RESIDENTS living near wind farms will soon have access to an independent commissioner who the government says will resolve all associated complaints.
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The establishment of a “national wind farm commissioner” comes after the government passed legislation on Tuesday which also slashed the renewable energy target from 41,000 gigawatt hours to 33,000.
A "scientific committee" will also be set up to research wind turbines and advise ministers on their environmental impact and potential health problems.
Yendon resident and Wind Industry Reform Victoria president John McMahon welcomed the new legislation and said complaints would only grow in the future as wind farms become more common and turbine sizes increase.
“The concept is a great one,” Mr McMahon said.
“People living near wind farms have in the past had to speak to, or voice their complaints to, the wind companies themselves and that is not an independent process.
“So any independent conduit for complaints is a good thing.”
The new commissioner will be able to refer complaints to relevant state authorities and help ensure that complaints are addressed, the government said.
But organisations supporting wind energy said the new commissioner role was farcical.
Australian Wind Alliance state co-ordinator Andrew Bray said cutting Australia’s renewable energy target was bad enough, while a new commissioner role would create unnecessary red tape.
“It is clear that Tony Abbott’s government will do everything they can to stop the creation of wind farm jobs in regional areas like Ballarat,” he said.
“It is extraordinary that a government that believes in cutting red tape would want to introduce an entire new level of federal bureaucracy just for wind farms.
“Wind farms produce very little noise and the vast majority of the thousands of Australians who live near them do so without problems. It is important that when complaints are made, they are investigated and resolved. We would prefer to see the roles of existing state ombudsmen bolstered rather than a whole new bureaucracy created.”
Mr Bray said senators had disregarded The National Health and Medical Research Council’s findings that wind farms do not harm human health.
patrick.byrne@fairfaxmedia.com.au
