Phillip Island, Victoria’s iconic spot for tiny penguins, is scaring away urban developers in style. The key is celebrity power and Twitter.

Phillip Island's 'Penguins Parade' has been attracting over 3.5 million visitors a year.

After Hollywood star Miley Cyrus joined the protest to drive away urban developers from rezoning the farming town of Ventnor into a residential area, the Ministry of Planning who spearheaded the project began to have second thoughts.

Australian media reported that Planning Minister Matthew Guy met with Bass Coast Mayor Veronica Dowman before the weekend to re-think the plan to develop 23 hectares of farm land on the island’s northern coastal region for residential development.

Earlier, Seven News reported that Cyrus tweeted her disapproval against the rezoning plan and urged her followers to petition the government to stop it. She has about 2.5 million followers worldwide.

The starlet is said to have strolled over the island with her Melbourne-based boyfriend and found the place “magical”.

“Phillip Island is such a magical place, it would be a shame to see it change,” the Australian media quoted her Twitter over the weekend.

Hannah Montana's Miley Cyrus has visited the "magical" Phillip Island.

Cyrus is reported to have visited the island with her boyfriend, actor Liam Hemsworth. The actor and his family are known for their role in Home and Away. Hemsworth and his brother Chris, from the Hollywood blockbuster Thor, spent much of their lives there. The boys’ mother, Leonie, also told 7News that Cyrus has been in the island and “knows how beautiful it is.”

About 200 Ventnor residents have prepared to roll up their sleeves to combat real estate planners and construction workers in the event that the local council approves the plan.

Planning Minister Guy, however, denies any connection with Cyrus and blamed left-wingers for the comical tactic. The reports also debilitate the role of Victoria’s Premiere Ted Baillieu who has been out of view over the issue.

Matthew denies knowing the Hollywood star. He told AAP: “I can swear on a stack of Bibles and say I actually wasn’t sure who she was, I’m of a demographic who knows her father, Billy Ray Cyrus as opposed to Miley Cyrus.”

“I could not give a stuff what Miley Cyrus thinks….I couldn’t even tell you what she looks like.”

Guy reiterated that Cyrus is a Labor’s tactic which is as comical as Cyrus’ intervention.

“Someone said to me ‘Oh, it’s Hannah Montana’ and I thought that was actually a person.”

The Bass Coast mayor admitted that Cyrus helped push the issue into the mainstream press, but added it was community efforts, not star power, that changed Guy’s mind.

Dowman celebrated Guy’s change of mind with champagne along with Phillip Island residents, AAP reported.

Opposition planning spokesman Brian Tee, meanwhile, congratulated the minister for the “common sense change of heart”. He, however, insisted that the backflip only came after some celebrity intervention.

“It is a sad state of affairs when it takes Miley Cyrus to intervene before Mr Baillieu will listen to the concerns of the local community,” the Australian media quoted the opposition spokesman as saying.

Phillip Island, situated at the southern coast off Victoria, has lured 3.5 million visitors a year. It is an island known for its penguins parading along the coast before sunset called the ‘Penguins Parade’. Other species have also inhabited the place.