Per Tree, the Biggest of Three NSW Illegal Clears Drew the Smallest Fine

What illegal tree removal fines came to per tree in NSW

At Padstow Heights in Sydney's south-west, a developer had a weeping lilly pilly, two evergreens and a magnolia removed without consent, and a eucalypt pruned, between March and April 2024. City of Canterbury Bankstown first issued six penalty infringement notices. The developer chose to contest them, and Bankstown Local Court fined him $36,000, with half going to the council. That is $9,000 for each tree removed, about 2.7 times a professional tree removal ($3,300) at Going Rate's prices, so the fine came to about 2.7 times what removing all four trees legally would typically cost.

In Epping, the Land and Environment Court fined developer Grand Epping $100,000 and its demolition contractor $55,000 in 2021 for clearing 21 trees in a heritage conservation area, according to law firm HWL Ebsworth. Combined, that is about $7,381 a tree, roughly 2.2 times a typical removal at Going Rate's prices. At Longueville in Lane Cove, a landscaper cut down 287 trees in public bushland with a chainsaw between 10 and 22 November 2023. Justice Rachel Pepper fined him $187,500 for three offences, the North Shore Lorikeet reported. Per tree that is about $653, about a fifth of a typical removal. Lane Cove Council's own tally was about 285 trees, and the ratio stays at about a fifth on that count.

These three cases show the fine per tree falling as the tree count rose. They do not set a rule. Each case had its own court, defendants and facts. The Lane Cove trees were bushland eucalypts, banksias and casuarinas, the council says, so a garden tree removal price is a rough yardstick for them. The figures are fines only. The Lane Cove landscaper must also pay the council's legal costs, the council had spent $355,000 on legal advice by August 2026, and it says the bushland needs at least 20 years to grow back. The council is also involved in another case over the same site, the Lorikeet reported.

Rural land clearing fines per hectare

Rural clearing cases show an even wider spread. A Canyonleigh landowner in the Southern Highlands was fined $135,000 plus prosecution costs for clearing more than 5 hectares, the first sentence for an offence under section 60N of the NSW Local Land Services Act, The Land reported in May 2024. The landowner kept clearing after a council development control order and a state stop work order. The fine is about 8.5 times a typical land clearing job ($15,800) at Going Rate's prices, and comes to at most $27,000 a hectare because the area was more than 5 hectares.

In western NSW, the Land and Environment Court fined John Vassallo $315,000 and Raelene Vassallo $116,250 in April 2026 for clearing about 2,398 hectares near Coolabah, NSW DCCEEW says, about $180 a hectare. Northwest of Narrabri, Auen Grain and a landowner were fined more than $2 million plus $278,000 in prosecution costs for 1,262 hectares, more than $1,580 a hectare in fines alone. DCCEEW says the landowner's fine of more than $1 million is the largest ever imposed on an individual in NSW. Going Rate prices clearing per job, not per hectare, so these per-hectare figures compare court outcomes only.

Fines in Western Australia and Tasmania sit between those NSW extremes. A Goldfields-Esperance landholder was fined $65,000 plus $5,000 costs for about 26 hectares near Munglinup, about $2,500 a hectare, the WA Government says, and a Bunbury man was fined $6,000 plus $2,500 costs for about 2.7 hectares at North Greenbushes. In Tasmania, cattle farmer John Daniels was fined $95,000 in April 2024 for clearing 19 hectares without a forest practices plan, Tasmanian Country reported.

Do you need a permit to clear land or remove a tree?

Urban trees are a council matter. In NSW, the state government's compliance guide says removing protected vegetation without a permit breaches the Vegetation SEPP, now part of the Biodiversity and Conservation SEPP, and is an offence under section 4.3(a) of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act. Councils set which trees are protected and can issue penalty notices or prosecute. In Brisbane, protected vegetation is covered by the Natural Assets Local Law 2003, and Brisbane City Council says all permit applications are free.

Bigger clears in NSW trip the Biodiversity Offsets Scheme once the cleared area passes a threshold set by minimum lot size. A 2018 Penrith City Council fact sheet puts the threshold at 0.25 hectares where the minimum lot size is under 1 hectare, 0.5 hectares for 1 to under 40 hectares, 1 hectare for 40 to under 1,000 hectares, and 2 hectares for 1,000 hectares or more. Above it, approval goes through the Native Vegetation Panel instead of the council. The fact sheet is older, so confirm the thresholds with your council.

Most Queensland clearing needs no permit at all. Of 274,616 hectares of woody vegetation affected by clearing in 2023 to 24, 75% was in Category X areas, which are unregulated, the state's SLATS report says. NSW recorded 66,498 hectares of vegetation clearing in 2023, NSW DCCEEW says, and 51,201 hectares of it was for agriculture. WWF-Australia says the latest NSW data shows more than 81,000 hectares cleared in 2024. None of these figures measures illegal clearing.

