Saturday 5 August 2006

Farcical affair shoots down Campbell's credibility

The Australian
Analysis - Ewin Hannan
August 05, 2006

Ian Campbell's stunning cave-in has undermined his credibility and cast a long shadow over the Howard Government's environmental approval process. Despite ferocious spin, Campbell had little option but to cut a deal. If the court case had run its course, he was a strong chance to lose. Bemused taxpayers would have footed a significant legal bill.

But even in defeat, Campbell was selective with the facts. He claimed he stopped the wind farm because his Biosis report found it would have a "significant" impact on the orange-bellied parrot. The report actually found the mortality rate would be "very small".

Like a drowning man, Campbell seized on a 2003 Victorian departmental submission to a planning panel which said the wind farm would increase the "level of threat" to the parrot. While it did not use the site, the submission says it was highly likely to fly across it, often at rotor height.

What Campbell doesn't say is the panel considered the submission, with many others, and found there was no threat. Its June 2004 report says "there is no significant likelihood of harm" to the bird.

Even the department submission did not recommend stopping the wind farm. Campbell did.

Lawyers for Wind Power, which wanted to build the farm, believed they would have won the legal action because Campbell failed to show them the Biosis report before blocking the project. It appeared to them to be a straightforward denial of natural justice.

Yesterday, Campbell argued he did not disclose the report because Wind Power had forced his hand by taking separate legal action this year to push him to make a decision. But this doesn't ring true.

Campbell took 18 months to make a decision after putting it on hold after the 2004 federal election. He could have given the company time to respond to the Biosis report.

The reality is Campbell kept shopping around until he got the advice he wanted.

In December 2004, consultants engaged by his department to examine all parrot material, including the state planning panel, found the threat to the parrot was "negligible". His department was told no more studies were necessary.

But Campbell kept digging. After conducting the Biosis study, he received advice from his own department recommending he approve the wind farm. Instead of cutting his losses, Campbell persisted and has now been forced into an embarrassing backdown. It has been a sorry farce.

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