South Gippsland Sentinel Times
Tuesday 3/10/2006, Page: 9
Leader of the Australian Democrats Lyn Allison says she supports the development of both the Bald Hills and Dollar wind farms.
After visiting the Bald Hills site last week, and meeting with landowners who have agreed to have turbines on their properties, Ms Allison said the Federal Environment Minister Ian Campbell's handling of the project was an embarrassment.
She also attacked the objectors to the Bald Hills proposal, accusing them of spreading lies and creating hysteria within the community.
"I'm appalled by the tactics used by a small group of people." she said. "I'm a strong supporter of wind energy. It's a great pity that the issue is dividing towns around here," she said.
She said objector groups were a reason not to support Senator Campbell's National Code for windfarrn generation which would give local communities more power in the planning process.
"The only problem with the code is that it would give greater powers of responsibility to so-called community concern groups which have whipped up hysteria and told lies. "These groups will always be there to find arguments against such proposals. "The code would result in a worse position than what we have now."
"Yes, local government should be involved in the planning process, but we need to get rid of the 'not in my backyard mentality'. "It is up to everyone to accept the need for renewable energy." Ms Allison said she would like to see more local councils, including those in metropolitan areas, embrace renewable energy projects.
But she said restraints in technology had limited such facilities to only the windiest sites. "I'd love to see more contributions from Melbourne and in Port Melbourne where I live." She said she looked forward to the day when power generating facilities could be placed on the sides of freeways, or along train lines.
"Advances in renewable energy, solar and wind, will give us an opportunity to distribute the load. 'I'm sure the people of the Latrobe Valley who live with the coal-fired power generation facility would love to share the load with other parts of Victoria.
"I understand that people don't like the look of the turbines but I see them more as examples of elegance in engineering. ''If we don't embrace this form of power generation, we won't get the cuts in greenhouse emissions that we know are necessary.
"The evidence is that climate change is hitting us and is hitting hard." She said the Bald Hills windfarm project had attracted interest from all around the world. "I believe it should go ahead. The orange bellied parrot argument was laughable. The way it has been handled has been really embarrassing.
"I hope the offer (from proponent Wind Power Pty Ltd) to move back the turbines from the coast gets the outcome that is needed to go ahead. "The vast majority of people in South Gippsland want to do the right thing, which is to find an alternative to coal-based power.
"South Gippsland can then be proud of its contribution to green power generation. She said she would also support the 48 turbine proposal at Dollar. "We will need more windfarms. and it seems to be a good site. It's had its share of objectors and protesters, but I'd be happy to back it."
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