Wind farm fight on two fronts

The Age, Page: 3
Friday, 28 April 2006

THE Federal Government faces two court challenges over its controversial decision to veto a $220 million wind farm in South Gippsland. Victorian Planning Minister Rob Hulls said yesterday the State Government would lodge an appeal against that decision in the Federal Court on Monday, vowing to spend ''whatever it costs'' on the battle. The Age believes the company proposing the Bald Hills wind farm, Wind Power, will lodge a separate Federal Court appeal on Monday. The Federal Government halted the project to protect the endangered orange-bellied parrot from harm by wind turbines despite its own consultants saying the wind farm was not a high risk to the birds.

Environment Minister Ian Campbell invoked a rarely used environmental law to block the wind farm, saying there was too great a risk to the parrot. There are only about 200 left. Mr Hulls said the State Government's lawyers would argue that Senator Campbell had made a biased decision to placate antiwind farm campaigners. ''We think it's important to appeal this decision because we don't believe any company that wants to invest in infrastructure anywhere in Australia, let alone Victoria, can have certainty while this decision stands, '' he said.

But even if the State Government wins its appeal, the Federal Court has no power to overturn Senator Campbell's decision and allow the wind farm to be built, and could only order the minister to reconsider his decision. Yesterday, Senator Campbell dismissed the court action as a political stunt, maintaining his decision was justified by a consultant's report on the risk to migratory birds from wind farms across south-eastern Australia. ''I have published onmy website the detail of my report that was the basis ofmy decision, and I am happy for people to read that and to debate it, '' Senator Campbell said. Yet, according to the government-commissioned report by Biosis Research, the risk of parrots being killed at Bald Hills was extremely low, because the parrots usually migrate over south-western Victoria rather than South Gippsland, and there have been no recorded sightings of the parrots at the site.

According to the report's risk analysis - which the Federal Government has not disputed - even if parrots did migrate past Bald Hills, the predicted worst-case scenario would result in one being killed every 667 years. In the best-case scenario, that would fall to one being killed every 1097 years. Speaking publicly about the report for the first time, Biosis Research chief executive Charles Meredith stressed that the report was mainly about the combined risk from all the wind farms, but stood by its analysis for the Bald Hills site. ''It's clear in the report that Bald Hills didn't have a high collision risk, '' he said.

But Dr Meredith refused to comment on whether the report's findings justified Senator Campbell's decision: ''We did the report for the Federal Government and it's for them to interpret it. ''

• A rare wedge-tailed eagle has died after hitting a wind turbine at the Woolnorth wind farm in Tasmania.