With the environmental approval pending, the proposed Kentbruck wind farm next to the Discovery Bay Ramsar Site is attracting media attention

If you’ve been reading our newsletter over the past 6 months, then you might recall seeing my story back in July about the complex and contested issue of where wind farm developments should be sited in the landscape in relation to our most precious biodiversity assets.

This includes places like NGT’s successful and award-winning wetland restoration project at Long Swamp, in the Glenelg Estuary and Discovery Bay Ramsar site.

The image below shows the proximity of the proposed development to our project site, and the wetlands of Long Swamp (which, like the proposed wind farm, extend for many kilometres beyond the edges of this image).

Update on the environmental approval process for the Kentbruck wind farm

You might recall how challenging this proposal has been for NGT, because we are a practical organisation that is not set up nor resourced to be public advocates. Hence, we found ourselves in a predicament, because the outcomes of our wetland restoration work are clearly at risk from this poorly sited proposal, and we are also the only people who could to realistically speak in detail about the wetlands in the vicinity of our project, because of its remote location and wider lack of knowledge about the site.

As a result, it would have been irresponsible for NGT to not participate in the EES (Environmental Effects Statement) hearing process. Not only due to the values of the site, but also in recognition of the immense efforts of our many local community partners and volunteers who have invested so much in the Long Swamp restoration project over the years. Our concerns were later confirmed when it emerged that if NGT had not shared our expertise with the Inquiry and Advisory Committee (IAC) for the EES, the information and level of detail we provided would not have been made available to the IAC from any other source.

Last month, the website that advises of progress on the planning process for the project, provided an update to say that the Committee considering the environmental effects of the proposal, submitted its report to the Minister for Planning on the 8th October 2025, for a decision about whether it will receive Victorian state approval, before being forwarded on to the federal environment Minister.

Update on ‘Renewable Energy Zones’ in Victoria

While we anxiously await the outcome of that process, it is noteworthy that the subject of my follow up story in August – the proposed location of a series of designated “Renewable Energy Zones” across Victoria – is also continuing to progress. In recent days, the Victorian Government has released its plans to finalise the renewable energy zone orders, to outline where renewable energy projects should be encouraged across the state.

If you are keen to learn more or have a say, please click this link, noting that the consultation remains open until the 22nd February 2026.

Of note, and somewhat ironically given the pending decision for the Kentbruck proposal, the two-part Renewable Energy Zone proposed in South West Victoria (shown below) completely avoids the environmentally sensitive Discovery Bay area and surrounding reserves. This is not a surprise and reinforces NGT’s perspective that the renewable energy transition needs to be supported by strategic site selection decisions that prevent these developments from occurring in the most sensitive environmental landscapes. As the planning system is now playing catch up, it remains to be seen whether existing poorly sited proposals that are already ‘in the system’ – like the proposal in Discovery Bay – will be allowed to proceed in the most sensitive areas of the state.

Media interest leads to NGT speaking with the ABC

It now seems that the complexity and scale of the renewable energy transition, including these all-important siting decisions, is gaining wider interest and attention as the footprint of these developments expand into more of regional Australia.

In recent weeks I was contacted by ABC staff in Warrnambool, seeking to understand more about NGT’s wetland restoration work in Discovery Bay, our perspective on the wind farm proposal and why we decided to participate in the IAC hearing process (which is not normal practice for us). After thinking it over carefully (as I did before writing the story back in July), I ended up deciding to meet with a couple of their staff on site, have a chat and show them around.

Assuming that they choose to go ahead, I wanted to flag in advance with our supporters and newsletter subscribers that you may see a story in ABC online media over the coming weeks, and that this may include some remarks from NGT about the Discovery Bay area and the Kentbruck wind farm.

While speaking about developments is not normal practice for us, we’ve decided to speak to the media in this instance (after knocking back earlier approaches), noting that we remain deeply concerned about the proposal because:

• At the local scale, it risks significant impacts on threatened and migratory species, the Glenelg Estuary and Discovery Bay Ramsar site, and adjacent National Parks that – due to inadequate assessment methods – remain poorly studied and understood.
• At the national scale, an approval would also immediately confuse everyone in the community about what degree of protection from harm is actually afforded to Ramsar-listed, Internationally Important wetlands (and the species that utilise them) across the whole country.

Considering that Australia only has 67 Ramsar sites, to avoid placing major infrastructure anywhere near them is not particularly difficult – they are not hard to find!

Some closing thoughts…

During a time of polarised opinions and a mass media that often frames complex, wicked problems in highly simplistic terms, it is important to remember that this is not simply a binary choice of whether you are ‘for or against’ wind farms.

It is possible to support renewable energy to reduce the use of fossil fuels, while making sure that these projects are sensibly sited to avoid their most harmful effects on nature. Then, as a community, we’ll be doing all we can to protect and enhance nature in our most remote and untouched landscapes – because it is these places (like the reserves and wetlands of Discovery Bay) that are going to be the most resilient and capable of preserving biodiversity into the future, in the face of a changing climate.