CONSTITUENCY STATEMENTS

Mr LITTLEPROUD (Maranoa) (16:35): I'd like to bring to the parliament's attention a dangerous situation unfolding out in my electorate, in Tara, as we speak. It's been predicated by Vestas, a Danish renewable company that is looking to do a renewable development west of Tara, about 350 kilometres west of Brisbane. In seeking a development application, they put up testing towers to be able to understand the wind flow through there; I don't begrudge them that.

But this application, which they put in place some months ago and which was approved, was predicated on it being placed in a certain position and with certain safety features put around it. We have already seen, as a result of the negligence of this Danish company, near misses by local aviators. In fact, for their application to the local Western Downs Regional Council, Vestas actually went and got an aviation consultant to give them advice, and that consultant failed to even understand that there were general aviators and agricultural aviators that flew in that part of the world.

In fact, probably all they did was go and consult with Qantas and Rex, who fly at 30,000 feet. But these testing towers are effectively around 300 feet. So there's no way in the world that Qantas, Virgin or Rex would have any issue with this whatsoever.

The tower was not properly lit, and these towers have wires that come down from them. We've seen that local aviators and agricultural aviators, who are flying fixed-wing aircraft as well as helicopters, are flying around these things without being able to see them. They have not been properly marked—they have not been placed where they were meant to be placed—and they do not have proper safety lighting.

I've written now to CASA and the ATSB after local aviators and local landholders, like Keiran Cook, have had the courage to stand up and to say that something needs to change and that their lives are being put at risk by greedy renewable companies from Denmark coming in and not giving a rat's about the lives of those people that live out there, the people that make a living and have made a living producing your food and fibre every day.

The fact that these men and women in helicopters and fixed aircraft fly around these things and can't see them—they've had near misses and their lives could be taken—is an absolute atrocity. The fact that Vestas have been allowed to put these things up in that part of the world, knowing very well that agricultural aviation is at the centre of how we produce your food and fibre, and the fact that they have ignored approvals that were given to them—the approvals have been ignored in every sense—is something that ATSB and CASA need to act on.

I have written to them and I expect the people of western Queensland to be protected in every way. I look forward to seeing what ATSB and CASA do and I look forward to the prosecution of Vestas for negligence in this matter. (Time expired)