Moyne Shire councillor suggests rate penalty for wind farm hosts

Deputy mayor Daniel Meade suggested the move as councillors waved through the new rates and charges schedule for the 2023-24 budget at the June council meeting.

"(I'd) just like to ask whether there's a possibility ... that we could put on the agenda to investigate a special rate charge, or a rate premium charge, or a rate levy, or something to that effect on host wind farm landowners in preparation for the 2024-25 rates and charges," Cr Meade said.

Acting council chief executive officer Peter Brown agreed to probe the idea further.

"Without giving it a great deal of thought, nothing stands in the way of such a proposal from a legal point of view, but we would need to spend some time establishing how we might do it and if it is legally possible," he said.

"And then obviously it would need to be tested in the community, but it is something that we could do in the next few months."

The targeted rate hike would be an escalation of the council's stance against new wind farm developments, which has hardened over the past year.

Cr Meade, a Garvoc farmer, has been the most outspoken councillor about the Swansons Lane wind farm that has just been proposed to the north of the town. The wind farm developer caught both the council and Garvoc residents off guard by submitting the application for the project to the state Planning Minister without any prior community engagement.

Cr Damian Gleeson asked Cr Meade whether a rate hike would help prevent new wind farms.

"Would such a rate, a penalty I guess ... do you think that might act as a little bit of a deterrent to some potential hosts? Cr Gleeson said.

Cr Meade said it might, but the council investigation would give a definitive answer.

"We know that we've got a certain position on the books at Moyne Shire Council, which is to ask the state government to pause any further granting of wind farms in the Moyne Shire," he said.

"Despite that we've got wind farms coming or knocking on the door. You've mentioned the Swansons Lane or Garvoc wind farm that lodged an application without even notifying council prior to doing that.

"So we need to support our current position with all potential levers we have to pull, that's why I think we should investigate the option of a special rate charge on host wind farm landowners."

The rapid development of turbine technology has meant host landowners can receive between $15,000 and $30,000 per year for every turbine they have on their land. Developers also reimburse near neighbours, but much more modestly, as well as setting up grants programs for the wider community to compensate for the loss of amenity the wind farms bring.

The council also receives substantial pecuniary benefits from wind farms in the shire, receiving more than $2 million in the past year alone in the form of "revenue in lieu of rates". But taxing the wind farm hosts would be a first.

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