Protests Erupt Over Tree Removal for Western Highway Project in Victoria

Police have arrested two protesters during a stand-off over the removal of culturally significant trees to make way for a controversial road project in western Victoria.

The duplication of a 12-kilometre stretch of the Western Highway, between Buangor and Ararat, has long been a contentious development due to the presence of birthing trees that are sacred to Djab Wurrung people in the project's path.

Since 2018, Aboriginal people and supporters have staged protest camps on the ground to stop construction works and in 2020, works were halted to allow for consultation and design changes, which aimed to reduce the impact on culturally significant places.

Some protesters were sitting in the trees when police arrived.

In March this year, the Eastern Maar Aboriginal Corporation approved the project's cultural heritage management plan.

The corporation said this included protection of all trees within the project area that had been "the subject of cultural and community concern", including protection for trees that could be legally recognised as culturally significant within the definitions of the Aboriginal Heritage Act, and the protection of all trees older than 200 years.

But Djab Wurrung and Gunditjmara woman Yaraan Couzens-Bundle said there were about 20 protesters at the site today who did not endorse or recognise that cultural management plan.

"We have to choose between what's more sacred and what's less sacred, and that's wrong," she said.

She said protesters were also concerned rock arrangements and formations were at risk of being moved.

Ms Couzens-Bundle said that group had called for improved maintenance and road safety on the current road, instead of duplication.

Victoria Police said local police, with support from the public order response team and the search and rescue squad, attended the site on Tuesday.

Authorities said the protest had been mostly peaceful, and officers engaged with protesters to move them and allow for the lawful removal of trees.

A man and a woman were arrested for refusing to leave a restricted access area and both have been released, pending summons, police said.

The Western Highway is the main thoroughfare between Adelaide and Melbourne and has been the location of numerous fatal crashes in recent years, with the planned works designed to improve road safety and efficiency.

A Victorian government spokesperson said it had obtained all the necessary approvals for construction to resume on the Western Highway upgrade.