North West man calls to make Robbins Island a protected Aboriginal site
A Tasmanian indigenous man has asked Canberra to make Robbins Island a protected area as a wind farm plan pushes ahead. LATEST >>
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A TASMANIAN Aboriginal man has applied for Robbins Island, Robbins Passage and Boullanger Bay to be declared significant Aboriginal sites in a move which could put more hurdles in the face of a big wind farm proposal.
A TASMANIAN Aboriginal man has applied for Robbins Island, Robbins Passage and Boullanger Bay to be declared significant Aboriginal sites in a move which could put more hurdles in the face of a big wind farm proposal.
UPC Renewable’s Robbins Island wind project has already attracted criticism from bird and Tasmanian devil protecters.
Now, Malcolm Stokes has lodged an application with Federal Environment Minister Sussan Ley, to have the sites declared significant Aboriginal areas which should be preserved and protected from “injury or desecration.”
He has also requested a full independent Aboriginal heritage review.
UPC Renewables is working towards constructing a renewable energy park on Robbins Island involving 122 wind turbines, a bridge across to the island, significant roadworks, a New Port and electrical transmission line infrastructure.
Mr Stokes does not believe the indigenous community has been appropriately consulted and the wind farm proposal should be rejected on cultural, biodiversity and landscape value grounds.
“I want to help this area, not only for Aboriginal heritage reasons but to protect this special place for everyone,” Mr Stokes said.
“UPC Renewables has only one sentence on their website about the Aboriginal heritage implications identified on Robbins Island, despite their own commissioned report identifying 24 new significant Aboriginal sites.
“Robbins Island holds huge significance to the tribes of the North West Nations of Tasmania. It was used as a place of gathering, with tribes travelling to the island each year to congregate, feast and conduct important ceremonies.”
He also raised concerns about how any fresh artefacts found on the island would be treated.
UPC said it had undertaken Aboriginal Heritage assessment for Robbins Island and specifically the project area.
“The assessment was undertaken by a recognised archaeologist and by an Aboriginal heritage officer,” the company said.
“The assessment findings were used to refine the project development area either by excluding sites from the development area or creating exclusion zones for protection.
“If the project is approved, detailed design will involve a further Aboriginal heritage assessment including field surveys to microsite the wind turbines and associated infrastructure to avoid impacting any Aboriginal sites yet to be discovered.
“UPC has committed to preparing plans to deal with the detection and management of any previously undetected Aboriginal sites; this will form part of the Construction Management Plans which are approved by the regulators.
“UPC acknowledge the importance of the Aboriginal heritage on Robbins Island in the form of sites and ethnographic history and we are working with the Circular Head Aboriginal Corporation to explore this further.”
Relocate Robbins Island wind farm to protect devils, say Green
A wind farm proposed for Robbins Island will threaten a healthy Tasmanian devil colony and the state government needs to work with the proponent to determine a different location for the development, Franklin Greens MHA Rosalie Woodruff says.
Dr Woodruff’s comments come after federal environment officials raised serious concerns about the potential impact a wind farm could have on the population of more than 150 Tasmanian devils living on the privately owned island.
The Robbins Island devils are understood to be free of the devil facial tumour disease and are considered important to the survival of the species as a whole.
While UPC/AC Renewables says it has proposed numerous “avoidance and mitigation measures” for the development, Dr Woodruff believes it would be “impossible” for the company to offset the loss of devil habitat.
“Federal government officials have accepted Robbins Island is a precious and irreplaceable habitat for the more than 150 devils that live there,” she said. “The Gutwein government needs to respect that, and work with UPC, conservationists and local communities to identify a suitable alternative location for a wind farm.”
“The healthy devil population of the North-West is under increasing pressure, with many more road deaths and habitat logging. Robbins Island is a stronghold for devils, migratory birds and wetland communities that have to be protected. It’s entirely the wrong place for a wind farm.”
State Environment Minister Roger Jaensch said he had “complete confidence” in Tasmania’s Environment Protection Authority to assess UPC/AC Renewables’ proposal and place conditions on its construction and operation “to ensure it operates in an environmentally sustainable manner”.
