Interview with Mim Hook, ABC Gippsland

MIM HOOK: First up though we're going to be talking to Federal Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen. Chris Bowen was in Seaspray yesterday officially declaring, off the coast of Gippsland, Australia's first offshore wind zone. There's been some changes to the zone. Let's find out what they are and if you've got any questions feel free to text in this morning, 0467 842 722.

Good morning, Mr Bowen.

CHRIS BOWEN: Good morning, Mim, how are you today?

MIM HOOK: Thank you for coming on ABC Gippsland radio this morning. Mr Bowen, tell us about the changes to the offshore wind zone. They're not the same boundaries that were first declared.

CHRIS BOWEN: Well this was a declaration yesterday. The first boundaries were out for consultation, which we went through and listened carefully to all the community feedback, so they weren't declared the first boundaries. The only declaration was one I made yesterday.

We consulted on an area of about 27,000 square kilometres to see what people thought. There was strong support for offshore wind generally but also some well thought through feedback and some suggested or requested or demanded changes, which we took on board, which I took on board.

So the area I declared yesterday was 15,000 square kilometres as opposed to the 27,000 we originally put out for community feedback. The two main changes are that I've taken the allowed wind zone out to 10 kilometres from shore instead of the proposed five kilometres. That's common right across the area. And also I've taken out that area west of Wilsons Promontory around Waratah Bay, et cetera. I've just removed that area in total. That's the big change.

MIM HOOK: Is Corner Inlet included there? Just all around Wilsons Promontory out?

CHRIS BOWEN: So basically all the area that was around that Waratah Bay, Wilsons Promontory area is out. There is an area which is much, much further out, about 40 kilometres out from that area which remains in. And that was based on two things, community concern about visual amenity around that beautiful Wilsons Prom area, and also we've still got work to do on the orange bellied parrot which may fly through that area.

So there's two things to do there, two pieces of work. Now I'm not saying that, you know, that area would never be declared if that community concern couldn't be satisfied, but I'm not going to declare an area unless I'm 100 per cent satisfied that all the community issues have been addressed. And certainly that's the case. I listened to the feedback around Waratah Bay, et cetera, and I thought they made a good case, so I didn't declare that area yesterday. But certainly the area I did declare is ready to go and looking forward to getting offshore wind up and running which will create thousands of jobs for Gippsland.

MIM HOOK: So we've got 15,000 square kilometres ready to go now instead of 20. Will that be less energy coming from the area? Will we still get enough energy?

CHRIS BOWEN: Look, inevitably, yes if you reduce from 27,000 square kilometres to 15 you're going to have an impact. There are some proposed wind farms which won't proceed or certainly won't proceed immediately unless and until some of those issues could be addressed. But having said that I know a lot of those proponents will now be looking at the area I did declare. 15,000 square kilometres is still a lot of space. They'll be looking at the area I did declare to see if they might move into that area. And so, there is still, you know, enough room.

And the process from now is that in January we'll open up licence applications, so this is if you like another step along the road. I declared the area yesterday. Now we've got to go through licence applications. They'll be open from January to April, and then there'll be environmental approvals as well.

So, you know, while we're going at this at speed, we're also going at it very carefully to make sure we get it right with all the environmental and community concerns which are very legitimately raised by the community.

MIM HOOK: Lots of questions on the text line for you. We're speaking with Federal Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen around the announcement of Gippsland's offshore wind zone. This question says can you please ask if Chris Bowen can promise that the transmission lines will be underground. Can you have any say in the way transmission lines come in from these wind farms?

CHRIS BOWEN: So transmission lines are a very important issue, I'm not going to commit that they'll all be under ground, but what I will say that is the Federal and State Government, and all State Governments across the board, are working together to improve the community consultation process for transmission lines. There's a complicated approval process called the RIT-T, I won't bore you and your listeners with it. But basically it's not fit for purpose, it's not working for communities, and we need much better community engagement about where transmission lines go and how and what compensation will be paid to landowners, et cetera, et cetera. So, that's a general statement across the board.

One of the reasons why Gippsland is so important for offshore wind, to be clear, is that much of the transmission already exists. So, you know, because Gippsland is such an energy rich area, that it's generated so much energy for so long, as we all know there's lots of transmission lines already in Gippsland so it's not like we've got to build a huge amount to take offshore wind.

As coal firepower inevitably comes off those transmission lines will still be needed, they'll just be needed for the energy generated from offshore wind as opposed to what was coming from the coal fired power stations which have been there for more than 100 years.

MIM HOOK: You mentioned that we are a hub of industry and energy already, Chris Bowen, how can we make sure we're not just dumping more industry here in Gippsland and make sure that as a community we gain from this as well. We will be providing much of the State, potentially further, whether there'll be links to Tasmania, with energy, how can we make sure that the jobs stay local and that some of the profits flow back to us locally here? This is our view, this is our properties that transmission lines, whether underground or above, will come through.

