Inconsistency in Environmental Decisions Dogs Industry
Environmentalists are rejoicing and developers are dismayed at the proposed refusal of the Hummock Hill Island project by federal environment minister Tony Burke at the eleventh hour.
No one doubts that areas of natural uniqueness need to be preserved but it is obvious the federal (and other) governments have double standards when it comes to defining what constitutes harmful development. If it is in the cause of mining, it has to be good for everyone. A carefully and specifically environmentally designed tourist resort, however, should be rejected at all costs.
Such is the case at Gladstone. At Rodds Bay south of the city, is Hummock Hill Island. Developer Eaton Place has a special lease from the state covering 1163ha of the island – itself around 2200ha. The development, mainly in the southern and central part of the island, would be 518ha in total (341ha for infrastructure and 177ha for open space and parklands).
The project could cater for 2800 visitors in a variety of resort, hotel, motel and tourist park accommodation plus houses once fully developed. The proposal also includes a new bridge, airfield, golf course, sporting facilities, community centre, public boat ramps, shops, medical centre, cycle paths, surf life saving club and other social infrastructure.
The project would have “unacceptable” environmental impacts under federal laws, Mr Burke said.
Yet this is despite the $950 million tourist resort receiving conditional approval from Queensland state co-ordinator-general Keith Davies back in March after more than four years of environmental investigations and with 57 conditions imposed to help mitigate project impacts.
“Among the conditions is that Eaton Place maintains tourism accommodation at 70% of the dwelling total of 2715 and fully funds the new infrastructure like roads, water supply, electricity and other services,” Mr Davies said. “They will also have to enter into an operation and maintenance agreement with Gladstone Regional Council to maintain service infrastructure for an extended period. Eaton Place has also agreed and has been conditioned to rehabilitate, manage and conserve the undeveloped parts of the island.”
Hummock Hill development director John Kelly said they were surprised the federal government had raised the possibility of stopping the project at the eleventh hour. The development has already received significant-project status from the state government.
“We’ve worked hard to balance the important environmental features of Hummock Hill and the need for tourism to support the region’s growth and we believe we had the balance right,” Mr Kelly said.
The development would become a tourism destination covering 16% of the area of the mainland island while ensuring the 84% balance is permanently protected, maintained and managed as a conservation reserve.
Mr Burke, who assesses major projects under the Commonwealth’s Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, disagreed that the impacts could be managed satisfactorily.
“It is a unique large island ecosystem which contains species of plants and animals not widely represented in the rest of the World Heritage area. This is why I am proposing to refuse the development, after carefully considering the environmental assessment, expert advice and public submissions so far.
“In making the proposed decision I have determined that the potential significant impacts on matters of national significance protected under national environmental laws and the potential significant impacts on ecological communities would be unacceptable.”
Presumably these same impacts are absent with the LNG processing plant.
Mr Burke said he had also considered the social and economic impacts of the project but did not believe those benefits would outweigh the serious environmental consequences.
Queensland’s tourism industry says the federal government should not block plans for a large development near Gladstone when it has approved liquefied natural gas projects nearby. Daniel Gschwind from the Queensland Tourism Industry Council says he cannot understand the government’s decision when the state’s tourism sector needs major investment.
“We have seen, meanwhile, a major industrial complex approved for an island not very far from there, also in the World Heritage area and we’d obviously would like to make sure that any decision is based on an equitable basis,” he said.
Glenn Churchill from Gladstone Area Promotion and Development Ltd says the island was once considered for a rocket launching pad, so it is suitable for development.
“We’re part of the southern Great Barrier Reef and when we look at our own backyard, we already see the Wilson Island and the Heron Island resorts that have been developed and they’ve been done quite soundly ecologically,” he said. “We’ve even got university research centres on the island, so is it because it’s an island or if it was on the mainland would the minister approve it?”
Hummock Hill Island is separated from the mainland by a shallow, narrow creek.
At Laird Point on nearby Curtis Island, the federal government has blessed a massive groundbreaking project that will use world-first technology to process coal seam gas into liquefied natural gas.
The project is a partnership between Santos, Australia’s largest domestic gas producer, Petronas, Malaysia’s national oil and gas company and the second largest LNG producer in the world, French energy major, Total, the world’s fifth largest publicly traded integrated international oil and gas company, and Kogas, the world’s largest buyer of LNG.
Part of the project includes a CSG pipeline from the Surat Basin near Roma to Curtis Island. The project will initially produce 7.8 million tonnes per annum of LNG, with a maximum potential production of 10 mtpa. The LMG would then be transferred to tankers via another pipeline.
Construction is due to commence this year with first cargoes scheduled to be exported from 2015.
And this is on top of very extensive aluminium and other ore processing facilities in and around Gladstone.
The real question that needs to be asked is ‘why can’t an eco resort be acceptable in a World Heritage area when a gas processing and exporting terminal is?’ One doubts if Mr Burke has the answer.
This is at a time when all avenues of the tourism industry are screaming out for more investment in tourism infrastructure. Surely it is time to negotiate sensible outcomes for such projects as Hummock Hill Island rather than a veto from Mr Burke that is totally inconsistent with his earlier decisions.
No one disputes mining is important to the economy but so is tourism.
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