Madden deserves a serve for lobbing the ball into bidder’s court

COMMENT
IT is hardly surprising that Planning Minister Justin Madden last week gave the controversial Wonthaggi Desalination Plant the thumbs up.
It’s shameful that in 2009 we are even considering burning electricity to make water – as crazy as that sounds it’s effectively what a desalination plant does.
What’s even more outrageous is that the State Government has left Gippsland farmers hanging until consortiums bid for the multi-billion dollar project.
They are still wondering whether high voltage powerlines will cut through their farmland despite pleading their cases during a public inquiry into the project.
Some farmers have predicted that their production could be slashed by half if overhead powerlines are erected.
Special zoning won’t protect farmers in Cardinia – a municipality deemed to boast some of Victoria’s most productive agricultural land.
The State Government has ruled out building a gas-fired plant as well as hybrid wind-gas option. And running powerlines underground from Woolamai to a grid connection in Tynong is looking unlikely.
The project’s proponents estimate that underground powerlines will cost twice as much as those above ground. They also say that putting them under the earth will put the project’s 2011 completion date in jeopardy.
It is doubtful that a consortium would choose to put the powerlines underground when there is a cheaper and easier option available.
Although the economic crisis should bring down the cost of the estimated $3.1 billion project, making underground power more viable than before.
Mr Madden has taken the easy way out on this one by effectively leaving it for the bidder to decide if powerlines will go above or underground, avoiding a public relations disaster in the process. It’s alarming that the State Government wants to push a project of this scale through so quickly – if only it had a similar sense of urgency to upgrade the Monash Freeway.
Spring Street has been hell bent on the project since June 2007 when it announced plans to develop the reverse osmosis desalination plant.
It is no coincidence that the State Labor Government chose Wonthaggi as the location of the contraversial project. The South Gippsland region, in political terms, is safe Liberal territory. You can’t lose votes that you never had.
To keep everyone else’s vote the State Government has been creating hysteria about Victoria’s water shortage.
They have played the “drought-stricken” continent card while adopting a no dam policy.
Yes, our water storages are at record lows. But it wouldn’t be this way if previous governments hadn’t ignored the problem for so long. Then again, addressing environmental issues doesn’t win votes – but big ticket projects do.
Rain does fall in Victoria. It was only 18 months ago that the Macalister and Thomson rivers burst their banks and flooded towns in East Gippsland.
We need to catch water. Instead of pushing the idea of a desalination plant, the State Government should have been determining the best location for a new dam.
Or maybe it should have been delivering water tanks to each Victorian household.
You can purchase 5.16 million 1000 litre water tanks (retail cost) for $3.1 billion – almost enough for each of the 5.297 million people living in Victoria.
The only hope is that Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts Peter Garrett will realise that there are other – and more environmentally friendly ways – to solve Victoria’s water woes.
Let me know what you think. Email melissa.grant@starnewsgroup.com.au or write to Box 9, Pakenham, 3810.