Victoria’s Planning Minister cited similar concerns to Tanya Plibersek over Hastings

Victoria’s Planning Minister cited concerns over threatened flora and fauna when she decided the controversial renewable energy terminal would require an environmental effects assessment.

Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan. Picture: David Crosling

Victoria’s own Planning Minister cited concerns over threatened flora and fauna in internationally significant wetlands when she decided in October that the Allan government’s controversial renewable energy terminal would require an environmental effects assessment.

Sonya Kilkenny’s verdict on the Port of Hastings project – which is crucial to state and federal renewable energy targets – has emerged as environmentalists and the federal opposition back federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek’s decision to veto the $800m to $1.4bn plan.

Addressing questions over her government’s failure to foresee Ms Plibersek’s ruling on Tuesday, Premier Jacinta Allan wrongly claimed multiple times that the proposal had already passed through state government environmental approval processes.

The Premier’s office later conceded that the approval processes remain ongoing, with documents published on the Planning Minister’s website showing that she referred the project for a yet-to-be-completed environmental effects assessment on October 11.

In the published reasons for her decision, Ms Kilkenny cited “the potential for significant environmental effects on biodiversity values, including impacts on the habitat of threatened species and communities”

She found there were also “risks to the conservation and ecological values” of the nearby Westernport wetland – which has been declared environmentally significant under the international Ramsar Convention – and noted that it contains endangered species that are protected under state and federal legislation.

Ms Allan said on Tuesday the risks Ms Plibersek identified as “clearly unacceptable” could be mitigated, and she remained “confident” the Hastings project would go ahead.

“This project went through our own state-based environmental approval processes, like all projects do, and where it triggers the federal (Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation) processes, that’s where the federal government has a role to play in that environmental assessment,” the Premier said, despite the state environmental effects process still being under way.

“We were confident, and we remain confident. We will review this decision and go back to the federal government, because we believe that with the right mitigations you can deliver a project like this successfully.”

Labor’s environmental lobby was scathing of the Hastings proposal and backed Ms Plibersek, saying difficult decisions were needed to facilitate the energy transition but clearing and draining Ramsar wetlands was not on.

“As a society, we are going to have to do better than ripping up bushland and draining wetlands to build renewable energy and we need governments to be sophisticated in managing this,” Labor Environment Action Network national co-convener Felicity Wade said.

“Ramsar wetlands are of global significance. They are the world heritage areas of wetlands, equivalent to clearing a national park. They are irreplaceable – where birds breed and water is managed, cleaned and recycled.”

Conservationist Bob Brown urged the Victorian government to find a “win-win” outcome by moving the project away from the Westernport wetlands and finding an alternative site in Melbourne or Geelong.

Opposition environment spokesman Jonno Duniam said the Victorian government’s position on the Port of Hastings terminal was “madness”.

“Jacinta Allan … yesterday (said) that there is nothing more important, nothing will get in the way of our renewable energy transition, not even the protection of Ramsar-listed wetlands, which is where this Port of Hastings terminal was going to be,” Senator Duniam told 2CC radio.

“So in her mind, it is so important to save the planet and save the environment by trashing the environment and the planet.”