Charlotte Varcoe
PORT MacDonnell residents are celebrating this week after the news that a proposed offshore wind farm on its shoreline will not go ahead.
The announcement was made earlier this week with federal Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen visiting Portland.
Instead of the original proposal of 5000 square-kilometres of wind farms stretching from Western Victoria into South Australian shores, a much smaller 1030 square-kilometre zone was declared in Victorian waters.
The new zone is expected to create about 1600 jobs in the Portland area with the zone stretching from the outskirts of Portland through to Warrnambool.
Mr Bowen said he took on board more than 3000 submissions as part of the southern offshore proposal community consultation as well as delegations from people such as Port MacDonnell residents.
“A lot of people are concerned about the impact on marine life and the Bonney Upwelling,” Mr Bowen said.
“I took that on board and we have avoided that body, we listened to concerns about the sacred nature of Deen Maar Island and that area.”
Speaking on the Port MacDonnell residents, Mr Bowen said he listened to them and looked at their concerns.
“That is what consultations do…I want to create new industries and new jobs, I do not want to destroy old industries,” he said.
“They made a case, I listened to it and I took it on…I read their submissions and I had a good meeting with them as well.”
Southern Ocean Care committee member and Port MacDonnell resident Suzie Fulham said they were ecstatic with the result.
“I think it is the best news ever and we could not think of a better outcome,” Ms Fulham said.
“I think the minister has listened or someone has most certainly educated him which has been really good.”
She said despite the positive outcome for the community, she believed it was “pretty sad” residents had to give up their own time and energy to fight the proposal.
“We have been stressed out for a whole year before the basic message was given to him,” she said.
“It would have been nice if he was informed of all the environmental concerns before the area was even declared.
“I think having a delegation go to Canberra helped our case, we had really informative people who went.”
She said during the visit of the delegation, Mr Bowen reiterated he was “not interested in costing old jobs to create new jobs” which helped the group feel at ease.
“We have a very good industry down here and the fisheries continue to be well managed,” Ms Fulham said.
“It is a relief for us following the bad news of the abalone, they are separate problems but this is uplifting news for the community.”
She said the entire community was “very happy” and from the beginning many felt it was a “done deal”.
“The fact we are a little tiny place and we have every single person in this town throwing their support behind this once they understood what they were up against, it means so much for us,” Ms Fulham said.
Grant District Council Mayor Kylie Boston said she commended Mr Bowen’s decision and was “really excited” about the results.
“The delegation went out there and we were really pleased he listened,” Ms Boston said.
“We did feel he took a lot of that on board and we are very excited the announcement has been out and it will allow our community to go back to normal.”
She said with the decision made, the community could now move forward.
“This is really a bit of weight off the community’s shoulders because it was something the whole community was behind,” Ms Boston said.
“Often with lots of these issues they can be divisive and that was not the case, the whole community was together.”
Ms Boston also commended members of the Southern Ocean Care committee for their advocacy.
