Wednesday, 6 March 2024

Statements on parliamentary committee reports

Public Accounts and Estimates Committee

Report on the 2023–24 Budget Estimates

Tim McCURDY (Ovens Valley) (10:07): I am delighted to rise and speak on the Public Accounts and Estimates Committee report on the 2023–24 budget estimates. I particularly want to zone in on chapter 9.5.3, ‘Renewable energy generation’. I want to talk about what I think is a lack of understanding in setting targets and renewable energy. First of all they are setting a budget, they are setting time frames, but then they are showing absolute disregard for the journey on how we get there ‍– and I will go through this in a moment. This renewable energy journey starts with a proponent; it starts with a type of energy, whether it is solar, wind, battery, others. Then there is the location and there are obviously beneficiaries. As a regional MP our communities are the location. So only one out of those four is what the regional community members have a say in, or are a part of, and that is the location. As a regional MP I have got some concerns about that, because we are not the proponent, we do not decide what type is coming and we are certainly not the beneficiaries.

Again, a small community like Dederang consists of a shop, pub, racecourse, bowls and a footy ground ‍– that is about all there is at Dederang. It is about 20 minutes away from Mount Beauty. Mount Beauty is at the foothills of the alpine region. Like Bright, Mount Beauty is where people come for the tree change. This is what dreams are made of. People are moving from Melbourne in their droves to enjoy that change. We applaud that, we welcome that and we encourage that. Why? Because of the natural beauty, because of the fresh air, because of the pristine landscapes.

Going back to the four components that I spoke about before, the proponent in this case is Mint Renewables, who want to do a battery energy storage system set-up in Dederang. They simply refuse to meet with our community and have refused on three to four occasions. We have created so many safe, open and genuine community gatherings and they just continue to say, ‘No thanks.’

In my mind this is an absolute neglect of their responsibility, because they are thumbing their nose at the consultation process. I say to the Minister for Planning, who is the ultimate referral authority in these cases: whenever renewable energy propositions are put forward we need to have proof that genuine consultation has occurred, not just a box-ticking exercise – genuine consultation. I can tell you that is near non-existent in the Dederang with Mint Renewables. They are happy to pick off people one at a time, but the community has a list of questions they want answered. At this stage we are being told to talk to the hand.

I want to be clear that the people of Dederang and Mount Beauty are not anti-renewable – they are absolutely far from it. In fact with the hydro scheme that was put through nearly 60 years ago they were the founders of hydro-electricity in our region, so they are certainly not anti-renewables. But unless they get the answers about the batteries – the type of batteries, the risks, the fire hazards, the landscape degradation – they will find it very difficult to make decisions and go forward, and that is why I say to the minister that when it does come to that planning stage, they have to be sure that genuine consultations have taken place.

A final piece of this application is that she considers first of all whether 60 per cent of the community have support of the project. I also ask that she considers some legislation that was brought in in Alberta, Canada, which says proponents of renewable energy projects on farmland will have to demonstrate the ability of both crops and livestock to coexist on the land. We also need to adopt an agriculture-first approach. A fourth point is around coexisting with local families and communities. This is not saying no to renewables; this is just asking for some common sense.

The final piece of the puzzle is the beneficiaries. Now, I can guarantee the only beneficiary in Dederang will be the person who sells their soul or sells their farm or leases their property to this renewable energy company; the beneficiaries will not be anyone else in Dederang. We want to make sure that there is enough consultation that goes on, because the real beneficiaries are 300 kilometres away from Dederang. They benefit by turning on a light switch. They benefit by turning on an air conditioner or a heater. We do not begrudge them that – all we ask is that the local communities, the ones getting shortchanged in this process, get genuine consultation. I urge the minister when it gets to this phase to make sure that genuine consultation takes place, because it has not in these circumstances. I really hope that Mint Renewables will start that process soon, because there are a lot of gaps to fill.