Circular Head group against Robbins Island wind farm stops Supreme Court legal action

An environmental group appealing a North-West Coast wind farm project has provided an update on their legal fight. Where it will go from here.

Robbins Island, in Tasmania's far northwest, is a haven for thousands of migratory and resident bird species, but also the proposed site for a 100-turbine wind farm. Picture: Bob Brown Foundation

A Tasmanian environmental group has halted its legal bid to stop the construction of a $1.6 billion, 100-turbine wind farm proposed for the state’s remote North-West Coast.

The Circular Head Coastal Awareness Network recently launched Supreme Court action after the Tasmanian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (TASCAT) rejected the Network’s appeal against the original approval of Philippines-based developer ACEN’s Robbins Island electricity project.

Robbins Island, far northwest Tasmania, where there are plans for a 100-turbine wind farm. Credit: Bob Brown Foundation.

During a hearing last month, lawyers representing the Network challenged TASCAT’s decision on grounds including that the tribunal had failed to explore alternatives to a proposal by ACEN to build new wharf infrastructure on the privately owned island to facilitate the transport of giant turbine blades.

The court heard that a development application for the wind farm was submitted to Circular Head Council by ACEN in March 2020, and approved subject to certain conditions.

The most contentious condition – an Environmental Protection Authority stipulation that the wind farm shut down for five months each year to protect migrating orange-bellied parrots – triggered an appeal from ACEN to TASCAT.

In its appeal to the Supreme Court, the Network’s lawyers also claimed TASCAT had instigated “a plain-vanilla denial of natural justice” when it refused a request from the group to reopen its case during the hearing to allow it to rebut a last-minute submission from the developer.

Robbins Island, in Tasmania's far northwest, is a haven for thousands of migratory and resident bird species, but also the proposed site for a 100-turbine wind farm. Picture: Bob Brown Foundation

But the Supreme Court action failed, with Acting Justice Shane Marshall ruling that no denial of procedural fairness had occurred during the TASCAT hearing.

In a statement posted to social media on Friday, the Network announced it would no longer pursue the case “through the Tasmanian court system”, and would instead focus on lobbying federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek to refuse the wind farm under Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.

“We will continue to oppose this environmentally destructive and divisive project,” the group wrote.