2025 Wannon Election candidates on offshore windfarm

The Standard

As early voting opens across Australia The Standard sat down with each of the candidates to hear their thoughts on Wannon’s top issues. Here see them explain their stance on the proposed offshore windfarm.

Transcript

00:00When it comes to the proposed offshore wind farm, I'm the candidate who is going for greater

00:12community consultation and a better deal for our area when it comes to the projects, which

00:17we do a lot of heavy lifting here. I'm really disappointed with the flip-flopping when it

00:21comes to those. We saw the Liberal Party with great fanfare announce that they're going to

00:25be making offshore wind zones. They've now flip-flopped and say that they're against it.

00:30Labor seem to be going for it without listening to the voices in the community who are against

00:35it and should be consulted with when making big decisions like this. So I'm pushing forward

00:39for the consultation process over the next couple of years, letting the environmental

00:43surveys being done to make sure that we're not doing anything to harm the environment,

00:47but we do have the opportunity to get cheaper power for people and making sure a better deal

00:52for our area. But I certainly won't be supporting it if those things are failed and the community

00:56are fully against it.

00:58Personally, I know that wind farms, a lot of them use carbon to actually be made and so

01:05it's not actually producing much energy from those wind farms anyway. So personally, as

01:09a person, I don't think they really need it. And they're taking up land as well that's

01:13used for farmlands as well. So probably not the best thing, no.

01:16My stance on the wind farms, the offshore wind farms, in principle, I am supportive of renewable

01:21energy and we need to make a rapid transition from fossil fuels to renewables. But we need

01:28to take the community along with us. And so every step of the way, there needs to be community

01:34consultation early and often. And we need to make sure that our community is benefiting

01:40from any infrastructure. So that means, you know, access to tertiary education and to trade

01:46needs. So we can upskill local people, we can create jobs in the area and can contribute

01:52to the local economy. We need to make sure that our marine life won't be adversely affected.

01:58We need to have strong, check the environmental impact and cultural heritage impact of any proposals,

02:04look at the whale and migratory bird patterns and make sure that we're not endangering wildlife

02:10or our local community. I personally don't like offshore wind farms. The cost to build them is

02:20astronomical. The cost of power and energy is going up and up. Where we were promised over

02:34the years that wind farms, we're going to reduce the cost of energy. It's gone the other way. It's gone

02:42up and up and up. The cost of the erection alone, just the base itself is over 100 tonne of reinforcing steel.

02:56It needs coking coal to make steel. I'm against it. The community has been very strong in voicing

03:07its concerns about this offshore, proposed offshore wind farm. I took a petition to the parliament,

03:15which had 7,000 signatures. And that shows the community is, does not support this. The community

03:22feel like they've been railroaded on this offshore wind farm. We also saw from Portland the exactly

03:29the same feeling that they felt like they were being railroaded. And the government in the end

03:34has put it off the coast here of Warrnambool and Port Ferry. It's a bad idea. It doesn't have

03:40community support and it's been put in an environmentally sensitive area where we have wonderful marine

03:47bird life, wonderful whale breeding area. And this is the wrong place for this offshore wind farm.

03:54And if we are elected to government, we will rip it up.

03:59Well, I've spoken about this before and I actually advocate for it. It's labour policy to be putting

04:05in the offshore wind farms. And in truth, if you look at it, it would provide the energy we need,

04:11that self-sufficiency that we need also in this world. And it will power up manufacturing again

04:22and enable it to be providing more jobs for people, more job security, not only just in the energy

04:31sector, but it will mean that we will transition to renewables very quickly. We are transitioning out

04:38of fossil fuels and we are moving into that. And that will enable us to basically light up the

04:43whole of Australia plus industry. And of course, Victoria will also have the advantage of the SCCV.

04:49So that's fantastic. Re-establishing, once again, getting back to the cost of living,

04:54that will reduce our energy bills as well. Oh my goodness. No, that's a complete waste of money.

04:59Don't even think of it. The corrosion for a start on the infrastructure,

05:04metal blades and the cement is impractical. The fact that it produces a direct current,

05:10which can't be assimilated into the existing grid means to me, it's just a waste of money. It's

05:16intermittent. The lifespan of those towers will be very brief. And I must say, once I was standing

05:25at Thunder Point in Warrnambool and I saw out to sea a blue whale traveling with a pod of other whales,

05:31it was the most amazing experience. It was enormous. I've never seen anything so big.

05:37Only a week later, that blue whale was killed because there was oil drilling in the Bass Strait

05:45and it was killed by the seismic blasts. Well, I tell you what, wildlife around the world

05:52needs our protection. And building those towers, we don't know the effect, but from my point of view,

05:59it's a complete waste of money.

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