Today, Corryong College unveiled a new solar system that will cut its power bills by over 60% and allow it to generate its own electricity. This is fantastic news for the whole Upper Murray and shows how renewables are building the resilience of regional communities. Thread 👇
In the summer fires, Corryong College in the remote Upper Murray region of Indi, became an emergency shelter for 600 people evacuated from the local area. You can see from the burn scar - the fires were on every side of the town.
The town of Corryong relies on a single power line bringing electricity 100s of kilometres to the Upper Murray. When that line fails, the region is cut off. In January, with 600 people sheltering in the school, and fire all around, that's exactly what happened.
This article in The Age from the time described it like this:

"Elderly people are sleeping on mats on the floor. Children are choking on smoke. People are crying. Some have just lost their homes."

smh.com.au/national/in-th…
The school's new solar system is about making sure this never happens again. The system is set up to easily add on a battery - adding more resilience. It's absurd that in 2020, towns in Australia are still losing power in a crisis. And local renewables are fixing that problem.
The community has also developed a comprehensive plan to put solar on the roofs of dozens of public buildings, build an electric vehicle charging network, community batteries and an entire local micro-grid. The goals are resilience, affordability and local ownership.
This is what renewables can do for regional and remote communities: lower prices, more security. In Indi, we have no fossil fuel power stations - we rely on imports from afar. But every town in Indi - and in regional Australia - could be its own renewable energy power station.
It's why I published my #LocalPowerPlan, because regional communities deserve the chance to benefit from the renewable boom - to generate, use and export their own power. Coming out of this crisis, it's the type of vision we need for regional Australia.

localpowerplan.com

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More from @helenhainesindi

17 Nov
Last night on #QandA we spent most of the show arguing about politicians' bad behaviour. At a time when so many issues need attention, this was a miss. Every minute politicians talk about themselves is a minute not spent on our real jobs: making people's lives better. 👇
In a time of immense challenges for so many, we should be laser-focused on supporting Australians to get back on their feet. Here are five issues that are critical to people in Indi right now that we could have spent an hour discussing last night on QandA.
One: the unemployment crisis. In Indi the number of people on JobSeeker has gone up 68% since March. Look at these numbers - in some towns it's up 200%. For a small town, suddenly having 300+ people out of work is a full blown crisis - and right now there's no real plan out. Image
Read 8 tweets
2 Nov
Finally, after two years of delay and eleven months with the bill sitting on his desk, the Attorney-General has released his exposure legislation for the Commonwealth Integrity Commission.

My reaction. ⬇️
It's surely no coincidence that this comes just 7 days after I introduced my Australian Federal Integrity Commission Bill 2020 into Parliament. There's no doubt my Bill has forced the Government’s hand and I am pleased that at last they have realised the time for delay is over.
Today’s release is also clearly the result of pressure from inside the Government’s own party room and from the Australian public sick of scandals and sick of excuses.
This is a victory for public scrutiny and accountability in an integrity vacuum.
Read 9 tweets
7 Apr
Today I wrote to the Attorney-General asking the Govt to support 2 motions from the crossbench in Parliament tomorrow

Our motions would establish two Joint Select Committees to scrutinise the Govt's health & economic responses to the COVID-19 pandemic 👇

canberratimes.com.au/story/6715654/…
In a crisis, it is right that the government has the power to move quickly - this is not a time for politicking or games.

All Australians need the government to succeed, and we as crossbenchers are determined to ensure that they do.

That's why we're doing this.
The Labor Party has proposed a Senate Committee be established to perform this vital role of scrutinising the Government's response.

But we believe this proposal is insufficient to the task required of us in four key ways:
Read 9 tweets
15 Oct 19
Don’t be fooled by the humdrum panel pic. Tonight we’re dreaming large. With @AustFarmInstitu I’m thrilled to join experts from science and industry in drawing a picture of a better future for Australian Agriculture. Here’s a glimpse (in thread form) 👇🏽
According to soil scientist and @ipcc_ch author Dr Annette Cowie, paying farmers to store carbon in soil is one of the biggest and most crucial ways we can avert the worst parts of dangerous heating and climate disruption. Here she is repping Australian science on the world stage
Some fast facts paint a grim picture:
🌏humans utilise 70% of the world’s ice free land.
🙊25% of that is degraded.
🍃we are losing soil 100x faster than we are replacing it.

But land owners are key to turning this around.
Read 7 tweets

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