Tuesday, 20 February 2024

Energy security

John PESUTTO (Hawthorn – Leader of the Opposition) (14:11): My question is to the Premier. Heathmont burger restaurant Hey Sister, run by Sammi, stocked up in anticipation of Valentine’s Day. Sammi’s business lost power as a result of Tuesday’s storms, and power was not restored until Thursday morning. The outage resulted in over $4600 worth of spoiled food and thousands more in lost sales. How can Victorians like Sammi have any confidence that the government’s own internal review will result in a more stable and secure energy grid?

Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:12): First and foremost, can I say – and again correct the Leader of the Opposition – that it is wrong to characterise the independent review that is being established as an internal government review. There will be external expert advice, people who are experts in this area, not you – people who are experts in this area –

James Newbury: On a point of order, Speaker, under standing order 118 personal imputations are unparliamentary.

The SPEAKER: I do not uphold that point of order, but I do ask the Premier to address her comments through the Chair.

Jacinta ALLAN: Thank you, Speaker. In terms of how we support businesses, whether it is Sammi in Heathmont or businesses across the state or indeed households across the state, as we move into this recovery phase, it is not to deliberately mislead them as to what occurred last week. It would be very disappointing if the Leader of the Opposition was deliberately misleading on the circumstances of the event last week. On the Monday –

A member interjected.

Jacinta ALLAN: Stand up and say that.

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: Order! Member for South Barwon, I do not know why you bother to come to question time. You can leave the chamber for an hour.

Member for South Barwon withdrew from chamber.

The SPEAKER: I will not tolerate this kind of interjection across the table. I ask the Premier to come back to answering the question.

Jacinta ALLAN: Again I thank the hardworking people who have been working around the clock, many of whom also had damage done to their own homes and businesses. They have been out there reconnecting power, clearing roads, clearing trees and helping with that rebuilding effort. The focus in that immediate period has been absolutely getting businesses reconnected following the catastrophic wind event.

I was about to say it was predicted on the Monday. On the Monday the State Control Centre and the emergency leadership of this state stood up at a press conference and provided a statewide warning about the type of weather we were going to see on the Tuesday, and really the worst of that was realised with the catastrophic wind event that tore through our state. We will continue to work with businesses, councils, locals, our own agencies and the federal government as well. We know that recovery can be a long journey, and we will work with businesses and the communities, and it would be great if that could be done on a bipartisan, non-politicised basis in the interests of the community.

John PESUTTO (Hawthorn – Leader of the Opposition) (14:16): Despite losing thousands in food spoilage and lost sales, Hey Sister is not eligible to receive the government’s power outage support payment, because their outage was less than seven days. Given that spoilage happens in the first 24 hours, why has Labor set the threshold for support at seven days without power?

Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:16): It would be wrong of the Leader of the Opposition to characterise the prolonged power outage payments as the only support that the government has activated. Again, in partnership with the federal government – and I look to the member for Gippsland South to correct me – I think we were making these announcements in Gippsland on Friday morning about the range of different assistance we activated very, very quickly. Sorry, it was in Pomonal the day before that we were talking with the Minister for Emergency Services about the activation of the personal hardship payments and re-establishment assistance. There are energy compensation arrangements that are in place for immediate assistance, and I would be delighted if the Leader of the Opposition could work with us and provide information to affected households and businesses with the 1800 recovery line where people can go and get personalised advice and assistance, not deliberately misleading advice from the Leader of the Opposition.