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Liberals Welcome Bald Hills Wind Farm Decision

Liberal Member for Gippsland Province Philip Davis has welcomed the decision by the Federal Government to stop the proposed wind farm development at Bald Hills.

By Phillip Davis - 6th April 2006 - Back to News

Mr Davis said today’s announcement by Federal Environment Minister Ian Campbell that the wind farm would pose an unacceptable risk to migratory species was a win for South Gippslanders.

"Two Bracks Government Planning Ministers, Mary Delahunty and Rob Hulls, and the Energy Minister Theo Theophanous were responsible for approving this wind farm on a state level," Mr Davis said.

"But even between the three of them, they still failed to get the process right.

"The Bracks Government chose to exclude local councils and local communities from the wind farm planning process, giving them no say on whether these developments are built in their backyards.

"The Bracks Government then supported the Bald Hills wind farm on the basis that it was satisfied there was no threat to the environment and the community.

"Not only were locals passionately against this development, the evidence from the ‘Wind farm collision risk for birds – Cumulative risk for threatened and migratory species’ report indicates there is in fact serious risk to wildlife."

Mr Davis said the Liberal Party supported renewable energy, but the Bracks Government had to change its ad-hoc approach to the issue and start involving local communities.

He said the Liberal Party disagreed with the Bracks Government’s decision to remove planning responsibility for wind farms from local government.

"Renewable energy is something we must develop and wind energy is an option," Mr Davis said.

"The Liberal Party supports wind farms, but only where local communities embrace them, there is no threat to wildlife and they are viable.

"There are some regions of Victoria where local communities have encouraged the development of wind farms and the farms have been able to successfully co-exist with the wider community without creating the community disturbance we have witnessed in Gippsland.

"But in areas such as Bald Hills where the communities are so passionately against wind farm developments, and where there is a risk to wildlife, the Bracks Government must start taking these factors into account.

Source: http://gippsland.com/

Published by: news@gippsland.com

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