Jenny Pollard, The Buloke Times
A crowd in excess of 100 people turned out for the Transmission Company Victoria (TCV) information meeting held at Charlton Park last Wednesday evening.
TCV is a recently formed company tasked with the “early works” stage of planning the Victorian section of the Victoria to New South Wales Interconnector West (VNI West) transmission line project.
The forum was designed to provide liaison with landholders, community and traditional owners.
Established by AEMO (Australian Energy Market Operator), TCV is currently running information sessions at a number of locations across the “area of interest” (classified as Option 5A), which will link from Bulgana (south-east of Stawell) through to Dinawan (the Riverena region) in NSW.
Sessions have – at the time of writing – been held at Kerang, Boort and Charlton, with further meetings slated for St. Arnaud and Navarre.
The strong turn-out at Charlton is indicative of the concern felt by landholders, residents and community who have struggled to get clarity on wide-ranging issues connected with the project, and the impacts it will have on livelihoods and livability.
Unlike previous gatherings, which ran as chaired meetings, last Wednesday’s session provided one-on-one / small group information-sharing, with an expo-like configuration where attendees could wander around and approach specialists dealing with certain areas of the project.
Tables covered with fact sheets, booklets, maps, as well as information boards and an interactive map of the area, were set up across the conference room at Charlton Park, while multiple TCV personnel were on hand, circulating amongst the crowd to address any queries.
Background material on the company, community engagement, composite mapping, environmental concerns and project timelines were amongst the areas being addressed.
As numbers swelled, newcomers were siphoned into another room, before rejoining the main hall when the capacity dropped.
The Big Question
With the big question for locals being “Where will the transmission corridor actually be?”, this “fact sharing” exercise will aid the “refinement” of the route, reducing it from a 5-50km width, down to 500m-1km by August 2023, with landholders then being approached.
Two further reductions are earmarked for Spring 2023 and then on into 2024 / 25 before construction starts in 2026.
Guides
Expanding the information pool and addressing a raft of questions, TCV has recently added two additional guides to their arsenal of community engagement literature – a Landholder Guide, covering topics such as “Land, Land Access, Easements and Compensation”, and an Environmental Constraints Report which identifies Indigenous cultural heritage, ecological factors, agricultural land use and flooding impacts.
While the thrust of these meetings is to understand community concerns, some attendees found the format to be more “respectful than previous experiences” and showed “a more sympathetic ear.” Others felt the meeting allowed for more open discussion and had more facts on hand.
“We just want to be treated with respect”, another person said.
Attending on behalf of the Buloke Shire were CEO, Wayne O’Toole, Mayor, Alan Getley, Deputy Mayor, David Pollard and Councillors, Bernadette Hogan, Graeme Milne, Bronwyn Simpson and Daryl Warren.
Related story: Community feedback key for new transmission line.
This article appeared in The Buloke Times, 11 July 2023.
