April 3rd, 2023Just sayin’…

By Donna Kelly

SOME things just make you smile. Like driving past the PISS OFF AUSNET sign mowed into the hill on the way to Creswick.
I love it. So simple, so annoying for a huge company like AusNet. Private
land, so not much they can do about it. And you can’t defame a company.
Mind you, there have been some interesting signs about our local pollies as well.
State MP Mary-Anne Thomas and federal MP Catherine King. Just wondering
where they stand as the community fights a David and Goliath battle to keep huge
powerlines out of pristine and valuable farm land.
It is a fight which has united communities and those with very different
ideologies. Greenies and farmers, working together, to save the environment. Who
would have thought? Town folk and country people together as one to stop the
desecration of the reason we all moved here, or choose to stay here.
The powerlines would look absolutely bloody ugly and destroy that drive through
the currently very serene countryside. And it would be gone forever. Yeah, a few
farmers might get a few bucks and there would be renewable energy for the city folk
of Melbourne, but it’s pretty short term thinking.
We have covered this story a few times, of course, but this week I talked to two
people really involved – Joee Aganetti-Fraser and Will Elsworth. Wow, talk about
passionate. These guys, if I can call them both that, are not going down without a
fight, in fact, I don’t think they are going down at all.
Sometimes big players think they will win because, well, they are big. But I
reckon AusNet has met its match. These guys, and their support base and that is
huge, might be farmers but they are also strategic thinkers with huge…well, I can’t say
that about a woman, but they have the courage of their convictions.
If you have not read the story on page five, Joee spent six hours, two years ago
almost to the day, mowing that sign into the hill to make a public stand. And keeps it
mowed – and we all know no-one really likes mowing except perhaps Forrest Gump.
And Will apparently has to keep apologising for his language but why should
he? If you were in a fight for your property, your livelihood, your family and your
community I reckon you would drop a few F-bombs.
I had another smile just as I was writing this. I rang the AusNet media hotline
and was asked why I was calling. I said I had been in touch with the Piss Off AusNet
group. The funny thing is that it is not very often you get to say you are calling an
organisation about a group that wants them to piss off. Mind you, the woman was
very professional and said someone would be in touch soon. And they were.
They asked who I was and what area I covered and said, yes, they were very aware
of the Piss Off AusNet group. And I said I thought they would be. And they said
could I email questions through and did not seem at all fazed that the deadline was
that afternoon. (I write this column as my last piece for the week – generally on a
Friday. Sometimes it’s harder than others because I will have already read Kyle’s Rant
and he has been known to steal ideas from me…)
Anyway, it is 3.16pm on Friday, March 24 and nothing back yet but I am sure
it will come.We just popped out to Mt Prospect and got a photo of Joee and her
message. So all about AusNet and pissing off this arvo. As the editor I am not meant
to have an opinion but as a columnist that is OK apparently. I wish Joee and Will all
the best.
Hmmm. And keeping to the theme, I think I might piss off after this to the pub
and have a wine. Just sayin’..