Bushfire exemptions: 10/50, 10/30 and Queensland firebreaks

NSW's 10/50 rule lets owners in mapped entitlement areas clear trees within 10 metres of a home and shrubs and other vegetation, but not trees, within 50 metres without approval, the NSW Rural Fire Service says. A tree qualifies if any part of its trunk measuring more than 30 centimetres around at 1.3 metres above the ground sits within 10 metres of the building's external wall. On slopes over 18 degrees, trees can only be removed under the conditions of a geotechnical engineer's report, and pruning must keep at least 75% of the canopy. The RFS says to check its online tool on the day you clear, because the entitlement area and rules may have changed.

Victoria's 10/30 rule allows clearing of all vegetation, trees included, within 10 metres of a house and non-tree vegetation within 30 metres, or 50 metres in a Bushfire Management Overlay, according to Murrindindi and Moira Shire fact sheets. It applies to homes built or with a permit before September 2009, or rebuilt after the 2009 fires. A separate fence-line exemption allows clearing to a combined maximum width of 4 metres either side of a boundary fence. Moira Shire's 2009 FAQ says 10/30 does not apply in 20 metropolitan municipalities.

In Queensland, an exempt firebreak protecting buildings can be up to 1.5 times the height of the tallest vegetation or 20 metres, whichever is wider, the Queensland Government says, and a fire management line can be up to 10 metres wide. Clearing beyond any of these limits falls outside the exemption and is treated as ordinary unauthorised clearing.

Maximum penalties for illegal land clearing by state

NSW's Environmental Planning and Assessment Act has three penalty tiers. The Judicial Commission of NSW lists Tier 1 maximums of $5 million plus $50,000 a day for a corporation and $1 million plus $10,000 a day for an individual. The NSW Government's compliance guide says a breach of the urban vegetation rules carries a Tier 1 maximum. Western Australia's maximum for unlawful clearing under section 51C is $250,000 for an individual and $500,000 for a body corporate, the state's Department of Water and Environmental Regulation says.

Queensland states its maximums in penalty units. Under section 163 of the Planning Act 2016, carrying out assessable development without a development permit, which includes clearing that needs one, carries a maximum of 4,500 penalty units, or 17,000 penalty units on a heritage place. Failing to comply with a stop work notice or a restoration notice under the Vegetation Management Act carries a maximum of 4,500 penalty units each. Moira Shire's 2009 FAQ puts Victoria's maximum for clearing without a permit and outside an exemption at 1,200 penalty units.

Federal law applies where clearing hits threatened species habitat or other matters of national environmental significance. Under EPBC reforms timed to start on 1 July 2026, the civil maximum for the most serious breaches is 5,000 penalty units for an individual and 50,000 for a body corporate, Clayton Utz says. The Australian Conservation Foundation said in June 2025 it would report 76 clearing cases covering 31,866 hectares, found by citizen scientists using satellite images, to the federal government for possible EPBC breaches.

Pricing a legal land clear: trees, stumps and machines

A legal clear starts with the approval or exemption, then the work. A typical land clearing job ($15,800) is priced by area and vegetation, so slope, access and density move the quote. For a single tree, a professional tree removal ($3,300) covers felling and taking away the timber, and a stump grinding job ($800) adds about a quarter on top at Going Rate's prices.

Owners clearing scrub themselves usually hire machines. Excavator hire ($1,150) handles roots, stumps and larger trees, and bobcat hire ($700) covers pushing cleared material into piles and levelling the ground. Hiring both costs a little over a tenth of a typical land clearing job at Going Rate's prices. Where the block then needs cutting for a slab or driveway, an excavation job ($7,750) is priced separately.

Slope changes both price and permission. Steeper ground slows machines and can rule some out, and in NSW the 10/50 rule needs a geotechnical engineer's report before any tree removal on slopes over 18 degrees. Keep the approval or the dated exemption check on file with the contractor's invoice.

Tipping green waste and stumps after clearing

Green waste costs far less to tip when it is kept separate. Lismore City Council charges $120 a tonne in 2026 to 27 for garden waste including stumps and logs, $168 a tonne for large stumps and $410 a tonne for unsorted household waste. Ballina Shire charges $8.90 per 100 kilograms for garden waste, $14.60 for stumps and logs over 300 millimetres, and $34.60 for mixed household waste. In Brisbane, green waste above 500 kilograms costs $131 a tonne against $264.60 for mixed general waste, Brisbane City Council says.

Landfill rates carry the state waste levy. The NSW EPA sets the 2026 to 27 levy at $180.20 a tonne in the metropolitan levy area and $103.80 a tonne in the regional levy area. Lismore says its unsorted waste rate includes the levy, which it puts at $114.18 a tonne including GST.

For a small job, a skip bin hire ($550) suits soil, offcuts and rubbish, and the green waste is cheaper to load separately. Paying for a stump grinding job ($800) on site leaves mulch instead of whole stumps to haul, and large stumps carry the highest garden waste rate at Lismore.

Common questions