Thursday, 22 February 2024

Dederang

Rikkie-Lee TYRRELL (Northern Victoria) (09:51): My members statement today is to highlight the beauty of a locality within my constituency. The township of Dederang and its surrounding area are nestled in the east of my seat amongst the pristine valleys of the Kiewa River valley. Although the Dederang township has a humble population of only 422 residents, the population consists of some of the hardest working and most community-driven individuals in Victoria. And of course they are – they are Northern Victorians. Their homes are privy to the beautiful snowcapped mountains in winter and the rolling meadows during our warmer months. Unfortunately, this lifestyle comes at a risk of bushfires and flash flooding, but these are risks the community can withstand due to generations of hard-learned lessons. One thing they are not willing to withstand is the unwelcome introduction of a battery energy storage system to be constructed between two creeks that feed into the Kiewa River. This is one of many communities in my constituency that face unnecessary infrastructure within their community that will mainly benefit Melbourne and not those subjected to noise, heavy metal and visual pollutions. My constituents want to say this: ‘We are primary producers, not industrial wastelands.’