Benjamin Millar
Federal Ballarat MP Catherine King has joined growing calls for the controversial Western Victoria Transmission Network Project to be scrapped, labeling it a “disaster” of a project.
Ms King, the Opposition spokeswoman for infrastructure, transport and regional development, has demanded proponents of the high-voltage project go back to the drawing board to avoid impacting communities and farming land along the 190-kilometre route from western Victoria through Mooraboool and on to Sydenham.
“We know that this is a disaster of a project particularly for our agricultural communities, but also for the communities around Bacchus Marsh and Darley,” she said.
“This is the wrong area for these lines to go in and there needs to be a plan B, a plan B that doesn’t put a transfer station right into the middle of our agricultural heartland and doesn’t take these transmission lines right the way through the Lerderderg Gorge, one of our most beautiful natural assets in this region.”
The Australian Energy Marker Operator (AEMO) has identified the transmission project as necessary for bringing renewable energy from the state’s west to Melbourne.
But the project has been subject to fierce resistance from the community and is opposed by Moorabool council, with calls for the lines to be buried underground.
State Moorabool MP Michaela Settle recently called for the proposal to be sent back to the drawing board, writing to AEMO to ask for all other options to be investigated including undergrounding and alternative routes.
Ms King last week told Parliament that while major infrastructure projects often divide communities, the western Victoria transmission lines project has mostly united the community.
“It has united Labor and Liberal MPs, tourism operators, the Victorian Farmers Federation, big businesses like McCain, residents in suburban growth areas and those in regional farming communities,” she said.
“It’s increasingly clear to all of us that the northern corridor proposed to build the transmission lines and the transfer station at Mount Prospect is simply unviable and that it’s time to go back to the drawing board.
“AEMO, AusNet and state and federal governments, who need to sign off on this project, need to start again.”
