John Faulkner (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

My question is directed to Senator Ian Campbell, the Minister for the Environment and Heritage. Can the minister confirm that in September 2004, just prior to the last election, he issued a press release in which he stated:

The people of Gippsland who are opposed to the Bald Hills wind project should carefully consider their vote if they want a say in the future of their local area with respect to wind farms ...

Can the minister also confirm that after the election he tried to justify blocking Bald Hills on the grounds that ‘the special problem they’ve got here is that the state government have chosen to remove planning controls from local councils’? Don’t these statements show that the minister’s opposition to the Bald Hills wind farm had nothing to do with orange-bellied parrots and everything to do with marginal seat electioneering? Did the minister spend 450 days searching for an excuse to block the Bald Hills project—an excuse which eventually came in the form of a parrot?