Macedon Ranges Draft Biodiversity Strategy lacks nature repair targets
Submission to Macedon Ranges Shire Council by Patrick Franics Summary The Macedon Ranges Shire Council’s Draft Biodiversity Strategy 2025 –
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Road Safety – People and Wildlife
Ministers accept 100km/h default speed as OK for rural road pedestrians – no questions asked
For a pedestrian sharing a default 100km/h speed limit rural road any driver error can lead to death or serious injury. Photo: Patrick Francis
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Draft Open Space Strategy inequitable for some shire residents
The Macedon Ranges Shire Council’s Draft Open Space Strategy needs to widen its scope and include local roads outside town boundaries increasingly being used by residents for exercise and recreation.
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Government ignores pedestrians and cyclists in country road default speed limit probe
As peri-urban and regional town populations grow the increasing number of pedestrians and cyclists sharing default 100km/h roads outside built-up areas face serious injury and death unless Safe System Speeds are adopted by Federal, State and Territory transport departments.
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Insurance companies could be change agents for lowering escalating wildlife vehicle collisions
Wildlife vehicle collision road hotspots are identified with insurance company claims data but is not used by state Transport Departments to assist in setting appropriate maximum speed limits on rural roads to reduce vehicle occupant casualties and their enormous health care costs.
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Will Commonwealth environment committee senators address the nation’s vehicle wildlife collisions explosion?
On 7 August 2025 all members of the Senate Standing Committee on Environment and Communications were emailed a request to consider an inquiry into the adequacy of the Commonwealth of Australia’s Road Safety and Environment Protection policies, visions and regulations to cope with the biodiversity and human consequences of wildlife vehicle collisions.
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Wildlife road kills ignored in the Global Biodiversity Framework
In the seventh article in the series ‘Wildlife road kills versus Vision Zero 2050’ freelance journalist Patrick Francis examines wildlife
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Wildlife road kills versus Vision Zero 2050: Recommendations for reducing wildlife vehicle collisions
Figure: The jurisdiction black hole for wildlife vehicle collision between Australia’s Strategy for Nature 2024 – 2030 and the Safe
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Wildlife road kills outside Environment departments’ jurisdiction to act, so ignored
In this sixth article in the series ‘Wildlife road kills versus Vision Zero 2050’, freelance journalist Patrick Francis examines what
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Taking the blinkers off rural road safety – how wildlife vehicle collisions can be minimised
In the fifth article in the series ‘Wildlife road kills versus Vision Zero 2050’ Patrick Francis explores existing initiatives which provide transport departments with an avenue for including wildlife in road crash risk assessment.
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Safe System Principles and Vision Zero 2050 fail equity test on shared rural roads
In the fourth article in his wildife road kills series Patrick Francis questions why Safe System principles ignore rural road pedestrians safety as well as wildlife vehicle collisions.
Read MoreConnection between wildlife and road casualties unrecognised in Vision Zero 2050
Patrick Francis interrogates the road crash statistics generated by numerous federal and state government departments for clues to why millions of wildlife become road kill each year.
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Driver behaviour dictates politicians’ attitudes to vehicle wildlife collisions
Patrick Francis reviews the published evidence behind the disconnect between Australian drivers attitude to maximum speed limits and the messages behind tens of thousands of wildlife warning signs installed across regional, rural and remote road networks.
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Signs signs everywhere wildlife signs and dead wildlife
Patrick Francis examines why there are tens of thousands of yellow wildlife warning signs along Australia’s rural and regional roads but no guidance to drivers from state transport and environment departments about what speed should be embraced to prevent vehicle wildlife collisions, vehicle occupant casualties and road kills.
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Climate Emergency – a Plan versus an Action Plan
A comparison of two councils climate emergency plans one with emission reduction targets, the other without them.
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A climate emergency plan without targets is greenwashing
By Patrick Francis In October 2023 the Macedon Ranges Shire Council requested submissions about its Draft Climate Emergency Plan 2023
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Council hears knock but door remains shut on pedestrian and wildlife safety
The Macedon Ranges Shire Council had an opportunity to give its residents an enlightened road safety plan to enhance living in a rural setting and interacting with nature. Instead its plan continues to prioritise driver convenience above public and wildlife safety on rural roads close to shire towns.
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Romsey Structure Plan skittles environment, local food and lifestyle objectives – Why it should be returned to authors for further investigation
If re-written with a vision to embrace solutions to lower greenhouse gas emissions, abate carbon dioxide, use nature to address the Climate and Biodiversity emergencies, and encourage local food production, the Romsey Structure Plan would provide a blue print for sustainable development within town boundaries across the shire and give resident families the life styles they move to the shire to experience.
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Wildlife rescue services provide clues to native animals threats
Wildlife rescues and road kills increasing as vehicle drivers maximum speed limit remains unaltered in wildlife hot spots.
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Draft community local laws ignore wildlife and people using minor rural roads
Draft Local Community Laws 2023 seem to ignore impacts to residents and visitors of inappropriate driver speed on minor rural roads, local light planes, and inadequate weed and feral animal control.
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A rural land use strategy with no future
The Macedon Ranges Shire Council’s Draft Rural Land Use Strategy fails to incorporate climate change abatement, carbon and biodiversity farming, and local food production as key issues for future landholders.
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Roadkill update: another wombat killed
Wildlife road kills continue on minor rural roads west of Romsey which have a default 100km per hour maximum speed limit when the safe speed for wildlife, pedestrians and cyclists is less that 50km per hour.
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36 year wait ends in road kill
Wildlife taking advantage of improving natural capital on Moffitts Farm are being killed by vehicles on surrounding roads.
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Shire’s Romsey growth options are missed opportunity to combat climate change and reduce greenhouse gases
The Romsey Structure Plan Options and Scenarios fail to account for their housing estates greenhouse production and the lost opportunity to sequester greenhouse gases and recover biodiversity with enlightened farm land use change around the town.
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50km per hour limit on minor rural roads – Key to Macedon Ranges pedestrian and bikers safety
Shire town residents are increasingly using nearby minor rural roads for exercise and nature observation, it means a new era of vehicle speed restrictions is required to protect public safety.
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Significant omissions in MRSC draft Road Management Plan 2021
The Macedon Ranges Shire Council’s draft Road Management Plan takes no account of increasing numbers of pedestrians on some minor rural roads and increased wildlife population on roadside verges and surrounding farm and public land. It provides no data on vehicle road maintenance diesel use and their greenhouse gas emissions trends.
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Macedon Ranges Shire Council Draft Roadside Conservation Management Plan has missed environmental health opportunities
Patrick Francis provides feedback to the Macedon Ranges Shire Council’s draft Roadside Conservation Management Plan.
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Victoria’s rural road speed guidelines ignore wildlife existence
Victoria’s state government departments responsible for maximum speed limits on minor rural roads and safety and welfare of wildlife do not recognize vehicles travelling to fast to avoid collisions with wildlife on minor rural roads, are the cause of an increasing number of wildlife road kills and injuries.
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Avoidable wildlife road kills continue unabated
Road kills of native animals are avoidable on minor rural roads in the Macedon Ranges and adjacent shires. To achieve this traffic speeds on these roads must be legally limited to a maximum of 40 km/hr.
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