Monbulk electorate
Daniela DE MARTINO (Monbulk) (14:48): (513) My constituency question is for the Minister for Energy and Resources. Before I pose my question, I would like to take a moment to thank the minister for her dedication to my constituents this past week, as we continue to navigate through the aftermath of the storms, through her visits to hear firsthand from those affected by power outages. My question for the minister is: what undertakings has AusNet made in the wake of this disaster to improve their emergency response and coordination? It is vitally important that the energy sector considers how elements of its response to such situations can be improved. In my electorate of Monbulk, where AusNet is the energy distributor, we saw a complete failure of the Outage Tracker website and incorrect restoration time information being sent via SMS, which meant that thousands and thousands without power across the Dandenong Ranges had no line of sight on when their power would be restored or were given information which did not match reality, and this had an adverse impact on their ability to plan for relocation, food storage and even life support contingency plans.