Information sessions will be held in Ravenshoe in February to give interested members of the local community an opportunity to learn more about the proposal and discuss it with members of the project team.

The sessions will be held at the new information hub for the project, at 55 Grigg Street in Ravenshoe.

In light of COVID related health concerns a number of smaller sessions will be held, each providing the same information. As places for each session are limited people are encouraged to register ahead for their preferred date and time. More session times will be added if required.

Dates: Wednesday 9 and Thursday 10 February.

Times: 10am, 1pm, 3pm or 5pm each day. More times will be added if required.

Venue: 55 Grigg Street, Ravenshoe.

Register: Please email your preferred date and time to info@chalumbinwindfarm.com.au or call 1800 731 296.

Please note any government prescribed COVID protocols will apply and attendees may be required to sign in or scan QR code upon entry.

The project team looks forward to meeting community members, answering questions and the opportunity to address any concerns.

The project team has been working closely with representatives of the Traditional Owners of the project area, specifically consulting with the Wabubadda Aboriginal Corporation RNTBC (Wabubadda) and Applicants to the Jirrbal #4 Native Title claim, over the past 14 months.

In late 2020 Epuron, the Jirrbal #4 Applicants and the Wabubadda signed a Cultural Heritage Management Agreement setting out how they will work together to identify, protect and manage cultural heritage on the site. As part of the commitments in the agreement a scoping study of the project area was undertaken involving site visits and surveys with Jirrbal People and their archeologists, mapping studies, and consultation with Elders and cultural knowledge holders.

The results were presented by the participants to Jirrbal People at a consultation session and informed design changes to the project including removing turbines from a key area of significance and applying a buffer zone of protection to that area.

Since then, Jirrbal People have been involved in further rounds of cultural surveys and attended the site as monitors for minor earthworks. Under the agreement Jirrbal will continue to undertake cultural heritage surveys of the proposed footprint of the project prior to any disturbance.

For more information interested members of the Jirrbal community are invited to contact the North Queensland Land Council (NQLC).

As the assessment work has been done, particularly for ecology and cultural heritage, the project design has been refined. The current proposal involves 94 wind turbines and would require clearing of approximately 1,132 ha, which is less than 4 % of the project area.

The development application and accompanying assessment reports were lodged with the Queensland Government in December 2021.

The Australian Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment (DAWE) will assess the proposal under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) through a Public Environment Report (PER). DAWE has issued the final guidelines for the draft PER and these have been published on the EPBC Act Referral list portal (Reference: 2021/8983).

The ecological assessment work for DAWE is still underway and the draft PER is due to be submitted in the next few months. It will include the results of onsite investigations and any proposed offset strategies. Once accepted by DAWE the draft PER will be placed on exhibition.