Boyanup olive oil miller Carlo Ioppolo fined for clearing native vegetation from property without permission

A North Boyanup olive oil miller has been fined more than $18,000 after clearing native vegetation from nearly five hectares of his property without authorisation, despite claiming some of the native trees in the area were dying. Carlo Giovanni Ioppolo, 51, appeared in Bunbury Magistrate’s Court on Thursday where he was fined $18,750 after previously pleading guilty to allowing the clearing of native vegetation to occur without authorisation. The court was told Ioppolo purchased a 27-hectare property in North Boyanup in May 2009, which was previously used as a dairy farm, with the intention of building a house for his family and relocating their olive oil mill to continue their family-run olive oil business. Within the property was 10 hectares of native vegetation. Ioppolo made an application to clear some of the native vegetation but it was ultimately refused and he did not appeal. However, Ioppolo went on to clear 4.5 hectares of native vegetation from the property over time and later planted 1500 olive trees, along with several native species such as paperbark and melaleuca trees. After the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation received a complaint in 2021 and an investigation was conducted, the court was told Ioppolo co-operated with the inspectors and told them in an interview he cleared some of the trees as they were dead or dying from the effects of dieback and being overrun from the property’s previous use. While prosecutors submitted it was “troubling” that Ioppolo proceeded to clear large sections of land despite having his application refused, it was accepted that Ioppolo did not have malicious intentions. Representing himself, Ioppolo told the court he did not intend to harm the native vegetation and believed he was doing the right thing by re-vegetating the area with native trees that took to the land. He also submitted that he planted the olive trees to help market his olive mill to grow his business and attract other olive farmers into using his services to make olive oil, and that using the olives from the trees he planted would not give him a direct commercial benefit. While Magistrate Joanne Andretich accepted that Ioppolo did not gain any direct commercial benefit from the replanted olive trees, she said the trees had a commercial element in that they helped him market his business to prospective clients. Ms Andretich said while Ioppolo might have had good intentions regarding his conduct, he should have only cleared the vegetation if his application was accepted. Along with the $18,750 fine, Ioppolo was also ordered to pay almost $800 in court costs.