Newsletter #16 - Fire up in 2025
I hope you have all had a great Christmas and New Year and managed some time off . It’s been a pretty amazing summer so far. We’ve had some horrendous fires and storms that have done a huge amount of damage. I hope that the damage hasn’t been too bad for any of our members and friends.
Bushfires : Our thanks and eternal appreciation goes out to the RFS crews, SES personnel, Aerial crews, neighbours and friends, that have been helping our community through the last month. The RFS teams at Dungowan, Nundle and Woolomin deserve a special mention for their work in terrible conditions.
I am not understating the point in any way when I say that without aerial support being able to pick up water from Chaffey Dam, the Echo Hills Road fire could easily have been a huge disaster. The North Westerly winds were looking like taking the fire up past Mulla Creek to Limbri. The water bombing in conjunction with the work being done on the ground to build fire breaks saved a lot of people from a significant amount of heartache and stress.
Update on EnergyCo’s powerlines:
Government : There has been back and forth with Penny Sharpe’s office regarding our December meeting and the Minister’s follow up actions. To date there has been confirmation that the Minister met with EnergyCo to discuss our issues but there was no description of the outcome of those discussions. It’s a very interesting point that Penny pushed for an open transparent relationship yet she wont discuss the results of her meeting with EnergyCo or any directions she has given them.
A reminder of the 4 main action points from the meeting:
Chaffey Dam & Bushfire risk – issue with the current alignment restricting access for aerial firefighting. This issue has increased in significance as a result of the fires that have been ravaging our area this summer (The West Bank fire is still burning now. It is also on the planned HVTL route). There is a real issue here that the Minister needs to address. The legal implications are huge. The LA fires have resulted in not just loss of life but also expect the largest lawsuit in US history to be lodged against The Southern Cal Edison Company. The claim is that the company’s powerlines contributed to the start of the Eaton fire. The claim is likely to be in the 10’s of BILLIONS of dollars. Why would anyone risk building lines in high risk country and knowingly put lives and property at greater risk than necessary when there are better alternatives??
Koala population – issue raised around evidence of a koala population existing in the study corridor
Social License: How does the minister reign her people in and get them to treat people with respect and honesty? No answer so far!!
Aberbaldie TSR: A fair review is all we have asked for. A reminder that theb TSR is the lowest category (3) bushfire risk versus the current proposed route (Category 1) being the highest.
EnergyCo 1 - As a result of the meeting with Minister Sharpe we have asked the new CEO (Hannah McCaughey) for a full apology to members of our community that have been impacted by EnergyCo’s unethical & thoughtless treatment. We are still waiting on the EnergyCo CEO to respond with an apology and a suggestion on how to move forward.
EnergyCo 2: Valley Alliance committee members have a meeting in Sydney on 7 February to discuss the points raised with Minister Sharp. We will update you ASAP on the result
Community Representative Group (CRG): VA treasurer Mark Eather attended the first CRG for the NEREZ in Scone last week. It will be interesting to see how this group works and what it can achieve. EnergyCo have split the NEREZ CRG into 2 groups (North and South) . VA has been put in the Southern Group (best guess as to why this has happened is to split us up from other Vocal groups in the North of the REZ). We will forward the minutes once available.
CRG Members
Ninna Douglas
Heather Kember
Kate Whitehead
Linda Taylor
Brigitte Thomas
Robert Warren
Mark Eather (Valley Alliance will potentially send different reps depending on availability)
Noel Downs - Nungaroo Local Aboriginal Land Council
De-Anne Douglas- Wanaruah Local Aboriginal Land Council
Councillor Adam Williamson -Upper Hunter Shire Council
Mayor Rusell Webb- Tamworth Regional Council
Liverpool Plains Shire Council
If you know any of the CRG members please let them know your thoughts on the project. We need to ensure that CRG members are aware of the community’s thoughts so that they can represent you appropriately.
CRG NOTE: Mark Eather proposed the 1st motion of the meeting to video record the meeting so that our community could watch it at a later date. This is to ensure that the transparency promised by Penny Sharpe is being followed. The Motion was denied by the chair, Margaret Harvie, on the grounds that it wasn't being done in other CRG’s across the country. DOES THAT SOUND LIKE A FAIR EXCUSE TO YOU?
IN THE NEWS:
Peta Credlin: News host Peta Credlin has continued to visit farmers in Victoria as a campaign against Labor’s “destructive renewables agenda” builds momentum. Ms Credlin said farmers are sounding the alarm on the “damaging reality” of Labor’s march towards net zero, forcing Australia to switch from reliable and affordable baseload power to “expensive and quite frankly unreliable” green energy. Watch the report https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFzhGsyODGQ&list=PL2OFHLSeLxlbGzt7FOq8P2SE9GJajLYKh&index=15
Emma Bowman - Dunnedoo Farmer and Central West Orana REZ Opponent, had a letter published in last week's edition of The Land (30th January 2025). The article referred to in the letter was published in The Land 2nd January 2025. Emma makes a great point about land clearing being illegal in NSW yet the same Government department can clear thousands of hectares with complete impunity. While not suggesting illegal land clearing is OK, Emma highlights the interesting distinction made between agriculture and renewables when the environmental outcome is the same.
That's long enough for one newsletter . Please check out our facebook site for updates and plenty of footage of how the water bombers saved us over the last month. (Note to the EnergyCo expert Dominic Adshead, they are water bombers and that is Chaffey Dam. The place you said wasn’t used for refilling !!
Have a great week
We are stronger together! Say NO to EnergyCo!