The state government intends to bring in legislation that would retrospectively amend the State Coastal Policy to enable a major wind farm project on Robbins Island to proceed, it emerged in court on Monday.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Confirming the government's plans later in the day, Environment Minister Nick Duigan said that the proposed change would ensure communities have the water infrastructure they needed, while developers would have greater assurance about how the policy affects projects.
"Our government wants to ensure Tasmanian communities have the necessary infrastructure to safely enjoy marine recreation, while also providing developers and regulators with confidence in how our State Policies are to be interpreted and applied," Mr Duigan said.
"The government will be looking to amend the Tasmanian State Coastal Policy to ensure that we can both protect our coastal environment, and allow sensible and sustainable recreational and other infrastructure that is necessarily connected to our coasts."
The decision to amend the policy came after the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) joined an appeal against Philippines-based company ACEN's Robbins Island wind farm proposal.
Lawyers for the environmental watchdog were preparing to argue in the Supreme Court that ACEN's plan to construct a wharf would have contravened the State Coastal Policy.
ACEN's Proposal
The proposed wharf would extend 509 metres off Backs Bank Beach on the north shore of Robbins Island.
In a dramatic court development on Monday, counsel for the EPA, Ms Jenny Rudolf, requested an adjournment, saying the appeal based on the argument that the wharf breached the State Coastal Policy might now be "moot".
She told the court that the government planned to pass legislation to retrospectively amend the State Coastal Policy.
"I think this will be given a high priority by the government, considering this Coastal Policy affects not only this project but others as well," she said.
She requested an adjournment of the appeal until late June.
Counsel for ACEN, Michael O'Farrell SC, agreed to the adjournment, but warned it might still be in his client's interest to take the matter further, depending on what change was made to the policy.
Adjourned Until June
Supreme Court Justice Michael Daly adjourned the matter until June 28.
"This matter needs to be brought to a head if there isn't a clear picture on [the legislative change] by July," he said.
ACEN's proposal to construct a 100-turbine wind farm on the island was initially approved by the local council.
But the EPA later mandated that the wind farm shut down for five months of the year in order to protect migratory birds - a decision that ACEN claimed rendered the project uneconomic.
ACEN later successfully appealed against that shutdown decision in the Tasmanian Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
Other parties then appealed the Tribunal decision to the Supreme Court.
The project also needs approval by federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek.
Local Opposition
Businessman and former Burnie City Council alderman Malcolm Ryan was one of the parties that appealed the TASCAT decision to the Supreme Court.
He said the state government's decision to retrospectively amend the Coast Policy was "corrupt", and has promised to lobby against it in both houses of parliament.
"I think it's corrupt, it's just government backing big business," he said.
"When you had the Coastal Policy in there when the planning application was assessed, it should be assessed against that planning application."
Mr Ryan said he planned to make it as difficult as possible for the government to get the amendment passed.
"I will make it horribly dirty for the government, I'll put a lot of exposure on them over the next week or two.
"Anyone else with any integrity will oppose it, because it's clearly just changing legislation to facilitate a development that can't stack up by itself."
