27 February 2024
Actions for the NSW Government - Energy Costs & Disaster Relief
Last week, I read through the NSW Budget Statement 2023-2024….. I know ! That sounds incredibly boring ! I wanted to understand the priorities of the current Government for NSW and where AILA should develop our positions. Overall, housing affordability is high on the list, but so is the the management of natural disasters and Renewable Energy.
“Energy is at the heart of the climate challenge – and key to the solution” (United Nations). Renewable Energy is one solution that can bring wide-reaching benefits to our environment and our communities. As caretakers of the land we should be vigilant to weight up the pros and cons with clarity and employ our collective knowledge in this field.
There are some opinions about the physical and visual impact of Renewables and their potential environmental footprint, but these should be examined alongside the significant opportunities for community growth & land restoration.
In conversation with our NSW President David Moir, David added “Renewables will inject significant amounts of community contributions over over the life of the infrastructure (possibly up to 30 years). These contributions can be spent on regional projects and can make a huge difference to local community growth, regional economies and enable land managers to scale back land use and restore the land”.
In this regard Renewables are a pathway to revegetation and carbon capture. David again “climate change is a far greater threat to biodiversity than the installation of renewables” and I agree.
We should be advocating in support of renewables. In terms of energy production they are the most cost efficient and have the least impact on the landscape (particularly in the long term).
AILA, through advocacy, will work with members and our government -placed colleagues to develop a leading position on issues such as Renewables. If you have an interest in, or an opinion on Renewables or a general interest in Advocacy , please get in touch.
Natalie McEvoy
NSW Executive Member