Media release – Jeremy Rockliff, Premier; Nick Duigan, Minister for Energy and Renewables, 27 November 2023

Robbins Island Wind Farm forges ahead

The Rockliff Liberal Government welcomes today’s decision by the Tasmanian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (TasCAT) to overturn the five-month shutdown condition imposed on ACEN’s Robbins Island Wind Farm.

Premier, Jeremy Rockliff, said the decision was a pragmatic outcome that got the balance right while noting the challenges of the national energy transition.

“Tasmania is the nation’s leader in renewable energy, and our Government recognises the economic development and job creation that the sector holds,” Premier Rockliff said.

“As our State grows, our energy demand is also growing, and we will need more energy to continue to meet Tasmania’s needs.

“Today’s decision recognises that an appropriate balance needs to be struck between enabling renewable energy projects and protecting our native species.

“As a Government and as a society, we have responsibilities to both.

“Our Government understands the need for greater renewable supply, and we cannot allow single-minded agendas to override the best interests of all Tasmanians.

“We are looking forward to continuing to work with ACEN to bring both the Robbins Island and Jim’s Plains wind farms online.”

Minister for Energy and Renewables, Nick Duigan, welcomed the decision as a positive step in our renewable agenda.

“I’m pleased that common sense has prevailed, and this project can now proceed to the next stage,” Minister Duigan said.

“Our Government will continue working closely with ACEN and other proponents in the region to ensure the supporting infrastructure needed for these projects proceeds.”

The Rockliff Liberal Government will also seek urgent talks with the Federal Government to better coordinate environmental approvals for renewable energy projects.

“Our Government understands that getting projects approved under Federal environmental law has been challenging and we call on the Federal Government to work with us on solutions,” Premier Rockliff said.

“Where there are matters of national interest, like renewable energy supply and native species, Tasmania cannot do it alone.

“We need the Federal Government to work with us and share the responsibility of striking the right balance.

“All of Australia needs to do more to ensure we have the energy supply we need for our future.”

Minister Duigan said that the Rockliff Liberal Government’s energy policy will always focus on growing renewable energy supply to ensure we have the power we need to continue to build the economy and create jobs while at the same time ensuring power bills are kept as low as possible.

“Under our Renewable Energy Coordination Framework, we have been working on the potential to improve approvals processes and we want to work with the Federal Government to ensure that Commonwealth legislation doesn’t stand in the way,” Minister Duigan said.

“We have a plan, and we are getting on with it. A plan that grows supply, creates jobs and continues to ensure that Tasmania has the lowest power prices in the nation.”


Media release – Clean Energy Tasmania, 27 November 2023

Robbins Island windfarm to produce a massive boost to local economy

Clean Energy Tasmania (CET) is delighted to read that the Robbins Island windfarm can now proceed after today’s TasCAT decision.

Chair of CET, Ian Jones said “I have been a strong supporter of this project for around five years and as a north west coast resident I welcome the huge economic impact this will have on the region’s economy. It is a keystone for several other renewable energy projects and will assist us to become the first certified Renewable Energy Zone (REZ) in Tasmania.”

“The regulatory process ACEN has been subject to needs to be streamlined if Tasmania, and our nation, is to have any chance of meeting targets outlined by Minster Bowen.”

Media release – Bob Brown Foundation, 27 November 2023

Robbins Island calamity given tick

The Tasmanian Planning Tribunal has given a fawning endorsement of the proposed Robbins Island wind farm for multinational corporation ACEN.

Bob Brown Foundation says that the impact of the huge installation on the endangered bird and animal species in the island precinct will be profound and destructive. It listed those as:
• a huge threat to the orange-bellied parrot which migrates through the island each year en route to southwest Tasmania from Victoria. This species numbers less than 100.
• inevitable killing of wedge-tailed eagles.
• a continued loss of the once-healthy feeding grounds of dozens of species shorebirds which come to Tasmania from Alaska and Siberia each year to feed in the island precinct.
• undisputed damage to the Remarkable Banks, a global geomorphologic icon registering past periods of global heating.
• the now inevitable spread of the facial tumour disease to the only natural colony of some hundreds of Tasmanian Devils on the island.

“This is part of humanity’s deliberated destruction of the natural world which sustains all life,” Bob Brown said today.

“Instead of tuning off wasted electricity, we will wreck another surviving stronghold of natural wildlife diversity in Australia. It is now up to the Albanese government and national environment minister Tanya Plibersek to protect the cornucopia of nature which Robbins Island holds. They should at least back the Tasmanian EPA position.”

“As a nation, we can do better than destroy this magnificent part of our natural heritage on the altar of a wasteful and never-satisfied guzzling of more electricity. A simple, decent energy efficiency program would make available much more electricity than this destructive project driven by profiteering in 2023.”

At the tail end of the busiest migratory bird route in Australia, they are going to put the biggest wind farm in the southern hemisphere. That’s obscene,” said Bob Brown Foundation takayna Campaigner Scott Jordan.

