Moyne Shire Council to change position on new wind farms

Moyne hosts a disproportionate number of Victoria's wind farms, which have long been a polarising issue for locals. The issue reached a head in 2018 when the council resolved to oppose any further wind farm developments unless a range of conditions were met by the state government.

Mayor Ian Smith said those conditions, and council's public stance on the issue, needed to be revised.

"The recommendations our position was based on are now out of date and we have to revise our position on wind farm developments across the shire," Cr Smith said.

The council has developed a new draft position, which demands a more orderly, strategic development process for wind farm projects in the region.

"Moyne Shire Council strongly recommends that the state government pauses the issuing of all wind farm planning permits in the shire until strategic land use planning in the South West Renewable Energy Zone (REZ) is completed in consultation with Moyne Shire and other affected councils and communities," it said.

The council argued this planning should involve: development buffers around townships; criteria for assessing local impacts; a cap on the number or density of turbines in Moyne Shire; long term economic and social benefits for host communities; undergrounding of power lines where possible; and a decommissioning policy.

The previous position stated the council opposed new wind farms unless the various conditions were met, whereas the new draft position attempts to push that responsibility back on to the state government.

Cr Smith said the decision to revise council's stance on the issue should have been done earlier. "I think it was probably overdue to go back to the community and get an updated view on it, we've got to be more aligned to what they think," he said.

The council will gauge public opinion on the revised stance through a phone survey of 400 residents, starting June 1, conducted by outside consultants National Field Services and JWS Research.

Locals can also make online submissions through the council website, as well as via mail or email, and there will be engagement with youth through the Moyne NextGen! Platform.

Council's concerns over community hostility towards wind farms burst into the open in February when it emerged the shire had approached the Clean Energy Council about improving the public perception of wind energy locally.

Cr Smith said the council was caught in the middle on the issue, with minimal power over whether wind projects proceeded, but left managing compliance and potentially angry locals.

He said he believed locals would be happier to shoulder their outsize wind energy burden if they could see more of the benefits flowing back into the community.

"At the moment we are only getting chicken feed back for these massive projects," Cr Smith said.

"We need to be talking with the Greens and the crossbench about the fact Moyne is carrying a big portion of the load and would like to be in the room with the decision-makers.

"We would like to be in there to have more input into the development of these projects."

IN OTHER NEWS:

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content:

Now just one tap with our new app: Digital subscribers now have the convenience of faster news, right at your fingertips with The Standard:

Have you signed up to The Standard's daily newsletter and breaking news emails? You can register below and make sure you are up to date with everything that's happening in the south-west.