General News
8 February, 2025
Community heard at renewables meeting
Community members from across the region came together on January 28 at Warracknabeal Community Centre to listen and discuss their thoughts and concerns on proposed renewable energy projects.
Hosted by Wimmera Mallee Environmental and Agricultural Protection Association (WMEAP), the conversation was joined by Yarriambiack and Buloke shire council representatives and Member for Mallee Dr Anne Webster.
Yarriambiack Shire Council mayor Kylie Zanker said she knew "it's a really heated topic".
"There are members in our community who support the state and federal governments' clean energy goals, including the shift to renewable energy," Cr Zanker said.
"We also have those in our community who have felt the pressure to take one side.
"As a mayor it breaks my heart.
"I can see you all are so passionate and you're all community members who work side by side together to achieve such great results, and then tonight there is so much angst in us.
"It's hard and I get that.
"I believe the only way we're going to do anything is to work together."
Cr Zanker also touched on council's position statement on renewable energy, mining and transmission lines, which has been released and is now available on council's website.
"We as councillors could see it was dividing our community and knew we needed to actually put together a work plan," she said.
"I assure you it was not simple.
"There were many hours spent producing this document, many hours of discussion, emails back and forth, draft upon draft, and we tried the best we could.
"Council is not always the decision maker, which is what people seem to believe in this process, so I would just like to highlight that."
Buloke Shire mayor Alan Getley briefly addressed the crowd and listed who council had met with and meetings between councils that were coming up.
"We attended a meeting over two years ago now with VNI West in Edenhope and Buloke wasn't going to be involved; we weren't going to be a part of it," Cr Getley said.
"As time went on it sort of changed.
"We have a meeting coming in February with the four other shires involved in Charlton to see where we go with this and what we can do.
"It's a fight.
"I think we've seen from the start that TCV have not taken a backwards step and they will keep bulldozing through us – they want it to happen.
"We will continue to support our community and to get the best information out there."
A community member addressed the number of wind turbines destined to be placed in Buloke Shire alone and stated "we've got big issues in Buloke Shire".
"That number you quoted is on the low side of the turbines," Cr Getley said.
"The biggest issue we're working with is TCV and VNI West.
"As Kylie said, we don't get a say at all in the turbines.
"We found out about Wilkur in the newspaper.
"Nobody came to the shire and said to us 'We're going to put up a windfarm in Wilkur'.
"We have absolutely no say in this, no say in the planning of it – we can't do anything in that regard."
Community members utilised the meeting to ensure council representatives heard their concerns and made statements about how these renewable energy projects would affect them.
