Australian Ethical divests Lendlease shares

Yasmine Raso

Senior Journalist, Financial Newswire

14 March 2023

Australian Ethical has announced it sold its shares in Lendlease Group after several warnings related to its development of Mt Gilead in Sydney, which is also home to one of the last-surviving koala colonies in NSW.

The announcement comes after Australian Ethical warned the real estate company it was at risk of divestment if it continued with Stage 2 of the Mt Gilead development without providing “critical information about planned koala corridors” to ensure the colony’s survival, of which the Office of the NSW Chief Scientist and Engineer (OSCE) has already provided independent advice.

The ethical investment manager also said the announcement was made in the wake of recent talks with Lendlease derailing and the lack of commitment from the NSW Department of Planning & Environment (DPE) to “meaningful public consultation” ahead of its July decision deadline.

“For over four years we have used our shareholdings in Lendlease to encourage it to strengthen koala protections, but Australian Ethical cannot continue to support a company that appears to be failing to take biodiversity protection seriously,” Australian Ethical spokesperson, Amanda Richman, said.

“We’ve been clear that Australian Ethical would continue to advocate until we have exhausted all avenues with Lendlease to improve koala protections, and we’ve now reached that point.”

The NSW Government’s environmental protection authority, the Environment and Heritage Group (EHG) told the DPE in December last year that Lendlease’s development proposal was “inconsistent with recommendations contained in the OCSE advice” as well as other specialist reports.

“Neither Lendlease or the NSW Department of Planning & Environment has given the public meaningful information about the proposed koala corridors at Mt Gilead, and we have serious concerns about the way the reports from the NSW Chief Scientist and other experts are being interpreted by the Department,” Richman said.

“The previous public consultation on the development is redundant from a biodiversity perspective because the public hasn’t been given the full picture. Our fear is that this development will be approved without proper public consultation on the environmental impacts.

“The [NSW Minister for Environment & Heritage, the Hon. James Griffin MP,] needs to ensure there is a transparent public consultation because, as it stands, we cannot be confident that this koala colony will survive the developments proposed for the area.”