25/08/2024
MY LETTER TO MINISTER PLIBERSEK - please send your own in support to [email protected]
Dear Minister Plibersek,
I urge you to reject Southern Launch’s plan to build a rocket launching facility at Whalers Way, South Australia.
Building launch pads, bunkers, blast walls and other associated infrastructure to fire rockets into space poses a clear and unacceptable risk to several protected matters of national environmental significance.
Whalers Way is a critical remaining refuge for the Eyre Peninsula Southern Emu-wren, a bird that was uplisted from vulnerable to endangered on the EPBC Act’s list of threatened fauna in 2023. It is estimated only 750 individuals remain. This project would create unacceptable additional destruction and fragmentation of its habitat, and the additional impacts of noise pollution and shock waves from launching events has not been adequately tested.
Rocket launching activity at Whalers Way is even listed as a threat in the Australian Government’s own Conservation Advice for the Eyre Peninsula Southern Emu-wren.
Bushfires are also listed as a key threat identified in the Conservation Advice, citing evidence populations do not recover locally after fire events. Storing rocket fuel and the launch events themselves therefore pose an unacceptable risk to the emu-wrens in a fire-prone landscape.
Whalers Way also borders a marine sanctuary which serves as critical year-long habitat for the Australian Sea Lion, and acts as an important nursery for the migratory Southern Right Whale, both listed as endangered under the EPBC Act.
Habitat for both species are implicated in the Potential Marine Impact Zone for orbital launches, and within the drop zone of failed sub-orbital launches. Direct debris impact upon Liguanea Island (sea lion colony) is possible. Noise pollution and rocket debris associated with this type of development causes significant behavioural disruption in these marine mammals.
The project also impacts habitat critical to the survival of the Mallee Whipbird, listed as Endangered under the EPBC Act.
As such the project is inconsistent with the objectives and requirements of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.
It goes completely against the Albanese Government meeting its pledge of no new extinctions. It would also wind back South Australian natural heritage protections for Whalers Way, a dangerous precedent incongruous with the federal government’s goal of protecting 30% of Australian land and water by 2030.
I have personally walked through this beautiful natural reserve loving this natural wilderness, its plants and native species living in this harsh environment. I am devastated that this has progressed as far as it has and needs to be stopped now.
Thanks for considering these points in making your final decision.
Please protect Whalers Way and its vulnerable wildlife by rejecting Southern Launch’s unacceptable project.
Yours sincerely,
Frank Wyatt
For more details: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/nov/26/rocket-launches-pose-extinction-level-threat-to-sas-tiny-southern-emu-wren-conservationists-warn
+61(0)414392323 (WhatsApp)
Tanya Plibersek could list the bird as endangered amid concerns about proposed rocket launch site
