Penny Ackery says The Goulburn Group wants a more progressive council that works to bring people, jobs and economic activity into the local government area, including a major solar farm worth $540 million. Photo: Supplied.
Freshly elected as president of The Goulburn Group, Penny Ackery is urging people in the Goulburn Mulwaree area to get involved in this year’s council elections to help drive change in the region.
“It is only when more people become engaged, whether through nominating for a position on council or making their voices heard, that we can ensure a substantial change in direction,” she said.
Ms Ackery succeeds Urs Walterlin, who founded TGG, a group of activists, in 2007 and has served several extended terms as president. He will remain involved as patron of TGG.
“We have been disappointed by some of the major decisions made by this council,” Ms Ackery said. “As residents will only remember too well, council proposed a massive rate increase of 51.2 per cent over three years.”
Ms Ackery said the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal knocked this back because the council had failed to demonstrate the impact on ratepayers was reasonable and criticised failures in community consultation. Instead it approved an increase of 22.5 per cent for this financial year.
“While the council is complaining about lack of funds, at the same time it opposes economic development in our area that could provide a major boost to our local economy and make a significant contribution to council revenue,” she said.
This did not make sense, TGG’s president said.
“The prime example is the Gundary solar farm, a $540 million project that would be the biggest investment in our region in Goulburn’s history but which councillors voted eight to one to oppose after objections from local landholders and opponents of renewables,” Ms Ackery said.
“Yes, there would be some inconvenience to landholders and they deserve generous compensation. But surely our community leaders should be arguing that some of those many millions should benefit the broader community.”
TGG had met with solar farm proponent Lightsource bp and argued for guarantees of a significant number of local jobs during construction, work for local contractors, a training program, cheaper electricity for lower-income households, and funding for projects that could bring visitors and money to the Goulburn area.
One project worth funding would be the Goulburn-to-Crookwell rail trail as part of a significant community benefit fund, as had been provided by other renewables projects in Australia.
“The income that such a large project could bring to council would enable it to support a diverse range of cultural, sporting, environmental and other activities,” Ms Ackery said. “Reinstating funding for the Goulburn Blues Festival would be a good start.”
TGG says if the current councillors insist on blocking such progress, they should get out of the way and let others do the job.
“We should follow the example of Hay Shire Council, whose economic development officer, Alison McLean, says about the big projects proposed in her area: ‘You can absolutely disagree with the energy transition but you cannot deny the rest of the community the opportunity that this would bring’,” Ms Ackery said.
Nominations for council positions close on 14 August and the election will be held on 14 September.
TGG aims to host a public forum where community members can ask council candidates what they would do to promote a prosperous future for Goulburn and surrounding areas.
Ms Ackery said TGG members would not be running for the council.
“We want to provide information about who the candidates are and give them the chance to speak at our forum,” she said.
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