Antinuclear

This recognition of the sheer scale of the opportunity the wind farms present to regional Victoria is a welcome turn in the debate. In much of the discussion around wind farms, the interests of regional Victoria are too often overlooked. How to keep farming businesses viable. How to keep tenants in the shops along the main street. How to provide the jobs that will draw the next generation of families back to small towns and farms.

These are questions country Australia has constantly had to address.

Wind farms fit with farming. Wind towers use only a fraction of a farmer’s land and add valuable access tracks, improving farm viability.

Wind farm lease payments bring a 25-year income stream on to farms and that money returns to the local economy through things such as farm upgrades, the hire of local labour and purchases from local businesses.

A full-time work force can make a huge difference to a small town and guaranteed rates income has already become vital for shires like Moyne, Pyrenees and Southern Grampians.

Crucially, wind farms don’t use a drop of water. As southeast Australia becomes drier, a large-scale energy source that makes no call on our precious water supplies will become all the more important.

But there’s no such thing as a free lunch. As The Weekly Times editorial recognised last month, more wind farms will bring a “long-term change to our beloved landscape”. Visually, wind farms are a big deal, but whether people like the look of them or not can’t be the main driver.

An end to the Federal Government’s attack on the renewable energy target will bring a once-in-a-generation investment boom to regional Victoria. Our choice is to embrace this and make it work, or just hope that another opportunity like it might one day turn up.

Andrew Bray is Australian Wind Alliance national co-ordinator