By Olivia Condous
The Moorabool Shire council has continued its strong campaign against the Western Renewables Link, questioning the credibility of the community consultation process.
The Western Renewables Link, previously known as the Western Victoria Transmission Network Project, proposes to construct a 190 km overhead high-voltage transmission line throughout western Victoria, with approximately 60km in Moorabool Shire.
In an online statement, Moorabool council said that it first made a submission regarding significant concerns about the project to the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) in June 2019, but no changes had been made since.
Moorabool council chief executive Derek Madden said the failure to address community concerns was “unacceptable”.
“It is unacceptable to reflect on our original submission and find that the issues raised remain the same, and regardless of the community providing the same feedback there has been no material change to the project’s direction,” Mr Madden said.
“It is unclear why council and community members were invited to provide input into the project if this was to have no meaningful influence on the actual, tangible outcome,
“We understand why the community is feeling frustrated, and it also calls into question the credibility of the process.”
The council has strongly campaigned alongside local residents against the overhead transmission lines and commissioned an independent report to prove undergrounding of the project was viable.
In response to protests and campaigns, the Albanese federal government recently committed to overhaul the regulatory processes for major transmission network projects, describing it as ‘not fit for purpose’ and failing to serve community interests.
The contractor for the project is Ausnet Services and construction is currently due to commence in mid-2024.
A spokesperson for Ausnet Services said the company had acted on many of the suggestions made by local communities which had led to changes being made, such as alterations of parts of the proposed route and further studies into environmental issues.
“We know undergrounding is an important issue for the community and the project is continuing to investigate partial undergrounding options as part of the Environment Effects Statement process, which will be lodged later this year.”
