The federal government has been accused of ‘kicking the can down the road’ on contentious environmental approvals to avoid electoral blow back. It comes with a decision on a billion-dollar wind farm delayed by another three months for further assessment, sparking frustration from stakeholders.
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00:00Renewable energy company Aysen wants to build 100 wind turbines at Robbins Island on Tasmania's
00:08northwest coast.
00:09This is a desperately needed project by our state.
00:12This is a project that is ready to go.
00:15It already has local government approval and state government support, but a federal decision
00:20has again been delayed, this time until March next year, to allow further assessment about
00:26the wind farm's potential impacts on endangered species.
00:30They've kicked this down the road and again for developers right across the world, they
00:33look at Tasmania and say, look it's just too hard, they will go somewhere else.
00:37The Federal Environment Minister has other decisions pending in Tasmania, including the
00:42future of salmon farming in Macquarie Harbour and the status of the endangered Morgian skate.
00:48We've been waiting too long for decisions on each of these key projects and it's high
00:54time that a decision was handed down.
00:56She's delaying decisions for political purposes when what she should be doing is her job and
01:02her job as Environment Minister is actually to protect the environment.
01:07But with a federal election due within months, some suspect an ulterior motive by the Labor
01:12government.
01:13They are weaponising our productive industries to gain green support in Melbourne and Sydney.
01:23Tanya Plibersek is yet to receive departmental decision briefs on the outstanding matters
01:30and her spokesperson says all other Tasmanian projects have been approved on time since
01:35Labor came to office.
01:37But a perception of holding off contentious decisions to avoid blowback from voters concerned
01:43about the environment could have a counter effect against Labor from constituents who
01:48want to see the projects proceed.
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