Eyre Peninsula residents make last-ditch effort to stop port plan from going ahead at Lipson Cove
A petition to stop a new port being built on the Lower Eyre Peninsula has drawn strong support and raised questions of just how much infrastructure is needed in the region.
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A last-ditch effort is being made to stop a $200 million grain-only port being built on the Eyre Peninsula, with close to 2400 people signing a petition against the project.
In April, Peninsula Ports announced that the first contracts had been signed for its Port Spencer project, with 850,000 tonnes of bunker and silo storage and plans to have it ready to receive grain in the 2021 harvest.
Project spokesman Gary Neave said the Port Spencer facility would reintroduce grower ownership and control of grain supply infrastructure and deliver up to $40 million in annual freight savings.
But opponents say with Iron Road’s Cape Hardy port project also planned only kilometres away, the Peninsula Ports project is not needed.
They have also raised environmental concerns about the location, which is close to the home of a colony of little penguins.
Tumby Bay farmer Dion LeBrun said a comparison between Western Australia and South Australia showed the state didn’t need another grain port.
“In SA, we have 11 exporting grain ports and we export an average of 5.5 million tonnes of grain. In WA, there are four ports operated by CBH and almost 14 million tonnes was exported from WA last year,” he said.
“So, WA has almost three times the amount of grain going through close to a third of the number of ports.”
Mr LeBrun also said with an estimated four million tonnes of current port capacity on the Eyre Peninsula – between the Port Lincoln, Thevenard and Lucky Bay ports – and the region exporting an average of 2.5 million tonnes of grain, there was simply no need for the extra infrastructure.
Tumby Bay Mayor Sam Telfer, who also farms on the Lower Eyre Peninsula, said his council supported a multi-commodity port being built, such as the project proposed by Iron Road at Cape Hardy.
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Dan Monceaux, of Port Noarlunga, is working on a documentary investigating industrial developments in the Spencer Gulf.
He said it was concerning that the Port Spencer site was located only 1.5km south of the Lipson Island Conservation Park.
“Lipson Island supports thousands of seabirds,” he said.
Mr Monceaux said of particular concern was the population of little penguins there.
“It’s the only island in the Spencer Gulf where the penguin population is believed to be stable – others are in decline or have gone extinct,” he said.