The Liberals’ announcement of Whaleback Ridge major project pathway is shameless.
This project should already be through an approvals process – but it is only going to get started after another election.
West Coast Renewables has been seeking landowner consent from the Government so it can get started with a planning process.
But for four years it could not make headway through dithering by successive Liberal Ministers, including Jeremy Rockliff.
By starting a major projects pathway now, it only highlights the project will be years away from occurring.
Then there is the north west transmission project. Last year, the Government wrote to landowners telling them they would stage the northwest transmission project and the ‘stage 2’ component that was designed to connect projects like Whaleback Ridge and HIF would be indefinitely delayed.
So what is the Liberals plan for northwest transmission? The reannouncement of the northwest REZ, which they also announced in December 2022 and the announcement to ‘allow’ hydro Tasmania to build a wind farm at an unknown location with no money do not actually help resolve the energy crisis.
Are the Liberals going to build the full northwest transmission or not? If not, how will they actually connect whaleback Ridge, HIF and all the other projects that should be part of a REZ.
Dean Winter MP
Shadow Minister for Energy and Renewables
