Thursday, 26 May 2022

Western Metropolitan Region

Mr FINN (Western Metropolitan) (12:37): (1805) My constituency question is to the Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change. Last night much of the north-west of Melbourne was without power. So widespread was the loss of electricity to maybe hundreds of thousands of people that there is no way this outage could be described as localised. Indeed Melbourne Airport was plunged into darkness, causing pandemonium for travellers arriving in and leaving our city. One can only imagine the impression this left on first-time visitors to Melbourne. They must be wondering whether the comparison between Victoria and North Korea is actually on the money. There were no storms or so-called extreme weather events in Melbourne last night, so many of my constituents are still wondering why they were left shivering in the dark. Minister, what caused this outage, and will you guarantee we will not see a repeat performance this year?