What happens on the other side?

As tough as it might be, governments at all levels must work hard to peer through the mist of the COVID-19 pandemic to assess how the country, states and regions can eventually bounce back.

While getting on top of this virus is front and centre in demanding our leaders’ attention, what happens on the other side is just as important.

We have already seen acknowledgement of this through a variety of significant government-funding incentives and constant assurances we can beat this scourge if we work together.

How successful we are at responding to circumstances in the aftermath of this disaster is likely to come down to how well authorities equip and arm regions – metropolitan and regional – to help themselves.

Much will also be determined by how regions and their people recognise and respond to large-scale projects that open doors for opportunity and growth.

One example where people in western Victoria need to be focused and willing to compromise is a push to update electrical infrastructure to carry greater loads of renewable energy.

We’re going to need renewable energy to power future industry, let alone a recovery period.

The more energy we can generate in the west of the state, recognised by the industry as ideal for the purpose, the more energy-secure we can make our state.

It comes as no surprise that plans to construct a large and imposing power transmission system from the edge of Melbourne to the Wimmera has hit an early snag.

Anyone involved in advocating for a modern electrical system in far western Victoria would have expected nothing less.

We know from experience that this infrastructure is far from pretty.

It is also more than understandable that people in the potential path of this development would be angry andor upset. As we know so well in our region, it is also a big ask to take a hit for something occurring somewhere else.

But increasing the electrical load capacity in western Victoria, as costly as it will be, financially, socially and aesthetically, has enormous potential to benefit the whole state. And the lines have to go somewhere.

If it can’t work as planned, are there viable alternatives?

We can never underestimate the value of large-scale, game-changing projects in disaster recovery.

We need to think big because our efforts in stimulating economic health are going to be equally as large.