Geelong Mayor Calls on State to Permanently Scrap Denied Waste-to-Energy Project

Mayor Stretch Kontelj wants confirmation that a proposed waste-to-energy incinerator in northern Geelong will not go ahead, even after an operating license was denied.

In August, Recycling Victoria denied Prospect Hill International (PHI)—a company with reported Chinese state links–a licence.

But Kontelj called upon the Victorian Minister for Planning Sonya Kilkenny to offer an assurance that the project is off the table permanently.

“They’re concerned there could be another application. They’d love the minister to come out and categorically state they will not approve a licence for an incinerator in Lara,” he told The Epoch Times.

“Until that occurs, there’s still uncertainty as to whether it could raise its head again.”

Kontelj wrote to Kilkenny’s office in August urging her to put a stop to the project amid concerns it could go ahead–either with another developer, or through PHI.

The Epoch Times contacted Kilkenny’s office for comment but did not receive one in time for publication.

It was earlier reported that PHI had rights to appeal to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT), but it only had the power to request Recycling Victoria review its decision, rather than overturn it.

The waste incinerator at Lara was designed by PHI to burn through 400,000 tonnes of rubbish annually.

It would redirect the trash from landfill, transforming it into energy for Victoria’s electricity grid.

But residents hold fears the incinerator would be constructed in close proximity to homes, and produce toxic pollution.

In Kontelj’s letter to Kilkenny, he also pointed out the fight was not over for Geelong residents.

“We also acknowledge the applicant’s right to appeal the licence decision to VCAT. It is therefore vital that this project is ruled out permanently,” he wrote.

“Our community deserves certainty and protection from developments that pose unacceptable risks to health, amenity and environment.”

Kontelj said Labor Member for Lara, Ella George, and federal Labor Member for Corio, Richard Marles, were against a waste incinerator being built at Lara.

“At the local level it’s been good. Ella George and Richard Marles have spoken out against it. So we’re all aligned at the local level,” he said.

“So you would think that should carry the weight of the decision making.

In 2023, the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) granted PHI a development licence to build a waste-to-energy facility in Lara, about 10 kilometres north of Geelong’s CBD.

Reportedly, PHI has links with multi-billion dollar Chinese state-owned conglomerates.

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported that it is using Jiangsu Power Design Institute–a subsidiary of China Energy Engineering Corporation (CEEC)–to “provide technical and design services for the proposed plant.”

CEEC is a multi-billion dollar company under direct supervision of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) State Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission.

The design of the $700 million facility includes 35MW power generation and an 80-metre high chimney that would have been the highest structure in the region.

In January, City of Greater Geelong said the waste incinerator would be as close to 350 metres from homes.

It claimed adverse health risks from the facility’s fumes including some cancers, birth defects, infant deaths and miscarriage, as well as potential odours.

Residual particles could also land on produce grown in the region, and the site would produce 4.8 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent over its lifetime.