NSW AND FEDERAL GOVERNMENT DEAL MEANS WE SHOULD PUT HUMELINK UNDERGROUND

22ND DECEMBER 2022

This week our State Parliament passed powerful new laws to put a cap on the price of coal. in New South Wales as a means by which to combat supply and affordability issues.

At the same time a deal with the Federal Government will mean $7.8 billion to connect Snowy 2.0 to the grid amongst other transmission projects.

These funds should be used to put the HumeLink Project underground rather than overhead.

The HumeLink will demolish over 2500 hectares of land with giant overhead transmission towers over 360 kilometres, 85 meters tall with 70 meters of land cleared along the Corridor. This impacts the Kosciuszko National Park, prime farmland, numerous privateproperties and regional landscapes.

For four generations the Tobin family have run a cattle farm near Darlow and Rebecca Tobin has been given estimates that the value of her land will be diminished by 30% if the HumeLink is allowed to go overhead. The Sturgess family have a similar farm in Batlow and have previously said they would be similarly impacted; Andrea has said “We’re probably going to lose a lot, like our distillery or home, the garden, everything”.

Native habitats for endangered species such as the Booroolong Frog, Superb Parrot Eastern Pygmy Possum, Greater Glider and indeed koalas will be severely impacted and most likely destroyed.

In short, this is an environmental and economic desecration of our parks, lands and homes. I further note that these towers are also vulnerable to bushfires with the network still recovering from the Black Summer Bushfires in 2019/20. Worse still, damaged networks are more prone to causing fires and in extreme weather that risk increases dramatically.

Snowy 2.0 is in our backyard and is a vital part of the transition to affordable renewable energy. Right now, we have the opportunity to build energy infrastructure that will last for the next eighty years or more; so let’s do it right.

I call on the State and Federal Governments to seriously consider funding the underground construction of HumeLink.