Officials sound alarm over wind farm’s threat on devil population
FEDERAL environment officials have raised concerns about a proposed wind farm development on Robbins Island in Tasmania’s far North-West, saying it could potentially impact on one of the last strongholds in the state for disease-free Tasmanian devils.
However, proponent UPC/AC Renewables - which is preparing draft assessment documents for the project - says it has devised numerous “avoidance and mitigation” measures to limit the threat to the species.
The company intends to construct a renewable energy park on the privately owned island, with up to 122 wind turbines and a total energy capacity of up to 900 megawatts (contingent on the construction of the Marinus Link interconnector between Tasmania and the mainland).
In internal correspondence released under freedom of information laws, officials from the Department of Agriculture, Water and Environment discussed the development’s possible encroachment on “extensive areas of foraging and denning habitat” for the endangered Tasmanian devil, and noted that the entire island is likely to be important for the maintenance of the population, which is understood not to have been touched by devil facial tumour disease.
UPC/AC Renewables is planning to build a bridge between the island and mainland Tasmania, which officials have also flagged as a possible threat to the devils that could “lead to severe impacts on the species” due to the “possible increase in dispersal of devils”.
Departmental officials noted that UPC/AC Renewables had not made commitments to offset “extensive areas of habitat loss for this important population”, but a company spokesman told The Mercury that it had been working closely with the department to “address feedback”.
The spokesman said measures proposed to mitigate the impact on devils included roadkill monitoring, a 40 km/h speed limit, fencing on a road where collision risk was high and protecting part of the island via a conservation covenant.
“In the event that a devil is killed a contribution will be made to the Save the Tasmanian Devil Program,” the spokesman said, noting also that people were free to comment on the proposed development during the public exhibition stage, expected to begin in the coming months.
Wilderness Society Tasmania campaign manager Tom Allen said the Robbins Island devils were the “canaries in the mine” for the “pointless industrialisation of the island’s special places”.
A spokesman for federal Environment Minister Sussan Ley said the minister would consider the assessment and any recommendation “at the appropriate time”.
Cable car supporters demand parliamentary inquiry
Supporters of the kunanyi/Mount Wellington cable car proposal are calling for a parliamentary inquiry into the Hobart City Council’s assessment of the project, claiming it’s been conducted “in secret” and “without independent probity insight”.
But opponents say this shows that the pro-cable car cohort isn’t confident the development will stack up.
A petition has been posted on the Tasmanian Parliament website, urging the Legislative Council to establish an inquiry into “the dealings on the cable car over the past decade”.
“We draw your attention to the long-standing behaviour and actions of both the elected members and the council bureaucracy in using its position as landholder to stop a merit- based proposal ... ” the petition reads.
“We … have grave concerns of the HCC’s ability to legally and ethically consider the proposal as both landholder and planning authority.”
The council was contacted for comment.
Earlier this week, HCC chief executive Kelly Grigsby said the cable car development application prompted a record 17,500 public representations, all of which the council will consider.
The petition had attracted 539 signatures at the time of writing, and was sponsored by independent Murchison MLC Ruth Forrest.
Ms Forrest said sponsoring a petition did not always indicate support for its contents.
“I have not fully considered the actions of HCC in this process and reiterate the principle that I support the right of people to present a petition to parliament even when I may disagree with their position,” she said.
Residents Opposed to the Cable Car spokesman Vica Baley said a parliamentary inquiry was “no place to interrogate (people’s) personal grievances with a planning process”.
“Everybody knows that if a proponent is unhappy with an outcome, or, indeed, a representor is unhappy with an outcome, they can appeal (to the Resource Management and Planning Appeal Tribunal),” Mr Bayley said. “And it would be highly likely that an appeal process would be far cheaper and far more effective.”
Mount Wellington Cableway Company chair Chris Oldfield said the proponent wouldn’t comment on the petition because it wasn’t “something we’re involved with directly”.
“In relation to the assessment process, it’s certainly a very detailed assessment process,” he said. “It’s taken us a lot of time to complete our DA and then to respond to the RFI (request for further information) from council. We believe we’ve done that to our full ability and we look forward to council’s deliberations.”
The council will consider the planning application for the cable car at a special council meeting on Tuesday, July 27.
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