After attending Engie’s Hazelwood Community Information Meeting last night in Morwell, Member for Morwell Russell Northe has again re-stated his strong view that every option must be explored to keep Hazelwood Pondage open.
“The tourism, recreation and economic benefits of the pondage are significant to our community so if it was that the Pondage permanently closed then this would be an extremely sad day for our region,” said Mr Northe.
“Earlier this year in Parliament I questioned the Minister for Resources on what guarantees the Government would provide in keeping the Pondage open; however his answer was less than satisfactory,” Mr Northe said.
Engie representatives stated last evening that no approach had been made to them by the State Government in how the Pondage might remain open for the foreseeable future, to which I find staggering and incredibly disappointing given the importance that this unique body of water is to our community. It became quite clear at the Community Information meeting last night that the desire to keep the Pondage open is still very strong from many amongst our community, which indicates that we need to ensure absolutely all options for the Pondage to remain open are explored.
“Surely the Government can make a commitment to do the necessary work and understand what is required to maintain the Hazelwood Pondage for years to come. To say its too hard is simply not acceptable to those in our community and visitors who enjoy what the Pondage has to offer” said Mr Northe.
