Wake up call
Dear Editor,
Isn’t it about time we started talking about the whole of life cost of renewables? Aside from renewable wind and solar being unable to provide reliable base-load power, how ‘green’ are they really?
In the rampant race to build renewable energy infrastructure have we lost sight of the whole of life costs?
These renewable energy farms have a limited finite life before decommissioning or integral parts replacement. Wind turbine blades are made of fibreglass, expoxy resin and polymers and can be up to 100 metres long. They need replacing in 10 years. Disposal of spent blades will be tricky. Should burying be an option, it will require hectares of ‘ploughable’ land, at a time when agricultural land is already under threat with solar farms taking over large tracts of land.
The disposal at ‘end of life’ associated with renewable energy infrastructure is also a sustainablity issue. Solar panels, that pose a greater environmental and human health risk, are deemed e-waste and cannot enter landfill. They need dedicated PV solar recycling at a cost of up to $1000 per tonne with Australia expected to generate over 100,000 tonnes of solar panel waste within the next eight years.
With Net Zero ideology driving the rampant growth in renewable infrastructure, coupled with carbon sink plantations taking over farm land, food security is at risk. In addition, without policies that prioritise water for food production, we risking our food sovereignty.
Australian water has been financialised with water trading. In 2023, overseas countries and investors owned water shares equivalent to the capture of 4475 gigalitres. This is equivalent to nine Sydney Harbours; and yet the government persists in water ‘buy-backs’ from irrigators. Today an area twice the size of the ACT has gone out of production of basic food stuffs.
We are already on track to be a net importer of food by 2037.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics and the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences have projected shortfalls in production of basic Australian food stuffs. By 2040 there will be a shortfall in butter (40 per cent), eggs (21 per cent), apples (16 per cent), chicken (15 per cent) and pork (47 per cent). These shortfalls affecting supply will make us more reliant on food imports and this reliance has supply chain implications as well as the potential for these imports to come from countries with higher levels of pollution and lower constraints on herbicides and pesticides known to affect human health.
Isn’t it about time we started to join the dots and realise we need to protect agricultural land and call for an urgent review of our policy on water, nuclear, fossil fuels and renewables?
Julie Ann Ashley
Member of Protect Our Farms
Frustration on roads
Dear Editor,
To the Victorian premier Mr. Carroll,
Your constituents, the Victorian tax payers have had enough.
We are paying through the nose for essential services, petrol, food, housing – whether renting or paying off a house, retirees are hurting financially and cost of living pressures.
Here’s one thing you can actually do to help.
DO NOT. I REPEAT, DO NOT BUILD ANY MORE LINK ROADS UNTIL THE DILAPIDATED, DEPLORABLE ROADS THAT WE TAX PAYERS USE EVERY SINGLE DAY ARE REPAIRED PROPERLY PLEASE.
The cost of wheel alignments, tyres and rims are ridiculous and adds ENORMOUS pressure on an already tight budget.
It’s funny how those who commute by car, vans, trucks, etc to work everyday, are expected to have road worthy cars, yet we have to drive on very unroadworthy roads!
AND PLEASE stop blaming past governments for their past mistakes. This is a NOW problem and should be dealt with NOW.
T.Avery
Kilmore
Pondering roadworks
Dear Editor,
The latest statistics show there are now more roadworkers in Kilmore, than the entire residential population of Kilmore.
Actually, this is not quite true, as anecdotal evidence shows only 1 in 20 roadworkers actually work. The rest are on their phones.
Someone in Kilmore needs to explain how it’s possible to have so many different parts of Kilmore closed or hampered by roadworks. It’s almost to the point where you can’t actually drive anywhere. And maybe that’s the point, that it’s all controlled by Amazon, who just want us staying at home ordering stuff.
The worst of all is the traffic light situation around Kulin Drive, which is nothing less than a dog’s breakfast. To be fair, most dogs wouldn’t even touch it. How hard is it to setup lights that actually work properly, and don’t go green when oncoming traffic prevents you moving?
Apparently so difficult, that it has now become absolute proof that no-one has ever set foot on the moon. To explain: people say things like “They can put a man on the moon, but they can’t get these lights working…” Well, it’s time to admit, there is no way that 57 years ago, they flew people to the moon, but here and now, they can’t setup traffic lights, or properly fix a pothole.
As the sign says “Just fix the bloody roads”. No. There are far more important things to do. Like building thousands of new houses for new residents without providing any required infrastructure. Like continuing to not provide a local government high school. Like making sure the 40 speed limit signs extend to at least an entire kilometre in both directions past any semblance of actual roadwork. And like having car-ending divots in the road and putting signs near them saying “traffic hazard” rather than actually fixing the traffic hazard.
A while ago, the TV series La Brea was filmed in Victoria. This was no surprise, as the premise was about sinkholes opening up and transporting people to a different time. Clearly, they drove through Kilmore and decided no CGI was required.
We have now lived in Kilmore for 10 years. In that time, it has changed massively from somewhere that felt “good to live in” to something which actually depresses you. Is it really necessary to have four or five simultaneous sets of roadworks going on at once? Is it a requirement that every possible available spare piece of dirt must have a new house put on it? And is it true that the apparent goal is to turn Kilmore into a metropolis?
Someone, please, let Kilmore breathe again…
Ben Lineage
