PARK WATCH Article March 2026 |

Jordan Crook, Parks and Nature Campaigner, says the Kentbruck Wind Farm is a good project in the wrong place

The Kentbruck Wind Farm development has almost got the green light after a rushed and unsettling Environment Effects Statement (EES) process. The final decision is now with the Federal Environment Minister, Murray Watt.

Three kilometres from Portland on Gunditjmara Country, this proposal has raised the concerns of ecologists, conservationists and bushwalkers for many years. Topmost is its proximity to the Cobboboonee and Lower Glenelg national parks, and Discovery Bay Coastal Park. It’s also in the flight areas of Critically Endangered wildlife like Southern Bent-wing Bats (Miniopterus orianae bassani) and Australasian Bitterns (Botaurus poiciloptilus).

The plan is to place an underground powerline through Cobboboonee National Park, risking damage to Critically Endangered Apple Jacks (Eucalyptus splendens) and Vulnerable Western Peppermints (Eucalyptus falciformis). We need renewables, but not at the expense of the wildlife and habitats they’re supposed to protect.

Victorian Planning Minister, Sonya Kilkenny, believes the impacts on nature and animal welfare can be acceptably managed. This is based on untested mitigations and curtailment techniques, and the financing of an ‘ecology fund’. The fund is supposed to pay for recovery efforts of Southern Bent-wing Bats, offsetting the loss of any bats killed. Sounds like a cheap way to greenwash a destructive development. 

The level of harm mitigation will be determined by collecting the animals killed and injured. A truly concerning way to ‘look after’ threatened animals teetering on the edge of existence.

Once these turbines are installed and start to cause damage, will they ever be removed or switched off? That’s unlikely, given the significant investment to build the infrastructure. So nature cops it while corporations profit.

We absolutely need renewable energy to combat the impacts of the climate crisis. But to endanger wildlife like Southern Bent-wing Bats, Australasian Bitterns and Brolgas (Antigone rubicunda) represents the same mindset that has led to the climate and biodiversity crisis.

Renewable energy projects that drive destruction of nature not only jeopardise wildlife and their habitats but also the social licence of these projects. Let’s hope Murray Watt can see this project for what it is: a good project, in the wrong place