Impact On Industrial Development
The Orange-bellied Parrot earned the wrath of Victorian premier Jeff Kennett in the 1990s. A proposed relocation of the Coode Island Chemical storage facility to a location near Point Wilson, Victoria was jeopardised by the potential impacts upon Orange-bellied Parrot habitat. Mr Kennett described this species as a 'trumped-up corella'. (This epithet was later adopted as the title for the Orange-bellied Parrot Recovery Team's newsletter.)
Orange-bellied Parrots were considered in the impact assessment for the Woolnorth windfarm on Tasmania’s north-west coast. The planning proposal was thoroughly assessed by both State and Commonwealth regulators (having been determined to be a controlled action under the EPBC Act).
Surveys and collision risk modeling was undertaken as well as a population viability analysis to assess the impact on the species. The wind farm is not in the flight path of OBPs, but they do pass near by. In 2001, then Australian federal environment minister Robert Hill approved the wind farm.
To date no Orange-bellied Parrots have been found to collide with the turbines. Monitoring continues today as well as measures to reduce OBPs coming near the wind farm.
In 2006, the potential threats to the Orange-bellied Parrot were cited as the key reason for Commonwealth Minister rejecting the proposal to build the Bald Hills Wind Farm in eastern Victoria. It was found there were no significant risks to the species, and the decision was reversed. The company was provided with approval to proceed (under certain conditions). The intense media scrutiny at this time placed the Orange-bellied Parrot temporarily into the spotlight. In the subsequent months additional funding was provided for the parrot's recovery, and its status under the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 was raised from endangered to critically endangered.
Read more about this topic: Orange-bellied Parrot
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