{"id":120093,"date":"2025-08-30T05:14:07","date_gmt":"2025-08-30T05:14:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/120093\/"},"modified":"2025-08-30T05:14:07","modified_gmt":"2025-08-30T05:14:07","slug":"murray-watt-backs-no-go-zones-where-development-is-banned-but-not-for-tasmanias-robbins-island-environment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/120093\/","title":{"rendered":"Murray Watt backs \u2018no-go\u2019 zones where development is banned \u2013 but not for Tasmania\u2019s Robbins Island | Environment"},"content":{"rendered":"

Australia\u2019s environment minister, Murray Watt, has backed the creation of \u201cno-go zones\u201d where development will be banned in some places under a revamped nature law, but said Tasmania\u2019s remote Robbins Island<\/a> \u2013 the site of a contentious windfarm proposal \u2013 does not qualify.<\/p>\n

Watt this week said the Albanese government would accelerate its plan to overhaul the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act so that legislation was introduced to parliament this year<\/a>, sooner than previously suggested.<\/p>\n

He has promised the changes would improve nature protection by introducing environmental standards against which developments are measured, lead to faster decisions by \u201cremoving duplication\u201d and boost transparency. The legislation would also create a national environmental protection agency (EPA).<\/p>\n

But the details of the overhaul, the EPA\u2019s design and the government\u2019s planned path to get the changes through parliament \u2013 whether with the support of the Coalition or the Greens \u2013 have yet to be revealed. Government reviews have repeatedly found the existing laws are failing nature<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Speaking on Friday, Watt said the government supported the \u201cconcept of no-go zones\u201d as a \u201cgood way to help deliver the fast \u2018yesses\u2019 and fast \u2018nos\u2019 that businesses are looking for\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course, more than anything, it delivers greater environmental protection by establishing at the very beginning of a process areas where activity cannot happen,\u201d he told Guardian Australia.<\/p>\n

Watt confirmed the government would drop the \u201cnature positive\u201d name that his predecessor, Tanya Plibersek, used to describe her plan to revamp the EPBC Act in the last parliamentary term. Under this label, Plibersek was on the brink of a deal with the crossbench last year to create an EPA before the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, intervened to scupper the agreement after industry pressure from Western Australia.<\/p>\n

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Internationally, nature positive has been defined as halting and reversing nature loss by 2030 measured against a 2020 baseline<\/a> and achieving \u201cfull recovery\u201d by 2050. It would require retaining existing natural ecosystems and restoration work on damaged and lost nature areas.<\/p>\n

Watt said the government was dropping the term because his experience suggested people did not understand what it meant, but had not abandoned the idea. \u201cWe need to communicate these concepts in ways that the average person relates to, but we absolutely remain committed to the principle of not just protecting and reducing environmental damage, but restoring our environment. That will be a central principle in the reforms,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Watt was applauded by industry but criticised by some conservationists on Friday for approving the Robbins Island windfarm<\/a> in north-western Tasmania. Birdlife Australia had called for the area to be declared a \u201cno-go site\u201d because it is an important feeding site for migratory shorebirds, and for the critically endangered orange-bellied parrot and the endangered Tasmanian wedge-tailed eagle.<\/p>\n

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The minister said \u201chaving reviewed the scientific evidence\u201d the government did not believe Robbins Island qualified as a no-go site, and had instead attached 88 conditions to the windfarm\u2019s approval that the proponent, Acen Australia, must meet. The conditions included conducting parrot surveys for three years before construction can begin, and developing and implementing a plan to evaluate and manage the risk of birds flying into turbines.<\/p>\n

Watt said Australia needed more renewable energy and dismissed objections from the former Greens leader Bob Brown, a sharp critic of the Robbins Island development, arguing he opposed \u201cany major development that is sought to occur in Tasmania\u201d.<\/p>\n

Christine Milne, another former Greens leader and a patron of the Bob Brown Foundation, said \u201cof course\u201d the country needed more renewable energy, but the environmental impact of the Robbins Island windfarm on birds and Tasmanian devils would be too great. She said she had \u201czero confidence\u201d in the conditions Watt had imposed on the project.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a disaster for the Tasmanian environment and for threatened species,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Australia\u2019s environment minister, Murray Watt, has backed the creation of \u201cno-go zones\u201d where development will be banned in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":120094,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[192,79],"class_list":{"0":"post-120093","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-environment","9":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120093","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=120093"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120093\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/120094"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=120093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=120093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=120093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}