Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Housing and Urban Development) Share this | Hansard source

My question without notice is to Senator Abetz in his capacity representing the Minister for the Environment and Heritage. I refer the minister to the environment minister’s decision not to approve the Bald Hills wind farm planned for the Gippsland area. Can you confirm that the decision not to approve this wind farm—a project worth $220 million to Victoria—was made on the basis of concern for the welfare of the endangered orange-bellied parrot? Is it the case that no sightings whatsoever of this parrot in the vicinity have actually occurred in recent memory? Can the minister confirm that the government’s consultant’s report on the planned Tasmanian Heemskirk wind farm was prepared by the same company as that engaged to report on the Bald Hills project? Did the Heemskirk report say that the project would in fact be located directly in the flight path of the same rare orange-bellied parrot? Is it correct that the minister has indicated he will approve the Tasmanian project despite this fact? What is the rationale for the decisions in both of these cases?