Australia was among the first signatories to the international treaty in 1971 to conserve globally significant wetlands,and national laws in the Environment Protection Biodiversity Conservation Act state that listed sites must be protected from damage by developments.
Plibersek’s assessment of Victoria’s port plans,revealed on Monday,stated the proposed project,which included dredging a channel through almost 100 hectares of protected wetlands,would have “clearly unacceptable impacts” on the area.
Thestate government rejected an application from energy giant AGL in 2021 to build a gas terminal at Crib Point,several kilometres from its proposed wind turbine port and also within the Ramsar boundary due to environmental impacts.
However,Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan said on Tuesday that the government was confident it could successfully mitigate the environmental impacts of the terminal.
“We will review this decision and go back to the federal government because we believe that with the right mitigations,you can deliver a project like this successfully,” Allan said.
Victoria needs to urgently develop offshore wind farms to meet its legislated targets to boost renewable energy. Theproposed Port Hastings terminal would have facilitated the import and distribution of wind turbine components. The government has pledged to install 9 gigawatts of offshore wind generation capacity by 2040 – roughly 25 per cent of the grid’s current capacity.