Ian Campbell (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for the Environment and Heritage) Share this | Hansard source

The only reason they did not have access to that report was because they forced me to make a decision before they possibly could have access to it. I think it is entirely reasonable that they have access to that report, and that is why, when they approached me last week and said, ‘We would like to get this out of court so we have time to consider the cumulative impact assessment report on the basis that you would receive a new submission from us,’ I thought that was an entirely reasonable and sensible thing to do. So for the Labor Party to seek to make some sort of political mileage out of an agreement between the government and the proponent—a consent order to say, ‘Let’s move the process along; let’s ensure we have the opportunity to review this report’—is quite silly. It is hypocrisy to accuse me of using politics in this process when in fact it is the Labor Party who is trying to politicise it.

In terms of the departmental process, the Labor Party accuses me of taking a long time and of shopping around for a report. The department came to me with their advice and said, ‘Minister, it would be appropriate to have a look at the cumulative impact of wind farms.’ They gave me the advice; it was their idea. They said, ‘We should commission a report.’ They said this in about May of 2005. In 2005 the department advised me that we should commission a report on the cumulative impact assessment. That seemed reasonable to me, and it would probably seem reasonable to any sensible person. One person who I am not sure is sensible or not, and who would be a lot closer to Senator Evans, politically, than I, made a statement in the House of Representatives a couple of years ago when he looked at the issue of wind farm development in the Gippsland area. He quoted the Australian Wind Energy Association, that said:

... 62 wind turbines are dotted along the Victorian coast, but plans have been lodged for about 1,000 to be operating between 2005 and 2006.

So we have 62 wind turbines dotted along the Victorian coast now, according to this—