18/8/26: Uproar in regional Australia after British company turns 250-hectare property yellow
Michael Dahlstrom Yahoo News
Neighbours of a Victorian property owned by the health insurance giant say the scale of the herbicide use took them by surprise.
After British health insurance provider Bupa bought 250 hectares of lush paddocks in Victoria’s South Gippsland region, it revealed dazzling plans to regenerate bushland that once grew there.
The project is designed to bolster its net-zero ambitions, and will see 200,000 native trees and shrubs planted, which it estimates will capture 200,000 tonnes of carbon.
But last month, neighbours became concerned when drones started flying over the hills during the day, and floodlights illuminated the paddocks at night.
Then, a week later, 200 hectares of grassland had died.
Why Bupa sprayed 200 hectares with herbicides
Bupa told Yahoo News the works between April and July were necessary to “prepare the landscape” for the planting of native tree saplings.
“We needed to clear the area of a significant volume of weeds, which harboured pests and negatively impacted surrounding properties through their spread,” it said.
Bupa said neighbours around the Mount Eccles area were notified before its contractors lit up paddocks to shoot rabbits at night.
The works could have a long-term positive impact on the local area. But some neighbours feel their tiny community is being rapidly changed by a major corporation moving in.
Some were left wondering for weeks what chemicals had been dropped on the hills to cause such a rapid die-off.
Neighbour stunned as lush hillside turns ‘yellow’
Standing on the highest point of her property, farmer Marilyn Martin was startled by the change.
“It went from green to yellow within days,” she told Yahoo.
“The hillsides should be lush, but you can see chemicals have killed everything,” she said.
Spraying herbicides ahead of bush regeneration is common around the area, but neighbours say they’ve never seen anything of this scale and are concerned about the environmental impact.
Bupa notes that it operated in accordance with all legislative requirements and that buffers were left around sensitive areas, including waterways and riparian corridors.
While Bupa said in 2025 that the project will ultimately “attract wildlife back to the area”, Marilyn has concerns about its short-term impact, particularly on the bare-nosed wombat population, which grazes across the area.
“You can’t just kill a food source of so many local animals,” she said.
Another property owner surprised by ‘blanketing’ of chemicals
Another neighbour, who asked not to be identified, said he supported the regeneration of the property, adding that much of it is too steep to farm.
“You wouldn’t even run a motorbike down some of it unless you had a death wish,” he said.
“But the more tractable areas are more fertile and grow grass like buggery.”
Despite this, he has concerns about widespread spraying occurring.
He said the company communicated well that it was going to plant 200,000 trees, but the size of its spraying footprint took him by surprise.
“They just blanketed it with a herbicide,” he said.
“It would have been nice to know what chemical they were going to use.”
Yahoo put this question to Bupa, and it confirmed a mix of two agricultural herbicides was used — glyphosate and simazine.
‘Can see the farm, but don’t know who to contact’
Bupa has held town hall events to answer questions from the community, and says it has engaged in one-on-one meetings with property owners.
But despite Bupa’s efforts, some neighbours claim that there’s a difference in dealing with “bean counters” from the company, who are completing a one-off project, rather than locals who live and work in the area.
Marilyn says she understands direct neighbours have had conversations with company staff, but she’s struggled to engage.
“I can see the farm from here, but I don’t know who to contact,” she said.
“That’s not good for them or us.”
In a statement, Bupa said it understood the “importance” of keeping the community informed about works close to their properties. It said it welcomes contact from anyone in the local community at “any time”.
“If any neighbours felt they didn’t have enough information before work began, we understand this may have caused concern, and we will review how we communicate future works so nearby residents have clearer information about what is happening,” it said.