"Dangerous" trees to get the chop

The federal environment department of the Australian government propose to remove up to 617 "dangerous" trees from the grounds surrounding parliament house in Canberra.

A decision will be made on December 17 regarding the removal of the trees. The department says that the trees need to be removed "for public safety reasons" due to dead branches or "immently dead trees" that may be prone to dropping branches. The spokesperson indicated that the trees would be removed and replaced within the next 12 to 18 months.

Arborist Geoff Butler said that the reason for the government proposal to remove the trees was that "we've become a very litiginous society" and the goverment were mitigating any claim for injury or death. He said that the trees were dying due to the drought and severe lack of water. He said that watering the one million public trees in Canberra was not possible.

However, the essence of the debate is not whether the trees stay or get the chop. The debate was whether the 617 identified trees should be removed at death or at imminent death.

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