Victoria’s Liberal Napthine government has shown the first signs that it might consider reversing the state’s punitive wind farm planning laws, with the news of an amendment to allow already-approved projects to use best-available technology.
Under the amended planning laws flagged by state planning minister Matthew Guy, wind energy companies will be permitted to make minor 
modifications to boost wind farm efficiency, such as increased turbine capacity or blade length.
The change, although minor, is being welcomed by some industry and environmental groups as an acknowledgment that the state’s current planning laws are problematic, and as a positive step forward by the government on wind energy.
Currently, Victoria’s wind energy planning laws, introduced under the conservative leadership of former Premier Ted Baillieu, are notoriously restrictive to project development and have been blamed for killing of hundreds of jobs and hundred of millions of dollars in investment in key electorates across the state.
The laws include a right of veto for households living within 2km of proposed wind turbines; the creation of ‘no-go’ zones in key areas such as the Great Ocean Road, the Yarra Ranges, and the Mornington Peninsula; the creation of exclusion zones around 21 Victorian towns; and, until now, rules making it harder for established wind farms to make changes or extend already approved plans.
When Denis Napthine assumed Liberal leadership after Baillieu’s resignation, hope of reform was rekindled, in light of the incoming Premier’s record of standing up for local manufacturing in the wind industry, and seeking to protect it from foreign imports.
As we wrote here last year, Napthine – as the member for the seat of south-west coast, which includes the regional city of Portland, the home of one of Australia’s biggest wind tower manufacturers, Keppel Price – was thought to understand the job opportunities that could be brought by the wind industry, and the impact of jobs lost when it is stopped in its tracks.
But this hope had remained unfulfilled until today’s amendment – and it’s a very small step.
“Minister Guy’s decision to amend part of the government’s wind farm planning laws is welcome, but more reform is needed to create jobs in the sector,” said Friends of the Earth renewable energy spokesperson, Leigh Ewbank.
“Under the current planning laws, it’s ok for Daylesford to have a community wind farm, yet a project of a similar scale in Woodend—just 40 kilometres away—is prohibited. Voters won’t accept such double standards,” he said.
“We urge Minister Guy to make another common sense change and exempt community-initiated projects from the wind farm ‘no go’ zones that were established without consultation.
“Only the full repeal of Ted Baillieu’s anti-wind laws will allow the wind energy sector to invest in Victoria. There are currently no wind farms seeking planning approval in the state,” said Ewbank.
“If the Napthine government is serious about creating jobs in regional Victoria, it would repeal Ted Bailllieu’s anti-wind farm laws and re-establish a Victorian Renewable Energy Target.”
Meanwhile, there has been a separate victory, of sorts, for the wind industry in New South Wales, with the removal from a wind farm committee of noted anti-wind campaigner Maurice Newman.
Newman, who is also Tony Abbott’s right hand man on business, was removed from the committee for the Crookwell Three wind farms, in the Southern Tablelands of NSW, by developer Union Fenosa, after it claimed he had inappropriately used his political influence.
The proposed 29-turbine wind farm, planned for 13km south of Crookwell, is awaiting planning approval. The $200 million development is expected to generate 58MW of power.
As the Goulburn Post reports, Newman had objected to the attendance of an Office of Environment and Heritage representative at a CCC meeting, making his feelings known to then NSW Premier Barry O’Farrell.
And when other committee members had pointed out the representative was allowed to attend under the rules, Newman had replied: “I think you’ll find that is being reviewed.”
Union Fenosa legal manager Thomas Mitchell said the company acted after the matter was “laid bare” in a recent Fairfax newspaper article.
Newman argues that he had rightly raised issues of concern on the committee, including fire risk, health impact and “loss of property value.”
“The proponent has a right to dismiss me but I would just like more honesty and integrity about why it was done,” he said. “…The truth is that I was too challenging and because I wouldn’t acquiesce to their propaganda machine, they didn’t want me.”
Newman’s attitude to – and actions against – wind farms are well documented, and appear to be reflected in key members of Abbott’s Coalition government, such as Treasurer Joe Hockey, who just recently described the sight of wind turbines near Canberra as “utterly offensive.”
He has threatened legal action against farmers who install wind turbines near his rural property in Crookwell, and last year reportedly claimed his first wind farm victim after the development of 100-turbine project near Goulburn – and another one of his properties – abandoned the plan.
Newman, who also belongs to the Landscape Guardians, a community lobby group that actively campaigns against all wind farms, has argued that fluctuations in output from renewable energy sources have increased power costs for consumers by requiring the construction of expensive backup generators.
