Energy security
David HODGETT (Croydon) (14:20): My question is to the Premier. Kilsyth Doctors in the electorate of Croydon is a fantastic medical clinic which has served the local community since 1955. They lost grid power on Tuesday, and it took until Saturday morning for power to be restored. In this period crucial vaccines stored in their fridge were lost, essential medical equipment was inoperable and patient data was inaccessible. Why is this Labor government putting the health of Victorians at risk because they cannot manage our energy network?
Members interjecting.
The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Sunbury can leave the chamber for half an hour. Leader of the House!
Member for Sunbury withdrew from chamber.
Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:21): I thank the member for Croydon for his question, acknowledging that his community is one of those that was impacted by the devastating and destructive wind event that went through our state last Tuesday afternoon. I also acknowledge that his community, like that of the member for Monbulk and others, is part of those communities that have a big recovery job ahead of them, and we will support them in that work.
The question asked by the member for Croydon went to the question of supply. It went to the question of energy supply. As the minister for energy and I have been addressing this matter since Wednesday morning, when we held a press conference at the State Control Centre with senior representatives from the emergency response and also a representative from AEMO, the national market operator, who was there as well, the issues of the prolonged outages that we saw in the days after the destructive wind events that tore through our state were as a consequence not of supply but of large-scale damage that was done to localised transmission lines – single lines – right across the state.
It would be wrong to characterise, as the member for Croydon has done, that this is a question of supply. It is a fact that we saw widespread destructive damage. It is not just the energy minister and I who have been providing this information, it is AEMO as well who have been at pains on a number of occasions to make this point. The reality is that here in Victoria we have been working incredibly hard to get more renewable energy into our supply networks, but what we saw last Tuesday – the reason why there were prolonged power outages – was because we had that widespread high wind that did damage right across the state.
It should not be an opportunity for politicking to be made around people who are without power. If the member for Croydon wants to provide the Minister for Health and me with further information about the GP clinic he refers to, we are happy to follow that up. But again I reiterate my thanks to the power workers and the emergency responders who have been working around the clock since last Tuesday to restore the power that was disconnected to those customers – those homes and businesses – as a consequence of the destructive wind.
David HODGETT (Croydon) (14:23): In 2021 Minister D’Ambrosio said that Victorians could install a solar and battery system to ‘provide backup during a power outage’. On the basis of this advice, the clinic purchased an expensive solar and battery system which was unable to provide power backup for five days. Why didn’t the government explain to Victorians that power outages under Labor might last for many days rather than a few hours?
Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:24): The answer to this question is indeed mostly answered in my answer to the substantive question asked by the member for Croydon. Last week’s event that saw the power outages across the state was as a consequence of the devastating and destructive winds that tore through the state. Having had conversations with the communities in Emerald and in Mirboo North and in Pomonal and in the western part of the state as well and in Monash, all of the responders who I have met with over the past week talked about the winds being tornado-like. Those tornado-like winds did cause widespread damage to the power network as a consequence of powerlines coming down and trees falling on powerlines as well. That is the situation we are now seeing where we have workers working around the clock, and I reiterate my appreciation to those workers.