Electricity infrastructure
Ann-Marie HERMANS (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (13:39): Outside on the steps, as we sit here, there are tractors going by with hundreds of farmers who have come out from all over Victoria to protest towers that do not belong and should not be built on their land. I have here the words from a farmer, Bill Baldwin, a sixth-generation farmer from central Victoria, who mentions some of the fire concerns about these powerlines. One of the concerns he says is that these powerlines will put CFA volunteers and local farmers and their families at risk when fighting fires around the towers. When a fire starts near or under these lines, it has been stated that it is not safe to fight either by aircraft or on the ground. The reason behind not being able to fight the fires near these lines is that there is a carbon build-up in the smoke that can create an arc of electricity and potentially kill people. By the time people wait for the fire to burn underneath and out the other side of the easement, the fire can be five to 10 times as big as it originally was and is then uncontrollable, putting more lives and homes at risk. They do not want another Black Saturday and neither do I, and I can say that when they finish this particular protest, they are leaving their CFA uniforms on the steps of Parliament in protest and disgust that this government is wanting to put their lives at risk if these towers go ahead. I also – (Time expired)