Government & Regulatory Agencies

EPA Victoria

Primary record areas: wind turbine noise regulation, Noise Management Plan, auditor material, pollution reports, technical reliance, legal correspondence and FOI, including EPA identification of Sonus S5464C11 as a document used to assess compliance.

2026 update: the Trustee's Notice — Documentary Reconciliation of EPA's Current Regulatory Position is published. The Notice places EPA's stated regulatory position alongside the governing statutory framework, Planning Permit PL-SP/05/0461, the endorsed Noise Compliance Testing Plan, NZS 6808:2010 and documentary material obtained through statutory disclosure, and asks EPA to identify the documentary pathway supporting its present position.

The EPA pathway also includes the Noise Management Plan custody and reliance chronology, auditor material, technical reliance records and Freedom of Information disclosure presently held by the record.

Department of Transport and Planning

Primary record areas: planning permit administration, endorsed NCTP, compliance correspondence, permit amendment, document custody and FOI, including release of the June 2018 Sonus assessment under CS015466.

2026 update: DTP FOI CS019200, the Trustee clarification correspondence and DTP's supplementary clarification dated 4 August 2026 are now published. The 17 July decision records the commissioning and completion records not located. The 4 August letter states that, following relevant enquiries, DTP was unable to locate any documents in response to Part 4 concerning documentary authority for the identified departures from the NZS 6808:2010 definitions of background sound level and notional boundary.

The DTP record will explain the planning-administration pathway and the documents identified through formal disclosure processes. DTP FOI CS015466 located and released Sonus S5464C11, but did not identify a separate peer-review or verification report corresponding specifically with that later assessment.

Moorabool Shire Council

Primary record areas: historical planning-permit administration, complaints, meteorological monitoring infrastructure, commissioning and permit-trigger records, governance correspondence and Freedom of Information.

Planning administration recipient: Henry Bezuidenhout, Executive Manager Community Planning & Development.

Historical Beneficiary correspondence

7 October 2024 - third Elaine meteorological monitoring facility expressly raised with Council

On 7 October 2024, the Beneficiary wrote to Henry Bezuidenhout, Executive Manager Community Planning & Development, concerning the number of meteorological monitoring facilities permitted for the Lal Lal Wind Farm.

12 February 2025: The Beneficiary emailed Henry Bezuidenhout and Council while the asserted third Elaine meteorological mast was being removed, stating that it was “currently being pulled down, today” and expressly recording the date as 12 February 2025. The published copy redacts only the Beneficiary's email address.

20 February 2025: Council replied that it understood from LLWF that a temporary meteorological mast had recently been decommissioned and confirmed that LLWF did not require a planning permit to remove the temporary mast.

21 and 24 February 2025: The Beneficiary followed up, seeking any secondary consent orders or dates and the planning basis relied upon for the temporary meteorological mast to have remained on site for longer than three years. The 24 February email requested acknowledgement. The published correspondence redacts only the Beneficiary's email address.

Open 12 February 2025 emailOpen February 2025 Council correspondence

The email recorded the Beneficiary's understanding that Planning Permit PL/SP/05/0461-2 allowed two meteorological monitoring facilities and referred to earlier Council advice concerning secondary consent, a temporary anemometer and the amended Substation Layout Plan.

The Beneficiary then expressly raised what he described as a third meteorological monitoring facility at the Elaine portion of the wind farm, stated to have been erected from approximately mid-2019, and sought further particulars identifying a planning permit, authorising document or other instrument relied upon for that facility and its relocation.

Documentary significance: This entry records what was expressly put to Council on 7 October 2024. It does not independently establish that a third facility was unauthorised. The later Council and Trustee correspondence is presented against this earlier, specific enquiry concerning the facility's asserted existence and authorising basis.

8 April 2026: Council issued FOI decision SR.139279 concerning the Elaine Meteorological Monitoring Facility. The refined request sought any formal approval, consent, authorisation or endorsement issued or recorded by Council in relation to establishment or operation of the facility under Planning Permit PL-SP/05/0461-2. Council recorded that no documents meeting the terms of the request were identified after searches by Community Planning & Development staff. Open decision.

9 April 2026: the Trustee sought clarification of whether Council had formed a concluded view regarding the authorisation status of the Elaine meteorological monitoring facility and the documentary basis for any such view.

15 April 2026: Council issued FOI decision SR.142870 recording searches and no responsive formal commissioning records found. On the same date, the Trustee separately sought clarification from the Executive Manager concerning whether Council had formed or relied upon a commissioning date and the basis on which that position was recorded.

22 April 2026: the Trustee provided Governance with consolidated administrative-record clarification concerning the meteorological facility and commissioning pathway.

14 May 2026: Governance stated that the FOI processes were complete, its involvement had concluded and no further response would be provided.

20 July 2026: the Trustee issued a Notice to the Chief Executive Officer asking whether Council considers that its administrative record accurately reflects its historical administration of Planning Permit PL-SP/05/0461 while Council was identified as the Responsible Authority for administration and enforcement.

24 July 2026: the Trustee provided supplementary reference material to assist Council in locating documents already forming part of the administrative and public record. The correspondence states that the material was provided for convenience only, was not intended to expand the Notice, and comprised four concise bundles addressing the planning framework, construction and commissioning, compliance reports, and selected FOI decisions and Council correspondence.

Present documentary position: the published sequence now shows that the asserted third Elaine meteorological monitoring facility and the request for its authorising basis had been expressly put to Council by the Beneficiary on 7 October 2024. The later 2026 Trustee correspondence records the subsequent planning-administration, FOI and Governance pathway. The page records what was asked, what documents were identified and how Council responded; it does not independently determine compliance or infer that an undisclosed document never existed.

Permit-amendment cross-reference: the final 15 May 2026 amended permit no longer reproduces the earlier permit wording expressly allowing two permanent meteorological monitoring facilities and associated equipment. The exhibited-to-final wording issue is documented on the Permit Amendment page.

Australian Energy Infrastructure Commissioner

Primary record areas: complaint consideration, reliance on EPA Victoria’s stated regulatory position, case-management correspondence, cross-agency administrative continuity and the Trustee’s later documentary-record updates.

The published pathway distinguishes the Beneficiary’s historical complaint correspondence from the Trustee’s later administrative and evidentiary record.

19 June 2025: Commissioner Tony Mahar recorded that the AEIC had considered the complaint, referred to EPA Victoria’s assessment that the Lal Lal Wind Farm was complying and that EPA would take no further regulatory action, and concluded that the AEIC could not assist further.

Administrative continuity: correspondence records Carolyn Francis as Manager – South West at EPA Victoria in January 2025 and later as Assistant Commissioner within the AEIC. On 11 April 2025, the AEIC stated that she would not be involved in the case because of her previous involvement in related matters.

March–July 2026: the Trustee progressively provided the Notice, Supporting Record, annexures, crystallisation notice and EPA reconciliation notice so that the Commissioner’s administrative record reflected the developing documentary position. Those communications expressly sought no review or action.

Present documentary position: the record shows that the AEIC considered the Beneficiary’s complaint by reference to EPA Victoria’s stated regulatory position, later closed its complaint pathway, and was subsequently kept informed of the Trustee’s developing administrative record. The page records documentary custody and continuity without attributing regulatory responsibility to the AEIC.