Powerline answers sought

I will try if I can to help you visualise the situation three hundred or so landholders find themselves in. Imagine one day half of your superannuation disappears from your account. Now imagine the police refuse to help you find it instead they tell you it has been resumed for the greater good. What would you do when you found out it was your own Government that approved of the theft?
To put this in context for you if we assume a conservative ten percent reduction in property values in the 2km by 8 km study corridor, this equates to a 25 million dollar loss to the owners at current market value. The reality is likely closer to 30-50 % reduction in land values.
“Mitigation strategies” feature prominently in Powerlink brochures and their web site. The only mitigation that will physically be able to block the towers is a bag over your head. The much-heralded EIS is a rubber-stamping process. Of course Mr Wilson could never acknowledge this and still remain in parliament .The “community consultation” sounds like a very interactive process, let me assure you it is not. Since our first meeting with Powerlink on our property 8 months ago we have heard nothing. It was made clear at this meeting that if the structure did not cross our property Powerlink was under no obligation to do anything for us. The movement of the pylons from 1.5 Km away to 200m away did not apparently warrant any consultation we discovered this move only by searching the web site. Powerlink refused repeated invitations to talk at community meetings in spite of police presence being offered to allay their ludicrous “safety concerns”. Consultation is a word on a brochure not a real process.
Keep for those reading this and feeling relief that they have been spared consider if it is likely that Powerlink would stop a 275 KV line in a paddock outside Eumundi. Not likely, there is much more to come.

These days, with everyone living on a financial knife-edge, you can imagine the outcry if income tax were to be increased by a few percent. Well then, how would you feel if the government summarily confiscated 50% of your life savings? “Impossible”, you say. “How could that happen? We live in a democratic, first-world society with a government that protects our right to own property, it does not confiscate it!”

Well, think again. Not only is it possible, but it is actually happening to me. In my late forties, and having put all of my spare earnings from a workaholic career of almost 30 years into my property on the Sunshine Coast, Powerlink has announced that they intend running a huge 275kV power line with 45m high pylons along the eastern border of this property. The consensus among estate agents in the area is that my property will lose 50% of its value. Because the line is not actually on my property, but just over the border, Powerlink will not pay a single penny in compensation – 50% of life savings gone. Is this just? Is it even constitutional? If not, how is it happening in our society? In effect, I have done 15 years hard labour for Powerlink - some killers have received lighter sentences. I am not the only one - there are many other people facing the same situation in Eerwah Vale. The same area, by the way, is also a tourist route and is regarded as some of the most beautiful country in the state. If it were the other way around - if I summarily helped myself to something of the same value from the government, I would be incarcerated into my old age and their property would be returned forthwith. If anyone has any advice on how the residents of Eerwah Vale might deal with this gross miscarriage of justice, I would be very glad to hear from them.

As if that were not enough, our family has been simultaneously stricken with breast cancer (my wife has it), and Powerlink is now taking on the appearance of a diabolical monster which is hell-bent on destroying our lives. Please read about the links between power lines and breast cancer if you would like to know more about this.