poor/workers. For a corpo it’s just an overhead, and the cost of doing business (which is by design of the shadow plutocracy that owns our “democracy”).
The consequences for wilful ecological destruction should absolutely be both jail time for all decision makers, and crippling fines.
Pocket change. It’s just easier and cheaper to pay the fine if they happen to get one.
Triple the land cleared should be repatriated by the commonwealth and the previous owner fined to the extent that complete rewilding requires.
“It’s a price, not a fine.”
Yep. Like that guy who bought an old english building protected by conservation law and destroyed it to build a modern house. Had to rebuild the pub until the very last stone and was made to pay for that very costly effort.
You want this shit to stop, take the land.
And convert it into koala sanctuary
If you’re rich, a fine isn’t a punishment but rather just an extra expense
