Electricity infrastructure
Rikkie-Lee TYRRELL (Northern Victoria) (09:56): Last week I visited my federal counterparts at Parliament in Canberra. Whilst I was there I had a meeting with local farmers from my own constituency of Northern Victoria and those of the western region. These farmers had departed from their homes at 2 am to make the trip to Canberra to meet with any politician who would give them their time to hear their desperate concerns about the lack of community consultation by the Australian Energy Market Operator on the proposed transmission lines. These local residents and business owners, our food producers, are deeply concerned about the impacts and ramifications that these powerline structures will have on their land, their land’s property value, and the overall health of their stock and the constituents themselves. I have suggested to these constituents to start approaching their state representatives also and potentially make the trip here to our Victorian Parliament to meet with their elected members. It is our job to listen to them and serve them the best we can through sound and fair legislation, and that is what I expect their visit to result in.