Newsletter #11- People Power
Hi All,
Firstly, thankyou to everyone that turned up at the Woolomin Meeting with EnergyCo on September 3. We could not do this without your ongoing support. If we can’t show that we have community support our voice will be drowned out by the EnergyCo bulldozers!
Here’s a run down of what has been going on in our fight to move the power lines from our Valleys.
Community (DIS)engagement:
Tamworth Community Meeting Aug 29: 3.30-6.30PM . VA sent some of our best undercover agents along to see what was going on at this meeting. Agents might not be the best description of our 2 committee members and they certainly didn’t have to worry about being undercover! Once again the meeting was at an inconvenient time for anyone that has a job or kids. The location was also an interesting choice being on the outskirts of Tamworth, well out of the way for most Tamworth residents and 35Km away from the actual lines and impacted people. Over the 3 hours, 12 people attended. 2 were anti HVTL activists , we didn't know the other 10 but they may have been impacted somewhere away from our region. 10 PEOPLE in 3 hours. I wouldn’t call that effective consultation or use of taxpayer money. Did I forget to mention that there were 17 EnergyCo staff there ? Now that sounds like the government we are used too! TICK THE BOX EnergyCo
Woolomin Community Meeting Sep 3: A very good turnout considering the ridiculous timing that EnergyCo set for the meeting. 3.30-6.30PM shows absolutely no knowledge or concern for impacted people. We all have jobs and most aren’t paid when we aren’t at work. VA had requested the meeting be from 5.30-8.30 but that didn’t work for EnergyCo’s dinner reservations in town.
The meeting was attended by the political reporter from the Daily Telegraph, Madeleine Bower. Madeleine got to see first hand how EnergyCo treats the people they are meant to be dealing with. She wasn’t disappointed! EnergyCo would not actually engage with the community (yes it was a community meeting) until Kevin Anderson got them to see sense and answer questions asked by community members. People power finally won out. Barnaby Joyce was also there in fine form, hammering EnergyCo on multiple points. We also had many of the Tamworth Council candidates come to show their support, it’s great to see potential councillors outside of city limits.
The end result? More of the same. Many questions were “taken on notice” (This should be EnergyCo’s slogan) or answered by stating that the issue would be looked at in depth in the EIS …so not answered at all. The positive from the meeting is that finally the rest of Australia can see what is happening in these community meetings.
PLEASE SEE THE ATTACHED 2 ARTICLES IN THE DAILY TELEGRAPH.
We will also be posting footage taken from the meeting on our facebook and Instagram sites if you weren’t able to make it on the night.
KOALA CAM: 34 proven Koalas have been sited and logged by Landcare in the planned corridor. We are working on the next steps now. The disregard EnergyCo and Penny Sharpe show for the ecology in our local environment amazes even the most jaded amongst us. For those of us that have had permits for clearing, road widening or infrastructure building knocked back on environmental concerns ..the double standards are truly baffling and depressing.
ABERBALDIE TSR: VA is continuing to fight the rejection of our proposed route. I won’t go over the rejection reasons again BUT the data used looks at best out of date if not blatantly dishonest. VA is holding it’s ground on the basis of the TSR being SHORTER, CHEAPER, BETTER CONSTRUCTABILITY, LOWER BUSHFIRE RISK & LESS PEOPLE DIRECTLY IMPACTED….Stay tuned
EXISTING ROUTE UPDATE: At a Biodiversity Committee meeting in Armidale on Tuesday. An EnergyCo rep suggested that they MAY move the line BUT if they do it will only be 1KM either way from the existing line.
MEDIA: our Committee and community members have been getting plenty of press to help promote our cause. The Northern Daily Leader, Channel 7, Channel 9, The Land and the Daily Telegraph have all run significant stories about our issues in recent weeks. We need to keep this going! We will not win this unless city dwellers understand what’s going on and what they will lose. Rural Australia will look like an industrial estate at the expense of agricultural Industries and our Kid’s futures.
UNDERGROUNDING : The best option for Australians. It may not be the cheapest option up front (although it’s getting cheaper by the day) but from a lifecycle cost analysis it is by far the best result for Australia. If our politicians used the triple bottom line approach when selecting projects to develop our kid’s would be a lot better off (The triple bottom line is a business concept that states firms should commit to measuring their social and environmental impact—in addition to their financial performance—rather than solely focusing on generating profit, or the standard “bottom line.” A recent NSW Farmers meeting looked at the issue in greater depth. Here’s the LINK to the webinar . It’s well worth listening to if you have 60 mins to kill.
NEXT STEPS
Parliamentary Inquiry : INQUIRY INTO THE IMPACT OF RENEWABLE ENERGY ZONES (REZs) ON RURAL AND REGIONAL COMMUNITIES AND INDUSTRIES IN NEW SOUTH WALES- Submissions can be made online HERE . We will talk more about this in the weeks ahead
Continue to DENY access to your properties. EnergyCo is pushing hard to get access so they can develop an EIS. Please dont help them to beat you. There is zero downside to this strategy. If you would like to speak to our legal counsel please get in touch with me.
THANKS : to everyone that came to the Woolomin Hall and to everyone that donated their time to help with set up and the BBQ . As usual the VA committee have been tireless in their efforts to help physically and by developing strategies to win this battle.
We are stronger together! Say NO to EnergyCo!
Tim