Ian Campbell (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for the Environment and Heritage) Share this | Hansard source

Not in Tasmania, Senator Brown. Before you joined us, I was advising the Senate that three wedge-tailed eagles in Tasmania have been killed in the last three months—one a month, when the predictions that were done showed that only one a year would die. The Victorian government’s report said to Mr Hulls—this is the secret report he refuses to release—that you should take a conservative approach to these critically threatened species. The report also looked at the white-bellied sea eagle. It said that, yes, white-bellied sea eagles will get killed by these blades but, again, the species is abundant enough for that not to threaten that species any further. It also looked at the swift parrot and said that although swift parrots will be killed by these blades—and the prediction is that over 100 birds a year will be killed—they were resilient enough and abundant enough not to be threatened. In relation to the orange-bellied parrot, there are only 50 breeding pairs left in the world. It is a species that is described by the Victorian government’s own department, on its website, as being in as precarious a state as the Siberian tiger and the polar bear. This report said that wind farms would hasten the extinction of that species.

We know that Labor have all sorts of problems on climate change policy. You have had a backflip from Mr Beazley in relation to climate change policy. We know that renewable energy can make a contribution to solving the issue of climate change. We know that wind power can make a contribution. My view, however, is that if you want to develop wind power successfully in Australia you ensure that local communities have a say in it. You do not do as Mr Hulls has done in Victoria and as Ms MacTiernan is doing in Western Australia: ride roughshod over the views of local communities. I think it is incredibly important that local communities have a say in this, particularly if, for every two wind turbines you see turning in Gippsland now you will see five under the Latham-Beazley policy of support for wind farms.

That is a fact. It is not politics; it is a fact. Under the Latham-Beazley model you will get five wind turbines for every two under the Liberals’ policy. That is the reality. If Senator Faulkner wants to call that politics, he can call it what he wants, but that is a reality. The people of Gippsland are very concerned about their landscape. They are very concerned about their unique Australian flora and fauna. The reality is that you can save threatened species and have a climate change policy that stops the impact of greenhouse gas emissions. You can actually do both if you take a constructive approach and do not play politics with it, as Labor has done on this.