Farm Weekly, 29 Nov 24, print, 'Wind, solar project a major concern' - by Brooke Littlewood
ABC Radio Perth,Mornings WA, 27 Nov 24 with Nadia Mitsopoulos
Available on ABC listen, interview starts at 1 hour 35 minutes, ends at 1:53 (including audience comments)
ABC Radio, Regional WA Drive Program, 26 Nov 24, with Andrew Collins
Available on ABC listen, interview starts at 40 minutes.
ABC news online, 26 Nov 24
'Western Green Energy Hub proposal would transform the Nullarbor. What are the odds of it going ahead? - by Emily Smith, Esperance
‘Dundas Shire President Laurene Bonza, whose enormous local government region will encapsulate much of the project, finds the idea mind-boggling.
"The size and scale of it is a bit alarming," she says.
"People think there's nothing out there but it's really quite a fragile environment."
"On one hand they're saying green energy, on the other hand, how much of our green space are we destroying to get that aim?" Asked whether the local community is on board, she says many moved to the Nullarbor seeking isolation.
Ms Bonza is not sure how they will react to the influx of 8,000 workers, or even the 100–300 people required for the project's first stage.
She also has countless questions about logistics — how enough builders will be sourced, how workers will be fed and what impact construction will have on the region's single highway.’
"We are hugely supportive of renewable as the Greens," WA Greens MLC Brad Pettitt says.
"But what we don't want to see is that come at the cost of pretty unique natural places because it doesn't need to."
"People think there's nothing out there but it's really quite a fragile environment."
"On one hand they're saying green energy, on the other hand, how much of our green space are we destroying to get that aim?" Asked whether the local community is on board, she says many moved to the Nullarbor seeking isolation.
Ms Bonza is not sure how they will react to the influx of 8,000 workers, or even the 100–300 people required for the project's first stage.
She also has countless questions about logistics — how enough builders will be sourced, how workers will be fed and what impact construction will have on the region's single highway.’
"We are hugely supportive of renewable as the Greens," WA Greens MLC Brad Pettitt says.
"But what we don't want to see is that come at the cost of pretty unique natural places because it doesn't need to."
Farm Weekly (WA), 26 Nov24, online,
'Scientists: $100b wind and solar project will "seriously harm " Nullarbor Plain - by Brooke Littlewood (subscription only, see pdf link above)
The West Australian, 26 Nov 24, print, p.55
'Battle of the Nullarbor: Watchdog in full review of green energy project amid cave network fears' - by Matt Mckenzie
The West Australian, 25 Nov 24, online
'Western Green Energy Hub: Ambitious hydrogen plan to get full EPA reveiw" - by Matt Mckenzie
The Australian, Editorial, 18 November 2024
'Preserve underground wonderland'
'It is too rich a heritage sacrifice for energy technology that may not stand the test of time. If destroyed, the caves beneath the Nullarbor would be irreplaceable.'
The Weekend Australian 16/17 November 2024
‘Like dropping a brick on a meringue’ : scientists step up to save the Nullarbor
WA's $100 billion 'green' project will destroy 'spectacular hidden world': scientists.
.jpg)
ABC News 15 November 2024
Should the Nullarbor have World Heritage status?
WA Regional Mornings 14 November 2024
Peter Barr show - Note the Nullarbor interview starts at ~ 45min:40sec
Temporarily available on the ABC listen app via link below.
.jpg)
ABC News 14 November 2024
In short:
A scientific report compiled in 1992 found the Nullarbor, across WA and SA, was an excellent candidate for a World Heritage List nomination.
The West Australian side of the plain remains largely unprotected.
What's next?
Some scientists believe the area should be protected from a massive wind and solar infrastructure proposal.
Resistance Radio interview with Derrick Jensen.
Save the Nullarbor was contacted by Derrick who recorded a 45 minute interview with Stefan and Bronwen Eberhard which was aired Sunday 1st September 2024.
Conversations with Richard Fidler
Floating through the Dolines. Recorded 21 April 2021.
As a subterranean ecologist, Stefan Eberhard has spent his working life transfixed by caves and the creatures that live inside them.
He began cave diving as a young man, and was part of a team which discovered a vast underwater cathedral inside Tasmania's Junee cave system.
Some of the greatest adventures of Stefan's life has been inside the caves and dolines which lie under the Nullarbor Plain.
ABC TV News 7.30 Report
Beneath the plains of the Nullarbor lies an underground world formed over millions of years.
7.30 By Will Murray 23 April 2024