General News
27 August, 2025
Winds swirl at Tatyoon meeting
RESIDENTS of Tatyoon and Ballyrogan gathered again last week to continue discussions about the proposed Squadron Energy Ballyrogan Wind Farm, with community members raising concerns about its potential impact on farming, health, and regional life.
The meeting, hosted by the Ballyogan and Tatyoon Community Alliance (BaTCA), welcomed guest speakers Adam Walton of Rokewood, Simone Lewis of Elaine, and Ross Johns of Warracknabeal, all of whom shared their experiences living in farming regions where wind farms have been constructed.
Cr Jo Armstrong moderated the evening, taking a political backseat.
“This is a follow up because information is so powerful and we’re striving very, very hard to make sure that people have the opportunity to come together to share what we have been able to learn and also have the opportunity to ask questions, and also for us to log those questions and then hopefully find some answers,” she said.
Adam Walton, a fourth-generation farmer from Rokewood, reflected on more than a decade of opposition to wind farms.
“We started this process probably 15 years ago, and there would have been three or four of us that were genuinely concerned about what was happening,” he said.
He urged the Ballyrogan and Tatyoon communities to stand united.
“It’s really important you stay as a group and that’s the way I think you’ll beat it.”
Mr Walton explained that even routine farming tasks were disrupted by construction.
“We’ve always moved sheep from one side of the road to the other. We just couldn’t physically move the sheep across the road, and you’d ask them and they’d say, ‘well we’ve got a permit to build a wind farm, so we’re going to build it.’ So we went to the council, and the council said ‘Well, where’s your permit?’ I’ve never actually had a permit to move sheep across a road.”
He also cast doubt on the economic benefits promised at many of the wind farm sites.
“They talk about local jobs. I reckon that if we went within probably 5–10 kilometres of Rokewood, there’s probably three to five people that are genuine locals that have got jobs.”
Simone Lewis, from Elaine, shared her family’s experience living near the Lal Lal wind farm.
Initially supportive, she said their health began to suffer once construction was complete.
“Within a couple of days, we noticed sleep disturbance,” she said.
“Some of the health issues we’ve experienced are headaches, sleep deprivation, anxiety, earaches, insomnia, depression, behaviour regulation issues, chest pain, coordination issues, highly agitated states, chest pressure, nausea, vomiting and fear of going to bed.”
Ms Lewis said her family often had to leave their home just to recover.
“No one wants to go outside. We used to spend 90% of our time outside doing whatever we want to do, now it’s probably 5%,” she said.
Ross Johns, president of the Wimmera Mallee Environmental and Agricultural Protection Association, criticised government policy.
“The government is setting up a system that is not suitable for Australia,” he said.
“This is an incorrect use of our resources, which is government funds.
The whole renewable bill is corrupt, and it’s not going to be in the best interest of Australia.”
“Country communities are extremely powerful. Government is actually scared of us, very scared of us, because we’re made of practical people, we are made of intelligent people, we are made of people that have a connection to country. I don’t think government is going to listen. The only pathway, in my opinion, is civil disobedience, and that’s got to come from the heart,” he said.
Local representatives attended the meeting including Dan Tehan, Martha Haylett and Shadow Minister for Planning Richard Riordan.
Mr Tehan praised the community’s solidarity.
“I will back the point that’s been made, you have to do it together, you have to do it collectively, that’s the best way,” he said.
Now Shadow Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction, Mr Tehan said he planned to use the lessons learned in Tatyoon to shape national policy.
“All the learnings I get from what’s happening here and elsewhere will actually inform our policy that we will take to the next election,” he said.
Labor MP Martha Haylett also criticised the project's process.
“I found out about this project the exact same time as the community did,” she said.
“The community consultation has been in absolute shambles for all of this.”
She said she had since confronted Squadron Energy.
“I met with Squadron, and I told them that you do not have social license to deliver this project. You just don’t. And it was really interesting meeting with them a few days after they had met with yourselves because it was like they were a dog with the tail between their legs. I don’t think they quite appreciated how strong of an opposition and how strong this community is. So they are panicked, they are scared, and that is what we want them to be. We have the foot on the neck, this community does, and you just need to keep it there,” she said.
Ms Haylett said community division had been one of the most painful aspects.
“This is such a strong united community, and it has been devastating in the last few months to see it being divided. Most people I’ve spoken to don’t dispute renewables, they don’t dispute that it is the way of the future, but they dispute the way that this has been done. And they feel this is being done against their will.”
Shadow Planning Minister Richard Riordan said regional voices needed to be amplified.
“The task for us as regional and country people is if we can’t get the message to our brothers and sisters that actually live and work and survive off of what we all do on the land, then we’ve got a problem,” he said.