By Jenel Hunt
Renewable energy is on everyone’s lips these days, but there is a dark side to the industry – the effect that large construction projects have on their nearest communities.
Warwick especially is feeling the effects of the winds of change, with a vast renewable energy project, ACCIONA’s MacIntyre Wind Farm, on its doorstep.
Robyn Haig, the new director of Regional Development Australia Darling Downs South West, attended the September information session of the Southern Downs Regional Council to introduce herself and talk about the SDRC’s priorities and how they fitted into the RDA framework, as the SDRC is one of 10 local government areas on her patch.
Flicking through a laundry list of topics that the RDA works through to make its submissions to the Federal Government, she met a groundswell of agreement when she mentioned some of its top five priority issues – workforce and skill shortages, housing availability and affordability, carbon, health care and connectivity.
One of the topics of interest was Designated Area Migration Agreements (DAMA), a program to fast-track permission to bring migrant workers to specific areas to have jobs filled from overseas when it can be shown they cannot be filled locally.
The RDA didn’t have to be the organisation to make the application, Ms Haig said. It could be a Chamber of Commerce or BROC (Border Regional Organisation of Councils).
“DAMA is really just a collective for the outcome – to make a business case so that each business doesn’t have to do so.”
Since a change in the Federal Government, despite a recent strong appetite in the region for local governments to become involved in the DAMA process, a review currently under way most likely meant that a modified and rebranded project would be in the works to replace the program.
Coming from industry (civil engineering) and with a background in agriculture, Ms Haig was to the point with many of her comments.
“I think that horse has bolted,” she said.
But it was the issues that renewable energy brought to their doorsteps that drew great interest.
Cr Stephen Tancred summed up some areas of concern in three words – housing, infrastructure and legacy.
Cr Cynthia McDonald said the nearby Macintyre Wind Farm project concerned her with regard to its impact on housing and roads, the tenure of the actual towers themselves and eventual disposal issues, as well as the project’s impact on local employment.
“One of our electricians has trained up three apprentices and now they’ve gone to the wind farm and he has to train another three. There’s an overall impact on employment, on our community, roads and infrastructure, on our housing and the list goes on and on,” she said.
“There might have been a lot more planning that went on that I wasn’t privy to but I don’t feel that as a council we were across the project as much as we should have been.
“I feel there should be more consultation and planning with the local government and for us to look at what our priorities are and what we would like to see.”
Cr Ross Bartley agreed.
“All the problems Cr McDonald has raised are significant in our community,” he said.
“I also thought it was remiss of them to set up the workers’ camp without a water supply. They privately purchase water from an irrigation supply.
“If you go to the general area and ask what do you think of the wind farm there’s mixed views. Maybe the council needs some guidance on how to deal with it, but we’re hamstrung because it’s state and federally controlled.”
He also described some gifts from large project owners to nearby communities as Trojan horses. He gave an example of a sports centre built and donated to Millmerran – a so-called legacy project because it will need upkeep for the rest of its existence, leaving a legacy of ongoing expense to the local council.
“It’s a wonderful sports centre but has become a bit of a burden on the community. It goes back to the old saying, ‘Beware of strangers bearing gifts’.
“The wind farm sponsors a lot of events. The organisation does a lot. But when they stop sponsoring, there’ll be a massive vacuum. And they’re also building things that will need life-long maintenance. It’s like a Trojan horse.”
Cr Jo McNally said the council had been given some say in the solar farm that was built just north of Warwick but had no say whatsoever in the wind farm project.
“They’ve taken the local government out of the equation,” she said.
“But local government needs to be consulted and perhaps even paid a bond for our roads to maintain them so the impacts aren’t so great.”
Gary Murphy said one of the big problems was who had the statutory rights.
“In relation to traffic impact, there’s no power for the council to seek rectification. I think that’s one of the major failings. It’s a corporate authority that’s got statutory rights. It beggars believe that we don’t have a single piece of legislation that requires a social impact assessment.”
He said that while he understood that priority was being placed on renewable energies, stronger resources legislation, as applied with central Queensland coalfields, was needed.
Ms Haig said it was a failing that there was no legislation covering such developments.
She said the RDA had included many of the points in its submission to the Wind Farm Code and she believed the concerns would be carried across to a submission for a federal review of renewables.
Mayor Cr Vic Pennisi said it was not all ‘doom and gloom’ and a positive step was that the owners of the wind farm were engaging with the council.
“We may not be able to fix the past, but at least we may be able to do something about the future,” he said.
“We need to sit at the table and unpick what the opportunities are so that the legacies are realistic and beneficial … and not a millstone. You know, people say that getting a set of grain silos painted is a great thing. And it probably is, except that when the paint fades it’ll be left to the local government to fix it up, and ultimately it will become a burden.”
Cr McNally said Warwick was still deep in a housing crisis.
“Three years after it started and we’re still talking about a housing crisis. In Warwick the Department of Housing has done one small development of four units in that time. There’s definitely a need for more housing.”
She said no one knew what would happen to rent prices that were currently extremely high when wind farm workers moved out of their Warwick houses when the construction phase was completed.
Ms Haig said her own committee were investigating a region-wide housing audit.
“It’s not just you; everybody west of here has the exact same issue,” she said.
Cr Pennisi suggested the RDA from Cairns or the Council of Mayors could shed more light on possible solutions.
“We don’t have the finances to solve the housing issues here, but we do have connections. We have invited some expressions of interest for community housing and there might be some activity take place from there. Housing isn’t a Local Government issue, but we’ve got to find solutions to problems that other levels of government have created over time.”
