Ovens Valley MP Tim McCurdy speaks on Dederang BESS in parliament

The Border Mail

Transcript

00:00 The dead around example, Mint Renewables, is, well, they've been hired,

00:04 they've been here for five minutes, and they've been trying to engage

00:07 and talk about the battery system.

00:10 Well, they're not very good at engaging.

00:12 As I say, they've been here five minutes,

00:15 they'll fly off into the sunset and they'll on-sell the project

00:18 or pass it on to a proponent,

00:20 and then the rest of the community will have what's left

00:23 and it'll be imposed upon them, the eyesore, the health risk,

00:25 the fire hazard for the next 20 or 30 years.

00:28 And so to put a finer point on that, Paul Ingram,

00:31 he was notified by Mint Renewables that this proposal

00:35 was going ahead 1.5km away from him.

00:37 So he did a risk assessment, as he would,

00:40 and he looked at the Victoria Big Battery Fire in Moorable down in Geelong.

00:44 Surprisingly, there's only two documents that he can find -

00:47 a report on technical findings and a statement of technical findings.

00:51 Now, the report on technical findings describes the document as a summary,

00:55 but he can't find the main document that talks about the fire,

00:58 and we all know about that fire that took about three or five days to put out.

01:02 And that's what the concern is.

01:05 We're having trouble, and Paul Ingram and these community groups

01:07 are having trouble trying to find more evidence about battery, the best systems.

01:11 Paul was elected to, as president of the community group

01:14 of the Alpine and Kewa Valleys Incorporated,

01:17 and can I say this small group speaks on behalf of 200 people.

01:20 We had 200 people at the Dederang Hall.

01:22 Now, Dederang Hall is about...

01:24 The Dederang population is about 10 or 15 people.

01:27 And to have 200 people there...

01:29 And we're going to get another opportunity

01:31 because we're doing it again in March.

01:33 And I certainly encourage Mint Renewables to come along this time

01:36 because they refuse to engage with us.

01:38 They refuse to engage with the group that want to ask questions

01:42 and confirm some of the information that's been requested.

01:45 So, on the website, they say, "We aim to work smarter and faster,

01:48 "focusing on effective decision-making,

01:51 "execution of quality projects

01:53 "and developing strong relationships with our partners and stakeholders."

01:56 Well, can I say, Acting Speaker,

01:57 Mint Renewables offer none of the above.

01:59 They are sneaky, they are secretive,

02:01 and they are firmly on the side of the proponent.

02:03 And they really need to sit down with the groups,

02:07 the action groups, and discuss this project.

02:09 (COUGHS)

02:10 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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