Bass Coast community assembly continues in new location

"Water: desalination plant Mr K. SMITH (Bass) "— I wish to raise the hypocrisy of the Brumby socialist government which seems to think it can run roughshod over the people in the Bass electorate. First it forced six wind towers to be built in a pristine foreshore area, and they are hardly ever in use. Then the government told us it was going to supply a third of Melbourne’s water supply from a desalination plant, on which it never consulted with the local council or the community. Now we find this government is going to supply power to the desalination plant by a 75-kilometre-long, 120-megawatt powerline through a 500-metre-wide easement in some of Victoria’s best farming and grazing land, again without any consultation with the local councils or communities. This proposal has devastated many families who live along the proposed route, and it shows this government has no care or concern for the local community. If it has to go in, the powerline should be put underground and not above ground. The water minister has said that the government has consulted widely. That is a lie. He and his Premier have lost the confidence of the councillors and the community in the electorate of Bass. They do not care what they do down there, but I can tell them that this farce, on top of suing the Your Water Your Say group, has amalgamated the community against them. The powerline must go underground; and this government will go underground at the next election — dead and buried!" From Members Statements, Hansard, February - June, 2008, revised book 9, 2408.