Thursday, 1 August 2024

Northern Victoria Region

Rikkie-Lee TYRRELL (Northern Victoria) (12:53): (1000) My constituency question is for the Minister for Agriculture. The community of Bobinawarrah in my electorate of Northern Victoria have been fighting against the proponents of Meadow Creek solar farm, one of the largest proposed solar energy generation facilities in the electorate. For months they have been asking for their concerns to be heard by both the government and the proponents of this facility. In recent days it has come to light that the plans for the facility have been changed and expanded without consulting with the community. The location of the battery storage facility and substation has been moved, it has been increased in size from 250 megawatt hours to 1 gigawatt hour and it has also been moved to a site that is within the vicinity of five homes. Meadow Creek solar proponents have also told the community that the facility could be used for the grazing of sheep, which concerns them, as the land is generally not suitable for sheep grazing, due to the prevalence of flooding and it remaining waterlogged after rain. My constituents are asking for the Minister for Agriculture or their relevant advisers to come and visit the area and see the idyllic agricultural land for themselves.