December 4, 2013
Australia

Waubra name blame

Cimara Pearce | The Weekly Times | December 4, 2013 | www.weeklytimesnow.com.au

None of the Waubra Foundation’s board of directors live in the Western Victorian town the group is named after.

And while all the directors have had “first-hand contact” with Waubra residents, only five of the eight board members have visited the township.

The national lobby group campaigns over wind-farm-related health impacts and has been under increasing pressure from Waubra locals to stop using the town’s name.

When presented with a list of what The Weekly Times understood to be the residential address of each director, chief executive Sarah Laurie said she had “no idea” of its accuracy.

“I don’t know all the private locations of the directors’ homes and in any case it is a breach of their privacy for that information to be in the public domain,” Ms Laurie said.

“The only people who do so are people who wish to cause the foundation and its directors damage to stop us from exposing the truth of what is going on, and distract from the real issues which is harm to human health, and a monumental fraud.

“Five of the directors have visited the Waubra district to spend time with sick people, and all the directors have had first-hand contact with residents from Waubra and other locations who are suffering serious adverse health effects.

“At least four of the directors have stayed in the homes of sick residents at Waubra.”

She said the organisation had directors from NSW, Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia.

A petition with more than 300 signatures was last week presented to Victorian Democratic Labour senator John Madigan calling on the foundation to change its name.

Senator Madigan said he was happy to meet the concerned Waubra residents, but added: “No one owns the name Waubra.

“While I understand the residents’ concerns, there are more prominent issues concerning the wind industry at present, not the least being the failure of the State Government and Clean Energy Regulator to address non-compliance at Waubra,” Senator Madigan said.

Ms Laurie said the board would meet next week but it had a number of other “very serious and urgent matters” to consider.

“We have received very clear advice from the people for whom the foundation was established that they specifically do not wish us to change the name of the foundation,” she said.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2013/12/04/waubra-name-blame/