Only minority against windfarms, says Newton

South Gippsland Sentinel Times
Tuesday 15/8/2006, Page: 43

South Gippsland Shire Councillor Bob Newton has renewed calls for a local referendum on wind farms, claiming only a vocal minority opposed them.

Cr Newton let fly at the most recent council meeting in Port Welshpool. He cheekily suggested the now famous orangebellied parrot did not exist in South Gippsland, and said cornplaints that windiarms reduced land values were unfounded.

He also said the windfarm issue had taken up far too much of the council's time, and believed water shortages were the biggest issue facing South Gippsland. His comments came in response to Cr David Lewis's move to write to Federal Environment Minister Ian Campbell supporting his National Wind Farm Cede.

Cr Lewis said the shire should back the Prom Coast Guardians' submission to Senator Campbell on the code. But Cr Newton said Senator Campbell had egg on his face after it was revealed he went against his own department to block the Bald Hills windfarm.

"We should not be developing a policy based on the Prom Coast Guardians. "A referendum would get a true reading of the whole shire. When that's done. I'll back what the people say." Cr Newton did not hide from the fact that his property had been identified as an ideal site for a windfarm.

Cr Clyde Paterson supported the calls for a referendum,"The South Gippsland Shire must speak for the majority, or stay silent. "We can't endorse a lobby group, which has a very strong point of view, when there are many other views on the issue... If we conducted a poll, perhaps we'd get a very different result,

"I believe there are other more important issues that we should be looking at, such as the water shortages. "Why isn't the council spending more time writing to the government looking for expansions to the catchments?"

Leongatha resident Wilma Western attended the meeting and said the council should not back the Guardians without consulting the community first. "This is a self appointed group. There's no evidence to suggest they represent the local view." Mrs Western said there were many people who backed renewable energy projects who were not being heard.

Cr Lewis said the council was not opposed to windfarms, provided they were appropriately located. He said the State Government now had complete control over where they were situated. regardless of the problems they created for neighbors. "Every aspect is now under the control of the state. "The Federal Government has recognised this and formulated a code to stop these projects going ahead in areas where there is community opposition. "It would re-empower the local community and councils to make these decisions."

Mayor, Cr Nigel Hutchinson-Brooks, said he was in favor of any project that reduced greenhouse gas emissions. but was concerned that the State Government was too focussed on windfarms. "The problem is that the people who have the turbines on their property do quite well (through compensation), but it's the people living 500 metres away who suffer,"The noise travels downwind. These are the same principles at an airport, yet no-one in government is taking these concerns seriously.

"The neighbor gets nothing and the community gets nothing. They are built out of the area and installed by contractors who are from outside." He said a windfarm he inspected in the Western District was well located, as only the two landowners were effected,"You look at the number of people who'd be affected by the (proposed) Dollar wind farm, and it's huge, yet that doesn't carry any weight."

Steve Garito, whose Slilcock's Hill road property lies beneath the Toora windfarm, refuted Cr Newton's claim that land values were not affected. "Our property went down 27 percent in value as soon as the windfarm was approved in 2000, then it dropped another three percent when they were built, at a time when properties rose 25 percent in value across the shire," He said in real terms, his property had dropped in price by 50 percent.