I write in response to the ignorant letter written by John Doig of the Sutherland Climate Action Network, slamming Federal MP Craig Kelly.
How dare Mr Doig denigrate someone when he has no qualifications in medicine?
In fact, it is Mr Doig who is wrong, wrong, wrong.
Nobody is in a position to comment on the existence or non-existence of health impacts from wind turbines, unless they live near and experience such.
I am severely impacted by infrasound, low frequency noise and background noise emitted by the 140 enormous 90 metre towers, plus 56 metre blades of AGL’s Macarthur wind factory, which now literally surround our home and our once magnificent, peaceful farming property in south-west Victoria. So is my husband, and many other residents, some living as far away as five kilometres from this wind factory, the largest in the southern hemisphere.
Mr Doig you are wrong when you claim the only ones who complain are literally the ones who are jealous they’re missing out in their share of “the nice little earner”.
For your information we were approached in 2005 to host wind turbines on our property. We declined, as we had thoroughly done our homework and also were of the opinion that we could not inflict upon our neighbours the detrimental impact in so many ways, of too close proximity to any number of wind turbines. So no, we’re not sorry at all, and you will find that several turbine hosts are now coming out and complaining about the impact (regardless of the large income they’re receiving) on their family’s health.
Craig Kelly is not misleading Federal Parliament, or his own constituents, he is merely attempting to educate them.
This is not an easy job as there are so many “pigs with their snouts in the trough”, wind developers, turbine hosts and even bureaucrats.
Does Mr Doig realise that the wind developers receive more than half a million dollars per turbine per year in taxpayer subsidies, and that’s before they sell the power ? Wake up Australia, this is one giant cover up by government and wind companies together.
Does Mr Doig realise that one family was forced to leave their home seven weeks after commissioning all 140 turbines at the Macarthur wind factory in January this year, due to the detrimental impact on their two young children’s health.
Their little babies screamed all night and their behaviour was appalling. No doubt their little ears were killing them, as mine do all day and all night now.
My husband and I, along with other neighbours, are forced to leave our homes for at least two nights and two days of every week to get a decent night’s sleep, and also to remove our bodies from the dreadful impact of the infrasound day and night.
The symptoms from which I suffer constantly are severe ear pressure/severe pressure and pain in nose/jaws/teeth in addition to a pain at the back of the neck which shoots up into your head.
This is on top of a constant headache. This is caused by the infrasound which comes through the walls of your house, the ceiling and floor.
We also experience constant nausea/heart palpations and a tight chest and this is mainly caused by the ground-born vibration.
When I stand in the kitchen I can feel the vibration through the floor, sitting in the living room I can feel the vibration through the couch and lying in bed at night I can feel the vibration through the bed and the pillow.
At night, in bed, my head feels as if it is in a vice. When I go to bed at night now, I feel my heart thumping till I fall asleep, albeit only for a few hours all night. Others experience strong vibrations and shaking in their bodies, not to mention high blood pressure.
So to Mr Doig and anyone else who wishes to denigrate people who complain about health effects from wind turbines, I invite you to come and stay with us near the Macarthur wind factory, (there are plenty of affected residents who would be willing to accommodate you) but you must stay for a month, not just a night, in order that your body may experience the cumulative impact of infrasound/background noise from the turbines.
Hopefully when you become a lot more informed, you might be reluctant to insult the people affected and your local MP.
Annie Gardner, Penshurst VIC
See related letter: http://www.theleader.com.au/story/1654070/wind-farm-nonsense/?cs=1381