CHRIS BOWEN: Yeah, I think that's a fair question. I don't agree with the term dumping industry. I mean I think economic activity is a good thing. I don't shy away from creating economic activity in Gippsland because that's jobs. But when we come to, both the State and the Federal Government, when we come to assess licence applications in January to April one of the things I'll be looking at is, firstly, Australian content. Making sure that there's an industry plan for Australia. And then secondly local economic activity and content for Gippsland. I will be looking at that and making requirements and suggestions to proponents to make sure that Gippsland benefits.

Now I know Star of the South, which is the most advanced proposal, is already doing a lot of work on that, for example, and I certainly will expect all the other proponents to do the same or more, including First Nations involvement, traditional owners economic activity, including broader community activity, including plans to ensure that any workers who might currently be in coal fired power stations which will close get a fair crack at the jobs.

Star of the South has a jobs guide out which I saw again yesterday which, you know, people can look at to see all the various jobs that will be created by their proposal, for example. They range from, you know, pretty standard jobs to highly skilled jobs which people should have a look at if they're in the market to see what sort of jobs will be coming from Star of the South. And those sort of jobs will equally be available across the board from all the proposals. But yes, I agree. I agree, we've got to ensure that communities benefit from these sorts of developments.

MIM HOOK: So when looking at licences you will look at whether the proposed company coming in to create a wind farm is going to look at transitioning workers out of our current industries. We've got the timber industry which there'll be workers from which is slowing down, and then we've also got the power industry as well. We're going to have a lot of workers who are transitioning out of old industries here in Gippsland.

CHRIS BOWEN: Sure. Absolutely, that's one of the things that I've already been talking to proponents about. They get it, you know, they know that is part of their social licence and we'll certainly be having, you know, requirements when we come to issue licences that proponents have thought about that and thought about how they're best interacting. Again, Star of the South, I don't want to keep talking about them, they're just one of the proponents, but they're the most advanced, have already got plans in place and ideas there about what they can do.

MIM HOOK: If you've just joined us here on ABC Gippsland this morning you're with Mim and we're speaking with Federal Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen. Minister Bowen, this is a question from Peter in Loch Sport, "Will taking the offshore wind farm out further", and it was proposed that turbines could start at five kilometres offshore, we've moved to 10, with the official zone announced yesterday in Seaspray. Peter asks, "Will taking the offshore wind farm out further mean going into the migration whale highway?"

CHRIS BOWEN: No, and that's one of the areas that would any EBC approval will obviously look at. So EBC is the environmental approval. And as you know we recently announced substantial improvements in the Federal Government's environmental approval process.

Around the world offshore wind co exists with whale migration areas. This is the first offshore wind zone in Australia. It's far from the first in the world. So while I'm disappointed Australia is so far behind the rest of the world with offshore wind because it is so energy rich and jobs rich, it does mean that we can look at mistakes other countries have made, things they've got right, learn from them, both the good and the bad, and we've certainly done that. And certainly around the world you can have offshore wind co existing with whales. And, you know, I'm very conscious of the important whale migration that occurs through there and all those issues will be dealt with both through licence applications and environmental approvals.

Both whale migration and bird migration are very, very important. Now of course we do factor all that in. Now, you know, more birds die from other things than wind farms, you know, windows and cars and communication towers. Every year more birds die from those things. But that does not mean that we, you know, don't think those issues through carefully and work carefully through and ensure we are minimising any impact on birds from offshore wind.

MIM HOOK: Minister Chris Bowen, I guess the final question I'd like to speak with you about today is when will it be ready and are we going to be left in a bit of a kerfuffle, we've got slowing down power stations, they need repairs, they're getting run down, they are reaching the end of their life span, their end date keeps creeping earlier and earlier. Every few months it feels like there's another announcement. Surely the wind farm zone won't be up and ready for a decade, are we going to have a seamless transition between the old and new energy?

CHRIS BOWEN: Well that would be a concern if offshore wind was the only thing we were doing, of course, but it's not. It is just one of our many plans, you know, I won't   again, I won't belabour your listeners with everything we're doing but, you know, I announced a big battery program on the weekend.

We announced a capacity investment mechanism the week before which will underwrite many gigawatts of renewable energy and billions of dollars of investment. Offshore wind's important but it's not the only thing we're going to do. Now we're cracking on at a good pace, but I am very confident we'll have energy being generated within this decade so, you know, construction will start later this decade and we should have energy being generated by that 2028, 2029, 2030 sort of time frame.

MIM HOOK: From the wind turbines?

CHRIS BOWEN: Yeah, from the wind turbines, that's right. But there's a lot of work to do to make sure we get it right so what I'd love that this had been done a decade ago and we were getting this energy from wind already, offshore wind already, that would have been best practice, but we didn't have a Federal Government interested so it didn't happen so we're catching up really fast.

MIM HOOK: Thank you very much for your time this morning. Federal Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen speaking with us here on ABC Gippsland radio.