Statement on TransGrid

Scathing criticism of TransGrid, contained in a report penned by its own landowner and community advocate, comes as no surprise to Independent Member for Wagga Wagga Dr Joe McGirr.

For the past year, Dr McGirr has been calling on TransGrid to improve the way it dealt with landowners and communities who could potentially be affected by the location of the new 500kv transmission lines for the HumeLink project.

In response to mounting criticism, TransGrid appointed its landowner and community advocate, former NSW Commissioner for Fair Trading Rod Stowe, to undertake an independent review of its community engagement processes.

As part of their review, Mr Stowe and deputy advocate Barbara El-Gamal met in Wagga Wagga with affected farmers from the Kyeamba Valley Concerned Landowners Group.

In their report, which was released this week, Mr Stowe and Ms El-Gamal made 20 recommendations on how to overhaul the consultation process, all of which TransGrid has said it will adopt.

In the report, the pair noted that landowners “were both angry with the consultation process itself and distressed by the ongoing uncertainty about whether their property was affected or not and a concern that they would not be adequately compensated if their property is affected”.

“Landowners have become deeply frustrated with the level of community consultation coming from TransGrid,” Dr McGirr said.

“It has been like pulling teeth. Many of the landowners I have spoken to have spent hours putting together information on the route proposal, only to have TransGrid largely ignore it.

“They have been repeatedly treated with disrespect, fobbed off or ignored.

“I have raised my concerns directly with TransGrid and repeatedly in parliament, as well as with the Minister for Energy and the Environment, Matt Kean.

“I was able to persuade Mr Kean to visit the area and meet with landowners, on the properties that could be directly impacted by the proposal transmission lines.

“Despite the poor performance by TransGrid, landowners have pressed ahead, repeatedly attempting to raise their concerns and share feedback.

“I want to pay tribute to groups, like the Kyeamba Valley Concerned Landowners, who have worked extremely hard to get TransGrid to hear them.

“I commend Transgrid for undertaking the review, publishing the report and committing to all the recommendations.

“It is now up to TransGrid to demonstrate that they are serious about taking on board the recommendations and making real change.”