South-west farm bodies are warning the “gloves are off” in their campaign for an upgrade of the region’s electricity network.
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United Dairyfarmers of Victoria’s Wannon branch and the Great South Coast Food and Fibre (GSC F&F) group want commitments from state election candidates to improve outdated electricity transmission infrastructure in the region.
In particular, they want three-phase power provided to an almost 50-kilometre long area from Yambuk to Portland.
The two bodies have united to lobby for a partnership between the state government and Powercor to fund a ‘pilot’ community project that would upgrade and connect three-phase power to the stretch from Yambuk to Portland.
Wannon branch UDV policy councilor Oonagh Kilpatrick, of Koroit, said the current state of the region’s rural poles and wire network was one of the greatest hindrance to plans by local businesses, particularly by dairies, to grow the region’s economic viability.
The two bodies said they were aware of several possible investments and private investors who would readily invest in south-west agriculture if the government improved the electricity supply.
They said only between $4 million-$5 million would be required to fund the pilot community project to provide three-phase power to the area from Yambuk to Portland.
They also said safety issues with the antiquated Single Wire Earth Return (SWER) and single-phase infrastructures in the area, which had been highlighted by numerous royal commissions, also needed to be addressed by government.
“Why must our rural and regional communities continue to be forgotten and allowed to be degraded despite having some of the best prime agricultural land in Australia, while our city-based business and residents reap all the benefits of the investment from export earnings from agriculture and resource and energy commodities, the latter which totaled $174 billion in 2015?,” the joint statement said.
GSC F&F executive officer Tony Ford said the focus by most political parties on renewable electricity generation while ignoring the maintenance and upgrade of the transmission grid and other reliable affordable energy sources was “irresponsible.”
“It’s time for the gloves to come off,” Mr Ford said.
The two bodies said Dairy Australia had demonstrated that for every dollar spent by a dairy farmer there was at least another $4 invested in the local and regional economies.
