Nooramunga Community Launches Supreme Court Battle to Prevent Fast-Tracked Coastal Wind Farm.

GIPPSLAND, VIC - The Guardians of Nooramunga Coastal Communities have
officially commenced legal proceedings in the Supreme Court of Victoria,
launching a high-stakes battle to stop the construction of a controversial wind
energy facility along the pristine, Ramsar listed Nooramunga Marine & Coastal
Park.
The legal challenge targets the Victorian Governments aggressive use of its fast
track planning system to bypass local voices and rush approvals for Synergy
Wind’s proposed 13 turbine Gelliondale Wind Farm. The site directly threatens
an internationally recognised RAMSAR wetland ecosystem listed under the
Ramsar Convention designed to protect sites of international significance.
A Rigged System - Appeal Rights Stripped
This is the community’s second fight against the developer. In 2020, concerned
residents successfully fought the original project at the Victorian Civil and
Administrative Tribunal (VCAT). VCAT completely overturned the original
planning permit after finding that Synergy Wind had breached basic planning
guidelines.
Rather than respecting the tribunal’s merit based decision, the Labor
Government has since altered planning laws under its Development Facilitation
Program. This policy shift strips citizens of their statutory right to appeal via
VCAT, effectively removing independent oversight and fast tracking Synergy
Wind’s brand new permit application.

The government has quite literally changed the rules of the game because they
didn’t like that the community won. By taking away the right to a fair VCAT
appeal, they have forced an everyday regional community to absorb the
massive financial burden of a Supreme Court challenge just to have our voices
heard.
Rushing the Hearing Before Federal Environmental Approval
The Guardians are also sounding the alarm on a coordinated effort by the
Planning Minister and Synergy Wind to force a premature Supreme Court
hearing this coming November.
This aggressive timeline appears deliberately designed to secure a state level
legal clearance before the Victorian election and before the project has even
received mandatory federal environmental approval under the Environment
Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act. The community argues
that forcing a legal outcome before the federal environmental impacts on the
local area are assessed is a reckless subversion of the proper environmental
review process, and failure of good governance.
Minister Accused of Ignoring Direct Evidence of Threat to Wildlife
The legal challenge follows years of community efforts to provide the Planning
Minister with extensive, localised ecological evidence. Locals warn the giant
turbines poses a significant risk of collision and displacement for threatened
avian and bat species utilising the coastal flight corridors.
The Nooramunga Marine and Coastal Park and Corner Inlet are vital habitats
for internationally protected migratory shorebirds and threatened local
species. This includes the White-Bellied Sea Eagle, the Gang-Gang Cockatoo,
the Grey-Headed Flying Fox and the critically endangered Orange-Bellied
Parrot.
Guardians of Nooramunga Coastal Communities Inc have sent a mountain of
data, maps, and local wildlife sightings, supported by affidavits, directly to the
Minister’s office, showing exactly how these turbines will intersect vital flight
paths. The Minister has all the evidence she needs to see that this is the wrong
project in the wrong place. By fast tracking this anyway, the government is
willfully turning a blind eye to the inevitable destruction of our local
biodiversity.

Bipartisan Betrayal of Regional Victoria
The community’s sense of isolation is compounded by a lack of political
representation from the Opposition. Nationals Member for Gippsland South,
Danny O'Brien, has indicated that his coalition party will not commit to any
attempt to overturn the decision if elected.
This refusal directly contradicts the Victorian Coalition’s own highly publicised
energy policy, which promises a mandatory 2 kilometre buffer zone between
large scale wind turbines and neighboring homes to protect rural land holders.
Under the current layout approved by the Victorian Labor Government,
Synergy Wind’s turbines have a 1km buffer zone distance from peoples homes.
Locals have been utterly abandoned by major party politics. The Labor
Government is actively trashing our planning rights by stripping us of VCAT
appeals, while the Coalition refuses to stand by its own 2 kilometre buffer
policy if they win government. This Supreme Court action is truly the
community’s last line of defense.
The Guardians of Nooramunga are calling on all Victorians who value
environmental integrity, democratic planning processes, the importance of
highly productive agricultural land and the preservation of irreplaceable
coastlines to support their legal fight.