Protesters plan ahead

By Lachlan Ellis

Their fight against overhead power lines will continue throughout 2022, and community group Stop AusNet’s Towers is getting its campaign into gear, with community meetings and a tractor rally.

A series of community meetings are planned from February 28 to March 6, with three of those meetings in Moorabool.

At 7 pm on Monday, February 28, the group plans to hold a meeting at Bacchus Marsh Public Hall.

At 7 pm on Tuesday, March 1, they plan to meet at the Ballan Lawn Bowls Club, and on Wednesday, March 2 they will meet at the Springbank Football Club at 7 pm.

At the latter two meetings, free barbeques will be on offer alongside information about the Stop AusNet’s Towers campaign, legal challenge, the EES process, and land access.

On Tuesday, March 8, Stop AusNet’s Towers members will head to Spring Street for a tractor rally, with hundreds of farmers, residents, and landowners expected to take to the steps of the Victorian Parliament.

With their tractors and striking signs, they will demand the State Government reject AusNet’s plans for the Western Victoria Transmission Network Project (WVTNP).

Stop AusNet’s Towers spokeswoman, Emma Muir, said the group would continue fighting against the “unsafe, inefficient” plans.

“Too many of our politicians, including the Ministers in charge of this project, have so far refused to come and meet us, so we’re taking our fight to them so we can deliver a simple message: Stop AusNet’s Towers – save our communities and farms,” she told the Moorabool News.

“If AusNet gets its way, this project will devastate our communities. Bushfire risk will skyrocket, high-value agricultural land that feeds Victoria will be destroyed and land values will plummet.”

Ms Muir said the group did not oppose renewable energy, but did oppose the way in which the WVTNP would go about transmitting it.

“Stop AusNet’s Towers supports renewable energy, supports action on climate change and supports the environment. A green generation solution requires a green transmission solution. Using outdated, inferior, and destructive overhead electricity transmission technology is not in Australia’s strategic national interest, nor cost-effective,” she said.

“Above ground transmission infrastructure is not a future proof solution and AusNet, AEMO and the government are green washing this project.”

For more information about Stop AusNet’s Towers, visit www.stopausnetstowers.com.au.

To read the full story – Simply click on the following link

https://issuu.com/themooraboolnews/docs/mn_2022-02-22/4

in the 22 February 2022 edition
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pick up a paper around your town.