Rockliff dumps on his own Environment Protection Agency

Premier Rockliff has dumped on his own Environment Protection Agency (EPA) after today’s planning tribunal decision on Robbins Island, indicating that the EPA was ‘single-minded’, got the balance wrong and was not common sense.

“This is the Premier of the big business rubber stamp. Instead of standing up for the hard-working experts in his own EPA, he has hung them out to dry. He has lashed out at the EPA workers in a way he would never treat Forestry Tasmania or Department of Mines workers. It is pretty unedifying,” Bob Brown said.

“The government should appeal this decision. It should back up its experts, back up the orange-bellied parrot and its conservation program, and back up the EPA. We need independent government experts and we need the orange-bellied parrot.  We don’t need a wind farm on Robbins Island,” said Scott Jordan.

Media release – Dean Winter MP, Shadow Minister for Energy, 27 November 2023

Robbins Island decision welcomed – pressure now on Duigan for NWTD

Tasmanian Labor has welcomed the decision by TasCAT to overturn the ridiculous five-month shutdown which risked the viability of the proposed Robbins Island windfarm.

Robbins Island is probably the most important economic project in the state for 20 years. The approval process has taken far too long, with red tape and government uncertainty placing undue pressure on the project.

The appeal decision vindicates our long-held support for this project which will provide an enormous economic boost to the state.

It was surprising to see Premier Jeremy Rockliff attempt to take credit for “continuing to work with ACEN to bring both the Robbins Island and Jim’s Plains wind farms online”, particularly given that his government has effectively been fighting against the project through the Environment Protection Authority.

The conditions imposed on the project were ridiculous. Orange-bellied parrots have not been seen at Robbins Island for more than 20 years and the order to shut down the turbines just in case they were made no sense.

After 10 years of a Liberal government Tasmania is in an energy crisis, with our state now one of the hardest places in the world to build a windfarm.

ACEN has passed another hurdle, but the pressure is now firmly on Minister Duigan to reveal what he’s going to do with the North West Transmission Development which the proponent has been relying on.

For six years, the government has been telling ACEN they will have the full NWTD to connect to – before only a few weeks ago sidelining half of the development indefinitely, a move which ACEN said blindsided them.

Minister Duigan needs to make it clear how he will support ACEN, and other renewable energy proponents relying on the NWTD, so Tasmania’s economy can grow.

Media release – Tasmanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, 27 November 2023

Win for common sense on Robbins Island wind farm

The Tasmanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry is the voice of business in Tasmania and is a strong supporter of Tasmania’s renewable energy future.

TCCI CEO Michael Bailey said that today’s decision by TasCAT overturning a five-month shutdown condition on the proposed wind farm at Robbins Island was a win for common sense.

“This is great news for the Robbins Island project, great news for Tasmanian businesses and great news for Tasmania’s potential to be a renewable energy powerhouse,” Mr Bailey said.

“However, it does highlight glaring issues in the development and approval processes. How is it that we ended up here in the first place? Effectively we have one arm of government supporting renewable energy development, another arm imposing significant restrictions and yet another arm of government overturning the decision after a lengthy review process.

“If we want to have a clean, renewable energy future here in Tasmania we have to do better than this.

“We don’t have enough energy as it is to meet growing demand. We’re turning businesses away that want to invest because we don’t have enough power and if we wrap every proponent in a tangle of red and green tape we will not be able to achieve our targets.

“The Government needs to do everything it can to clear the way for the Robbins Island project to become a reality. While today’s announcement is welcome, it’s just one step in the process.”

Media release – Vica Bayley MP, Greens Environment spokesperson, 27 November 2023

Robbins Island Decision Deeply Disappointing

The Tasmanian Civil and Administrative Tribunal’s decision to not only dismiss appeals against the approval of the Robbins Island windfarm, but also to overturn critical protection for the orange-bellied parrot, will be deeply disappointing for all those who support the survival of threatened species and have worked to protect this remarkable area.

The Greens are strong supporters of renewable energy and have backed the construction of other Tasmanian windfarms, but Robbins Island is the wrong place for a large-scale industrial development.

We absolutely need to build more renewables in Tasmania, but not in a place so precious and unique – for its rich Aboriginal heritage, importance for a host of critically endangered bird species, and for its population of disease-free Tasmanian devils.

Instead of pushing ahead with a massive development that would undermine irreplaceable natural and cultural values, renewable energy projects could be built in many other, lower impact, areas.

The TASCAT decision also confirms the woeful state of Aboriginal heritage protection laws, with the Tribunal acknowledging the incredible history of the area, but admitting its irrelevance to the planning scheme. This is not a system that adequately protects the thousands of generations of Aboriginal heritage here in lutruwita, and it must be reformed.

Subject to appeal, the final decision on this proposal now sits with Federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek. Minister Plibersek has ample evidence and solid grounds to reject this inappropriate proposal outright – and she should do so.