Newsletter # 7 - No News is Good News
Hi All,
My apologies, it’s been a while since the last newsletter. That’s not because I couldnt bring myself to talk about the deplorable state of the energy transition in this country but due to the fact that while the Libs announced their Nuclear plan and the ALP pushed ahead with renewables there was nothing really going on of significance in our little neck of the woods.
So here’s what’s been happening :
Social License: the proof is in the pudding. Last time I wrote we were hot off a pretty good meeting with EnergyCo, where is was decided we would do a combined route assesment drive. Yep they agreed to drive the route with us and discuss the pro’s and con’s of the different route.Valley Alliance went to work. Cam Mcintosh , Merryl & Brett Yan spent a good chunk of a day driving the route , logging GPS coordinates and the distances of houses from the road. An amazing job. By the day of the drive with EnergyCo we had every answer ready to go. Cam turned up to the meeting and…..THEY STOOD US UP!! The EnergyCo reps informed Cam that they had driven the route the day before. They did offer to drive it again but they were booked on an early flight so only had 1.5hrs to spare. ARE THEY SERIOUS?? they are tring to build trust and they go and play these games. It’s childish and disrespectful.
Social License 2: Rotten from the head down. Over the last few months we have all (hopefully) sent emails to Minister Penny Sharpe. To date I am not aware of one response from her office. Sharpe’s office passes the email on to EnergyCo to respond on her behalf. If ever there was a blatant conflict of interest this is it. Asking the company we are complaining about to investigate complaints about themselves shows you the contempt that the Governement holds the electorate in. When the person at the top has no interest in practising social license it’s hard to believe her minions will give it their best.
Social License 3: I’ve used the term a lot over the last couple of months. You may be wondering what it actually means. The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) defines it in the 2024 ISP as “Social licence – or the ability of governments, organisations and project developers to build and maintain trust and acceptance with those groups and communities most affected by the impacts, opportunities and challenges the energy transition affords – will be critical in enabling its success”. I’ll leave it to you to draw you own conclusions. Feel free to write another letter.
Police report: We were recently contacted by the Tamworth Police. It seems there have been a number of complaints about EnergyCo’s tactics and that they are overstepping the mark in some cases. From Trespass to intimidation. The police would like further evidence, if you feel that you have been treated badly by their representatives. If you could send me a brief decription of your concern I will pass it on to the police, either named or anonymous, it’s up to you.
Koala Cam: the investigations are nearly complete. It appears we have a community of Koalas living along the planned route. More to follow.
TSR update: The silver lining is that atleast EnergyCo did drive part of the route. talks are continuing and we are pushing them to do more in depth investigations, which they are doing. We will keep you updated. The fact that it hasn’t been shot down so far is encouraging.
Media: You will hopefully have seen the articles in the Leader and the Land. We continue to get opinion pieces published . Our profile is pretty good. The next step is taking the fight to the city press (where it might actually hurt Minister Sharpe). We will keep our facebook page updated on any press we are getting.
Scoping Report: Expected to be submitted to the minister in the next 5-7 days. We have been given written confirmation that the report can be ammended to accomodate the new route if it is deemed superior and chosen.
EnergyCo looking for property access: We have had reports of EnergyCo reps calling impacted landholders on the current route to gain access to their properties. The line given is that they want to “help” move the lines in the existing corridor to fit in with your farming business. Please remember that our lawyers advice is DONT LET THEM ON under any circumstance. You cannot be penalised for not letting them on. It can hurt your own interests significantly further down the track, It will also hurt other impacted landholders if we start to waver. If you a looking for examples, reserach impacted landholders around Dunedoo on the CWO transmission project.
That’s it for now . Thanks again for your help and remember - We are stronger together!
Stay warm
Tim