Voice of Real Australia is a regular newsletter from ACM, which has more than 100 mastheads across Australia. Today's is written by ACM national agriculture writer Chris McLennan.
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The bright red signs on the fences were the first inkling that something was up.
Paradise wasn't quite as we had left it.
My wife and I had returned home from a "year or two" in Darwin that had turned into five years after falling in love with the place.
Easing back in country life just outside Melbourne I remember remarking to my wife about the Stop AusNet Towers signs all over the place.
I had no idea what AusNet was, or where it wanted to place its towers, but I knew the townsfolk were none to pleased.
Country folk don't generally like to make a fuss about most things, especially politics. And we were entering the human equivalent of the dark web: Melbourne's battles with COVID-19 were legend. It was the reason we had upped stakes from the Top End to be closer to our children.
Like all Victorians, the long lockdowns had worn everyone down.
That these very pleasant folk had time to protest about something else really surprised me.
AusNet, as we now know, is one of those energy companies who want to march their high voltage towers up and down the bush.
The city needs renewable electricity but just like it needed the brown coal deposits in Gippsland, the wind and sun is in the country, so you have to bring the power to us.
If the world doesn't stop producing dirty power, then our world is toast.
Sure, even in Darwin we had received and understood that message. But we hadn't heard a thing about the practicalities of how that would happen.
Enter stage left Ausnet. What a mess they made. Country people don't like to be told what to do, especially by city people.
Someone forgot to tell Ausnet, and the other energy peeps who followed.
Now the head of the Australian Energy Market Operator, Daniel Westerman, says they have learned their lesson. They call it "building social licence".
Let's hope it's not too late.
There was never enough discussion about undergrounding the power lines.
Country people are scared of bushfires, it is part of their DNA. Powerlines have killed people in the past by igniting fires on the worst of summer days; those days that we ask country people, volunteers, to charge off into the smoke on their little red trucks.
Volunteers. Family and friends.
Perhaps the energy companies could volunteer some of their own gear and people for the summer peril?
People have been deceived as well. The powerline is going to go there - sucked in, it's going here after all.
I haven't been here for all the shenanigans, but people really have their backs up. They are really angry.
But I liked what Mr Westerman said. Line in the sand type stuff. We know we have done some bad things in your eyes, we've been clumsy. Power projects are going to help your communities - paint the school, some new rubbish bins - you can even control the committee which hands out the cash.
Come on energy companies, country people deserve better than this. Something long-lasting, not these bribes. Country people are not stupid.
"It requires diligent, honest work to build the social licence with our communities," Mr Westerman said last week.
He said communities expect the energy industry to be open with them with no hidden agendas, to explain clearly the situation, not hide behind obscure technical language, to listen, to respond thoughtfully and meaningfully, and to fairly compensate those affected.
I for one vote for starting over. Mr Westerman needs to hire some country people as advisors, that's clear.
What will it take to re-set this program?
It has to happen, and it will happen, but we don't want bulldozers driving through barricades, and that's where this is headed.
But I was late to this party, it's going to take a lot more than one speech for people to have any faith any time soon.
There's been too much unnecessary bad blood for that.
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