Tuesday, 5 March 2024

Energy policy

Rikkie-Lee TYRRELL (Northern Victoria) (02:01): (744) My adjournment matter today is directed to the Minister for Agriculture in the other place. Recent reports have stated the Allan Labor government removed the Offshore Wind: Policy Directions Paper – March 2022, which outlines that should offshore wind projects not be available as a source of so-called renewable energy, 70 per cent of Victoria’s prime agricultural land will potentially be used for large-scale solar, wind and battery projects. Victoria is the food bowl of the nation. Thirty per cent of Australia’s arable land is in Victoria, much of that land being in my electorate of Northern Victoria. The farmers in my region are both concerned and angry with the figures in this report – those that have been able to find it, that is. Those who have not are angry that the government has hidden this paper from them. Northern Victoria is not an industrial wasteland, prime for the taking by greedy renewable energy companies. So the action I seek is for the minister to explain how they propose to protect the vital agricultural industry in Victoria from potential devastation by the renewable energy sector.