Candidate, MP in war of words over WRL proposal

LIBERAL candidate for Ballarat Paula Doran has entered the debate on the controversial Western Renewables Link (WRL) proposal, demanding “an urgent rethink” of the plan.

Ms Doran – who goes up against long-time incumbent Catherine King (ALP), One Nation’s Terri Pryse-Smith and the Greens’ John Barnes as her major party opponents in the 3 May Federal election – said “all options” must be considered in order to avoid losing prime farmland along the proposed route.

She said alternative underground proposals, like that put forward by Syncline Energy last month, should be explored.

While expressing concern for local landowners whose properties may be affected by the proposed link, Ms Doran also launched a fierce attack on the State Government – and Ms King specifically – accusing both of failing their people.

But Ms King hit back, saying that Ms Doran knew nothing of the project’s background and that she had in fact consistently argued that engagement and consultation “has not been nearly good enough.”

Ms Doran said she had been “deeply disturbed” by the experience of landholders along the WRL route, which proposes a 190-kilometre overhead high-voltage electricity transmission line to carry renewable energy from Bulgana in western Victoria to Sydenham in Melbourne’s north-west.

“I have been meeting with the communities impacted by the [WRL proponent] AusNet project in recent weeks and these people are traumatised by over four years in limbo,” Ms Doran said.

“People have chosen to sell their land at lower values just to get away from the issue.”

The Western Victoria Community Alliance, a community group opposing the project, recently held a public meeting on the issue in Ballan that was attended by a reported 200 people.

Ms Doran said the project had distressed communities and “bulldozed through legitimate local concerns”, which now included fears that firefighters would not be able to respond safely to incidents around transmission towers.

She said the State Government had failed in its duty of care to protect regional communities, describing it as “an absolute disgrace.”

“We all need power, and we understand the place that renewable energy can play in our future,” Ms Doran said. “But what we stand to lose in our communities should be weighed up very carefully by those making the decisions.”

Ms Doran said communities and landholders will always come second to Labor’s targets, and the people of Ballarat are being let down by local ALP politicians at both State and Federal levels.

“Catherine King is not only in Parliament, she’s the Federal Infrastructure Minister,” she said.

“Yet she’s done nothing to step in and protect our community. Four years ago she stood in one of these rich potato-growing paddocks and rejected the AusNet proposal.

“And now she is silent as her constituents cry out for help. Ms King should be ashamed; Labor should be ashamed.”

But Ms King said she first raised concerns about the WRL with the then Minister for Energy and Emission Reduction, Angus Taylor, in 2019.

“The project then received regulatory approval under the former Liberal Government while Labor was in opposition,” she said.

“The Liberal candidate wouldn’t know any of that because she wasn’t there.

“Let me be clear. This project is a legacy of the Morrison government and any claim that this is a ‘Labor’ project is being loose with the truth and trying to rewrite history.”

Ms King said she knew the project continues to cause significant distress for the affected communities.

“I have visited people in their homes to hear their concerns and have consistently said that the engagement and consultation has not been nearly good enough,” she said.

“I won’t take a lecture from someone who appeared eight months ago and knows nothing of the history of this project, but is now seeking to weaponise community distress for purely political purposes.”