Leafy inner-eastern council cracking down on illegally removing trees by increasing fines to $20,000

A council in Melbourne’s inner-east wants to increase the penalty for illegally cutting down a tree to $20,000.

Boroondara covers areas like Camberwell, Canterbury, Kew, Balwyn and Hawthorn.

Mayor Jim Parke told Ross and John the current fine isn’t a disincentive.

“The $2000 is the maximum fine that’s available to the courts in dealing with the prosecution we bring, that simply isn’t providing any deterrent effect,” he said.

“We’re seeing a situation where many developers treat that as a cost for doing business.”

He said the council had seen developers illegally remove trees, as well as residents and it wasn’t sustainable.

“We see a mix, sometimes it’s somebody wanting to build a new house on a block sometimes it’s developers,” he said.

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