'It's all about entitlement. Simple': the rampant acts of tree vandalism on Australia's foreshores | Paul Daley

Trees are a public asset. When they are illegally destroyed in pursuit of better views or property prices, the losses are many and profoundGet our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcastWoodford Bay on Sydney's lower north shore, its exclusive white mansions and quaint boat sheds nestled into gnarly, urban bush abutting the harbour, has the type of serenity only lots of money can buy in Australia's most ostentatiously wealthy city. Birdsong - of currawongs, magpies, kookaburras and gulls - is the bay's bucolic daytime symphony, interrupted occasionally by the jarring cough of an outboard motor or car ignition.By night you'd hear the metaphoric pin drop. And yet, confoundingly, nobody seems to have heard whoever, under night's cover, recently illegally cut down almost 300 trees and hundreds of other plants on public bushland. Among the destroyed mature trees are eucalypts (including angophora), banksia and casuarina. Continue reading...