Gutwein admits reserve is ‘sensitive’ while pursuing offset strategies

Sharon Webb

Federal environment minister Sussan Ley has written to the Tasmanian government as a reminder of its responsibility to refer the Northern Regional Prison to her department.

Having received no referral from the Tasmania Government, she wrote in response to reports from Tasmanians that several listed threatened species are potentially present on the Brushy Creek Reserve site and may be significantly impacted by the proposal.

It comes as The Examiner has reported that the Tasmanian Environment Department is actively searching for land to offset the prison block.

This means the government would protect a different piece of land in return for destroying the Brushy Rivulet Reserve to build the prison.

It now appears that preparation of a prison development application will drag on at least until early 2022, when it may be presented to Meander Valley Council.

Originally the application was slated for December 2020, then December this year.

State Infrastructure Minister Michael Ferguson scoffed at suggestions that referring a government project to the federal environment minister was something unusual.

‘It’s pretty unremarkable, it’s pretty normal, it’s pretty basic – we’ve got no problems with that,’ he told The Examiner.

But Minister Ley’s spokesperson said the State Government had not submitted a referral and had a responsibility to do so. ‘It is the proponent’s responsibility to refer an activity for assessment and approval under national environment law if it is likely to result in a significant impact on … a nationally listed threatened species or ecological community,’ he said.

‘My department wrote to the Tasmanian Government to ensure that they are aware of their responsibilities under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act 1999.’ 

Birralee environmentalist Sarah Lloyd said when a referral is listed on the EPBC referral website, the public has 10 days to write a submission. 

The process of offsetting land wanted for development by a state government for an alternate site is also set out in the EPBC Act. 

It uses a multiplier formula. For example, a replacement site may be required to be four to five times the size of the land to be destroyed. It must also have similar environmental values and be in the same bioregion.

In the case of Brushy Rivulet Reserve, the replacement land may need to be substantially larger because the proposed prison site is an Australian Government reserve. 

The federal government paid the Tasmanian government around half a million dollars for Brushy Rivulet Reserve in the 1990s.

An offset would effectively remove from the federal government the problem of the state government building a prison on the site, but not the problem of Westbury people objecting to the prison location.

Premier Peter Gutwein originally labelled the Brushy Rivulet Reserve as a ‘bush block’, stating the site does not have the values for which it was reserved.

In Parliament in June 2020, Justice Minister Elise Archer said there were no records of threatened wildlife on the block.

But on June 24 this year, Mr Gutwein changed his tune, answering a question put by The Greens’ Dr Rosalie Woodruffe’ on the value of the site.

‘… the department works very closely with DPIPWE and the independent environment consultant to ensure no work will be undertaken within 500m of the wedgetail eagle nest on the adjoining property or around any of the other sensitive natural values that have been identified on the site,’ Mr Gutwein said.