It's 15 kilometres from The Sisters to Mortlake but The Sisters may as well be Mars when it comes to state Energy Minister Lily D'Ambrosio.
On Friday Ms D'Ambrosio was in Mortlake to turn the first sod on another wind farm.
If she's coming to the south-west every time that's going to happen in the near future she's going to clock up some serious frequent visitor points.
But, in doing so, the state Energy Minister missed a golden opportunity. Despite months of letters and emails to Ms D'Ambrosio, she failed to call in at The Sisters to visit dairyfarmers like Jack Kenna or Jill Porter, who have sought government talks in the wake of last year's devastating St Patrick's Day fires.
Mr Kenna and Mrs Porter have led the charge for Powercor to overhaul its infrastructure maintenance and replacement program after the No. 4 pole on the Sparrow Spur line blew over in high winds sparking The Sisters/Garvoc bushfire.
It was one of four south-west fires caused by Powercor infrastructure that day.
Powercor says there's nothing wrong with its maintenance program.
But in November last year, Mrs Porter commissioned independent tests on power poles around her home, which found a number of poles were degraded.
Member for Wannon Dan Tehan this year wrote to Mr Andrews inviting him to the south-west. The Premier didn't respond.
But Ms D’Ambrosio said the government had taken action since Black Saturday.
If the state government's action had been so proactive, why did this power pole fall over? It's a pity Ms D’Ambrosio didn't call in and see Jack and Jill for a chat. It could have gone a long way to easing their anguish.
