Court bid put on ice

FEDERAL Court proceedings against the Federal Environment Minister have been delayed after the minister agreed to release his reasons for approving Tassal’s Okehampton Bay development by Friday.

The case, launched by developer Graeme Wood’s Triabunna Investments and Spring Bay Mill alongside the Bob Brown Foundation, had been due to start today.

But, late yesterday Justice John Middleton ordered the case be put off to a date to be fixed.

The first part of the case centred on a requirement that Environment Minister Josh Frydenberg publish his reasons for approving the development.

Mr Frydenberg last month decided the Okehampton Bay salmon farm was not a controlled action under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.

This meant the development could go ahead, despite being near southern right whale migration paths, so long as particular measures were put in place.

Dr Brown said he was pleased Mr Frydenberg had agreed to publish the reasons by Friday.

“We are glad to get this outcome and will wait to see those reasons before considering what further action we may take,” Dr Brown said.

The second part of the case argues Mr Frydenberg’s decision involved an error of law, being that he decided Tassal was not required to include the land-based components of the project in the assessment.

Those land-based components of the project included a water pipeline from the proposed Buckland dam and the shore-based marine farming facility, which is yet to be approved by the Tasmanian Planning Commission.

University of Tasmania corporate governance expert Tom Baxter said the argument that the land-based components should have been included as part of an overall project had some support in the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.

He also said the Act included a wide definition of the term “action”.