Senate debates
Wednesday, 6 December 2006
Questions without Notice
Bald Hills Wind Farm
2:53 pm
Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Housing and Urban Development) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
My question without notice is to Senator Ian Campbell, Minister for the Environment and Heritage. Can the minister confirm that the proponents of the Bald Hills wind farm have once again had to threaten court action to force the minister to do his job? Doesn’t this follow the minister’s abuse of his powers in April this year when he blocked the original proposal on the spurious claim that it would lead to the extinction of the orange-bellied parrot? Wasn’t the minister’s political favour to the member for McMillan exposed when he was forced to settle out of court, pay the costs of Windpower and agree to reconsider the project? Why is the minister continuing to abuse his powers by once again holding up the approval of the project and again exposing taxpayers to financial risk?
Ian Campbell (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for the Environment and Heritage) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
Firstly, the assertions made by Senator Carr are incorrect. The proposal put forward by the developers of the Bald Hills wind farm came to the department a few weeks ago, and the process is that the department makes an assessment. The proponents, who are obviously quite litigious by nature, made no attempt—
Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Housing and Urban Development) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
It took two years.
Ian Campbell (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for the Environment and Heritage) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
to contact the department to find out where it is up to. I made an inquiry and found out that the department was still considering the application and had yet to deliver advice, so it is impossible to make a decision on the application before I receive that advice. That would be rather stupid, but I guess you expect stupid suggestions from Labor and Senator Carr on environment approvals.
What is important to note, however, is that there are two points which again demonstrate the Labor Party’s hypocrisy on this issue. Firstly, regarding the advice on the impacts to threatened species—in fact, in this case it is about a critically endangered species and the threat to extinction of that critically endangered species—the Victorian minister received the identical advice and used such advice to close down not only one wind farm but two wind farms in Victoria. Furthermore, the former member for McMillan, a member of the Australian Labor Party, proposed a private member’s bill to close down the Bald Hills wind farm. I do not know whether the Australian Labor Party has yet withdrawn the private member’s bill to close down the Bald Hills wind farm, but at the moment, until they make an announcement on the previous member for McMillan’s private member’s bill, their policy is to stop the Bald Hills wind farm.
The other thing that should be noted is that the Labor Party ignored the impact on critically endangered species, for whatever reason—I do not know why. However, to the great credit of the developers of the Bald Hills wind farm, they have in fact respected the consultants’ report that looks at those impacts and, as I understand it, the proposal they put forward is to radically change the proposal and shift the wind turbines some miles from the habitat of these critically endangered species—not only the orange-bellied parrot that so—
Ian Campbell (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for the Environment and Heritage) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
Some couple of miles, I am told.
Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Housing and Urban Development) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
A couple now?
Ian Campbell (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for the Environment and Heritage) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
The white-bellied sea eagles and orange-bellied parrots actually have their habitat right near the coast. They are migratory birds. You can move the turbines some miles from the coast. They have actually agreed with me and say that the wind turbines did impose an unacceptable risk to not only orange-bellied parrots but white-bellied sea eagles—the very same birds that the Victorian Labor government used to stop two other wind projects substantially larger than the Bald Hills project. So the hypocrisy of Labor on this knows no bounds. We look forward to receiving in my office the application from my department. I have promised the proponents that, when it comes in, I will make a timely decision. I will stand by that promise.
Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Housing and Urban Development) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. Can the minister confirm that Windpower’s new submission outlines how the minister acted illegally in blocking their original proposal? Doesn’t the proposal also clearly confirm that the minister misled the public over his claims that the project would kill one parrot every year instead of one bird every thousand years? Doesn’t this confirm what we all know: the minister abused his power and then misled the public to try to cover his tracks? Isn’t this why it is widely expected that he will be demoted over Christmas?
Ian Campbell (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for the Environment and Heritage) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
Clearly the proponents have given the Labor Party a copy of their proposal. I have not seen it yet—the department has it—but I am told that they are shifting the turbines some miles away from where the threat occurs. It would be inconsistent—
Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Housing and Urban Development) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
It’s on the website. Try the website.
Paul Calvert (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
Order! Senator Carr, you are warned!
Ian Campbell (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for the Environment and Heritage) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
It would be inconsistent to say there was no threat to the birds and then to shift the turbines. I think that the proper course is to wait for me to get the advice from the department and make an informed decision. I will do it in a timely manner. I have said I will do that. There is no use in employing any more lawyers in this. If the proponents had wanted to call the department or me, they would know that, but they obviously prefer to communicate through the media, lawyers and the Australian Labor Party. The media and lawyers are probably sensible people through which to communicate, but to communicate through Senator Carr in the Senate is a very inappropriate and, I would say, unreliable communications mode.