Port MacDonnell marine wind farm proposal

Tuesday March 07, 2023

 I rise to make a contribution about a community consultation session by the offshore wind developer BlueFloat in Port MacDonnell recently. There is a proposal to develop a marine wind farm, which will include around 77 bottom-fixed wind turbines eight to 20 kilometres off the coast of Port MacDonnell in commonwealth waters. At the meeting, there were many questions raised by community, business and professional fishers, which I would like to put on record here and which I think need to be addressed before the box can be ticked that there has been adequate community consultation:

Will there be an exclusion zone around the turbines?

What will be the impact on our rock lobster population?

How will the wind farms impact whale migration patterns?

Will the state or federal government receive royalties for having the turbines in commonwealth waters but close to Port MacDonnell?

At what stage is the environmental impact assessment?

Who benefits from the power generated, South Australia or Victoria?

Who will maintain the turbines, and will these jobs be based in Port MacDonnell?

How will this affect our local visitor economy?

Will there be compensation for local fishers and the community?

What will the impact on the reef be following the towers' removal?

One person indicated that they believe that an environmental impact study should be completed before a licence is given. Most importantly, the overriding theme was: how can their voices be heard? Social licence or community licence, as we have seen in this place many times over, is a crucial step and very important step for all projects of this size and scope. It is very clear that the South-East coastal community of Port MacDonnell is looking for some answers.

What will the long-term impact be on our coastline and marine life, and how will the wind farm affect our professional rock lobster fishing industry? Port MacDonnell has worked incredibly hard to boost their tourism prospects over the last few years and have amazing plans going forward. What will the impact be on the local visitor economy? This social impact and community licence needs to demonstrate a strong benefit to the region that they are interacting with.

There is an opportunity for public comment on the proposal open now through the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act referrals process. The public comment period for the EPBC referral will last until 21 March 2023. I encourage all local residents with concerns to put them in writing and submit them through the EPBC process.

Again, it is not that the community is against future development, but they are certainly concerned that community consultation has involved one session, with people split into small groups so that, in some people's opinion, it is a divide and conquer-type approach. I say to BlueFloat that if they want genuine community engagement they need to interact over a long period of time with the community and have genuine questions answered before being able to satisfy that community consultation has indeed been undertaken. I just want to highlight to the community that there are ways that they can have their say and have their concerns raised. This will be published in a local paper coming up very soon.

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