Chris Bowen backs Tanya Plibersek’s rejection of Allan government wind terminal
The Energy Minister’s comments come after a new bird species which frequents the internationally significant Western Port wetland was added to the ‘threatened’ list.
Federal Energy Minister Chris Bowen says the Albanese government is committed to ensuring renewable energy projects comply with environmental laws, backing Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek’s rejection of the Victorian government’s proposed $800m to $1.4bn offshore wind terminal at the Port of Hastings.
Mr Bowen’s comments come as the federal environment department last week added eight new bird species to Australia’s threatened species list, including the sharp-tailed sandpiper, which is one of 35 migratory bird species identified in the Western Port Ramsar Wetland surrounding the port which are protected under international agreements.
The new listing has prompted the Australian Conservation Foundation to join a chorus of environmentalists calling for the terminal to be relocated, as both the state and federal opposition accused Labor of being in “disarray” over the issue, after Premier Jacinta Allan incorrectly claimed on Tuesday that the terminal had passed state environmental approvals.
Returning from leave for the first time since The Australian broke the news of Ms Plibersek’s decision late on Sunday, Mr Bowen said the Albanese government remained committed to the development of an offshore wind industry in Australia.
“We’ve made that very clear by actions ... but we’re also committed to proper environmental approvals and assessments, and we’ve always said that, and every particular development has to meet those criteria and those requirements under the (Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act), as indeed they have to under state acts as well,” Mr Bowen said.
“This is not a choice between those two things. We are committed to getting more renewable energy in Australia, we’re particularly committed to Australia seizing the opportunities of offshore wind, which is energy rich and jobs rich, will create thousands of jobs in Australia regions, but it has to be done properly and carefully.
“I know some commentators argue that renewable energy-related developments somehow don’t go through environmental approvals. I think this proves that they’re wrong.
“Minister Plibersek has very assiduously applied the EPBC Act. The Victorian government has indicated they will consider further applications for the Port of Hastings, which we welcome, and indeed state and federal officials have already met to consider the next stage, and discussed essential next steps, but every particular application, whether it be a port, offshore wind, onshore wind, anything, must go through environmental approvals.”
Mr Bowen said Ms Plibersek had approved renewable energy developments with a power generation capacity equal to that required to power the houses of the NT, SA, Tasmania and the ACT combined.
“We’ll continue to work with states and the private sector to achieve this, but it’ll be done carefully, methodically and in accordance with the law,” he said.
Ms Allan on Tuesday said she remained “confident” that the environmental risks Ms Plibersek identified as “completely unacceptable” could be mitigated, and the terminal could go ahead.
Asked whether he shared the Victorian Premier’s confidence, Mr Bowen said the federal government would welcome a fresh application from Victoria.
“A fresh application would need to take into account the matters which Minister Plibersek took into account when making her decision,” he said.
“There are options available for Victoria. The Victorian government is particularly committed to offshore wind. The federal government is committed to offshore wind.
“They’re committed to working together to make it happen. But we’re also committed to working together to make it happen in accordance with the environmental laws of our country.”
The Victorian government has identified the Port of Hastings terminal as being key to its plans to produce at least 2GW of electricity via offshore wind by 2032, 4GW by 2035 and 9GW by 2040 – all of which underpins the state’s renewable energy target of 95 per cent by 2035.
Asked whether it was inevitable that Ms Plibersek’s decision would cause delays in Victoria and Australia meeting their renewable energy targets, Mr Bowen said there was “already a long lead up for offshore wind”, and he did not believe there would be an impact on the federal target of 82 per cent renewable energy by 2030.
“This is not really a matter that’s related in any meaningful way to our 2030 target, because we don’t expect much offshore wind to be operating by 2030 in Australia,” he said.
Mr Bowen said he had first learnt of Ms Plibersek’s decision “just before it was announced, as is appropriate.”
“She’s the Minister for the Environment who makes these decisions independently of anyone else, under the act,” he said.
Threatened species listing ‘underscores importance of protecting wetlands’
The Australian Conservation Foundation seized on the listing of the sharp-tailed sandpiper as threatened, saying it underscored the importance of protecting the Western Port wetland, which is listed as internationally significant under the UN’s Ramsar convention.
“Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek made the right decision in not allowing a facility to assemble wind turbines for offshore windfarms to be built on the sensitive wetlands of Western Port,” said ACF CEO Kelly O’Shanassy.
“Sharp-tailed sandpipers make an epic journey every year, leaving Australia in March to fly to Siberia, where they breed, before returning to Australian wetlands in August.
“Australia needs to get off coal and gas and accelerate the rollout of renewables, including offshore wind, but this proposal for a wind turbine assembly facility is in the wrong place.
“There are some places too precious to damage, including wetlands of international importance.
“Victoria is the most over-cleared state in Australia, so there is no need to destroy a wetland that is home to threatened birds for a renewable energy assembly plant. It can go elsewhere.
“With the world having just experienced the hottest year on record, politicians that try to weaponise renewables or Minister Plibersek’s decision are being reckless in the extreme.”
The ACF’s comments add to those of Labor’s Environment Action Network and conservationist Bob Brown, who have also called for the terminal to be relocated to protect the wetland.
‘Allan government in disarray’
Victorian opposition environment spokesman James Newbury and energy spokesman David Davis said Ms Allan had “exposed herself as being a danger to the environment, a risk to industry, overseeing a collapse in the State government’s self-lauded renewable wind strategy, and having no personal grasp of detail.”
The Australian revealed on Tuesday that contrary to Ms Allan’s repeated claims that the Port of Hastings proposal has passed Victoria’s environmental approval processes, the matter was in fact referred in October by state Planning Minister Sonya Kilkenny for an environmental for an environmental effects assessment, in light of “the potential for significant environmental effects on biodiversity values, including impacts on the habitat of threatened species and communities.”
“Jacinta Allan is lobbying Canberra to overturn a federal decision that her own government hasn’t approved, and embarrassingly, the Premier has been lobbying without even knowing that she has got her facts wrong. Victoria deserves a Premier who is actually across the detail,” Mr Newbury said.
“Environmentally minded Victorians are now rightly asking, if the federal Environment Minister and state Planning Minister are concerned about the environmental impacts of the project, why isn’t the Premier?”
Mr Davis said Victorian Labor’s renewable wind policy was now “in tatters, which will significantly impact upon our broader energy security and will in turn drive up the cost of energy for every Victorian household.”
“This project has shown industry that the state Labor government is a basket case, where the Premier and her own Ministers don’t communicate on issues of national importance. Every Victorian should be disturbed by the behaviour of the State government over this project,” he said.
In a joint statement, federal opposition energy spokesman Ted O’Brien and Environment spokesman Jonno Duniam said senior state and federal Labor ministers had “descended into political civil war.”
“Labor’s ‘renewables only’ zealot Chris Bowen talks out of both sides of his mouth on the issue, Tanya Plibersek vehemently opposes it and the Victorian state Premier doubles down on her view that the environment is not worthy of protection,” Mr O’Brien and Senator Duniam said.
“Despite Anthony Albanese’s promise to focus on solutions to Labor’s cost of living crisis the Australian Labor Party is instead fixated on fighting each other.
“The political row is a slap in the face for everyday Australians suffering from unbearable home-grown inflation and some of the most expensive energy prices in the world under this Labor government.
“Not only does the political infighting expose serious rifts within the Australian Labor Party, but it also reveals the perilous position of state and federal Labor’s renewable energy targets that are all-but unachievable.”
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