Tuesday, 20 February 2024

Questions without notice and ministers statements

Energy security

John PESUTTO (Hawthorn – Leader of the Opposition) (14:01): My question is to the Premier. Yesterday, in response to the opposition’s proposal for a parliamentary inquiry into the reliability of Victoria’s energy network, Labor said it was not needed. The Premier has now caved to pressure and said that the government will conduct its own review – a sham review –

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: Order! This is not a good start to question time. I would like to hear the question. The Leader of the Opposition, without assistance.

John PESUTTO: Yesterday in response to the opposition’s proposal for a parliamentary inquiry into the reliability of Victoria’s energy network Labor said it was not needed. The Premier has now caved to pressure and said that the government will conduct its own review – a sham review that has no announced members, no reporting time line and no capacity to scrutinise the government’s role. Instead of a sham review, will the Premier agree to the opposition’s proposal for an open and transparent parliamentary inquiry?

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: Order! Before I call the Premier, I ask members to show some respect to those on their feet throughout question time. Members will be removed without warning. I will not tolerate this level of noise.

Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:03): I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question. Last Friday when the energy minister and I were in Mirboo North meeting with the local community and seeing the devastation that struck that town as a result of the destructive winds – the tornado-like winds that were estimated to be as high as 130 kilometres an hour that ripped through that community – at the press conference I was asked ‘Will the government conduct a review into what occurred last week?’ and my answer was yes. So in response to the Leader of the Opposition’s first part of his question – and it is a bit of a shame that the Leader of the Opposition is choosing to look for every political angle instead of putting his shoulder to the wheel to support local communities – I bear as my witness the member for Gippsland South, who was also there that day as we were working with his local community. And I do acknowledge the support he has given and the leadership he has shown for his local community in working on the response. So first and foremost, in terms of the claim that the Leader of the Opposition was making, we made that very clear.

The minister and I had discussions over the weekend, and the minister, as appropriate, has provided further information today about a proper independent expert-led review. This is usual process. Those who have been in previous emergency services roles know that following an emergency there are always reviews into the events that happened. It is usual process for a review to be undertaken. There was one after the storm event in 2021, and a range of actions were implemented by the minister, including legislation that passed through this Parliament just last year.

Further, in terms of the claim, the nonsense, about calling this a sham review, quite frankly we will take the advice of experts. We will take the advice of experts, not of those who privatised the network, privatised the power stations, privatised the transmission lines, privatised the distribution businesses –

James Newbury: On a point of order, Speaker, on relevance, the Premier is debating the question.

The SPEAKER: The Premier was being relevant; the Premier was providing context. I ask the Premier to come back to the answer.

Jacinta ALLAN: It is entirely relevant that we remind the Leader of the Opposition that the network under which we are operating is a privatised one that is regulated by a national regulator. I thank the energy minister for the leadership she has shown, particularly in the last week. We are going to take the advice of experts, not of those who are being asked to correct their own homework from the time they privatised the system when they were in government.

John PESUTTO (Hawthorn – Leader of the Opposition) (14:07): In the past six years over 1.9 million Victorian homes and businesses have suffered a blackout, including 530,000 last week. This is despite the government receiving numerous reports and warnings about the vulnerability of our energy grid to failure. Why has Labor failed to ensure that Victorians have a stable and secure energy grid?

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: The Minister for Prevention of Family Violence will come to order. Member for South Barwon!

Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:07): The Leader of the Opposition has exposed himself as being more about the politics than working with communities. I remind the Leader of the Opposition that last week at its peak there were 530,000 customers without power and within 72 hours the vast majority of those were reconnected. I want to thank those power workers, those road workers, who were out there doing their job, because you know what caused the power outages last week? It was catastrophic wind. The Leader of the Opposition may have missed the wind event last Tuesday. He might have missed the cyclone-type winds, the tornado-type winds that tore through the state – fires in the west, storms in the south-east –

John Pesutto: On a point of order, Speaker, the towers that collapsed last week were ones you were warned about in no less than four –

The SPEAKER: Order! The Leader of the Opposition will resume his seat. There is no point of order.

Jacinta ALLAN: The reason why I make the point that he may have missed that event is because the Leader of the Opposition, at precisely that time, was holding a press conference attacking a public servant.