Wednesday, 13 August 2025

Motions

Energy policy

Debate resumed.

Bev McARTHUR (Western Victoria) (14:06): As I was saying, shiny slogans like ‘Net zero by 2045’ and ‘95 per cent renewables by 2035’ make great media releases. They keep Labor’s political partners happy, but they do not keep the lights on and they do not pay the bills for the farmers across my electorate or help manufacturers in Geelong trying to keep the doors open, staff employed and families housed and fed. And yet this is what governments, state and federal, are doing in persisting with current energy policy. Yes, reductions in carbon emissions to date may have been significant, but the truth is the first cuts are the low-hanging fruit; they were the easiest to make. As we move closer to so-called net zero, every further reduction becomes technically harder and exponentially more expensive. Achieving net zero as an absolute inflexible target is not a pragmatic environmental strategy, it is an ideological, extremist and damaging position. A practical approach could deliver substantial emissions reductions at a fraction of the financial and environmental costs that a renewable-only solution will inflict, but that requires an energy-agnostic policy, one that assesses every technology on its merits, not through an ideological filter. Instead Labor’s rush to renewables has been done without any real plan for the infrastructure to support them.

We have seen it most clearly with transmission. I have spoken many times in this place about the reality of the massive transmission system required to connect distant wind and solar farms to the grid. Projects like VNI West have doubled in cost, now at $7.6 billion and projected to increase to $11 billion, carving through farmland and driving up expenses that land directly on the bills of Victorian families and businesses. And it is not just VNI West or the Western Renewables Link – the new Victorian transmission plan outlines four new high-voltage lines, each costing billions. Yet the government consistently understates the total cost, conveniently ignoring the broader fallout: the devaluation of productive farmland, the environmental damage of hundreds of kilometres of new easements and the loss of regional amenity. Worse, and with predictable dishonesty – or should I say ideological fervour, the absolute belief that the end justifies the means – they separate the analysis of generation from transmission in order to hide the true price tag. They will talk about the cost of building the wind farm but they will not include the cost of the transmission lines needed to connect it, and they certainly will not count the enormous social, environmental and health impacts those lines have on regional Vic communities.

One particularly offensive aspect is the land tax imposed on these transmission easements, a tax that is then passed straight through to every Victorian power bill. This year alone the state will collect a record $268 million in land tax on network assets. For AusNet Services alone the regulator has approved a $61 million pass-through for 2025–26 just for easement taxes. In one stroke of a pen that is over $70 a year on the average household bill, and it is going up. The government is financing consolidated revenue directly out of the pockets of Victorian energy bill payers but making the power companies send out the bills. It is a bit like forcing councils to wear the political pain of sending out demands for the new emergency services levy, which is a tax. This is a government without accountability, which takes no responsibility, frankly, and which has no shame. This easement land tax is not a tax on the power companies; it is a tax on every Victorian energy user hidden in their bill, and it is a tax that is being levied to fund a questionable build out of transmission lines driven by an ideological energy plan that has failed to consider more affordable and less disruptive alternatives.

Farmers are rightly furious. These easements are often imposed without proper consent, reducing the value of their land, restricting how they can operate and impacting their livelihoods, but in the Labor Party’s political calculus regional Victorians do not count. The only votes that matter are in the inner suburbs, inside the tram tracks, where residents will never have a tower in their paddock, will never lose a hectare of productive land and will happily post hashtags about climate action. This government’s obsession with chasing Greens preferences inside the tram tracks has left suburban Melbourne as well as regional Victoria to pay the price, literally and figuratively, for a power system that does not work.

And let us not forget the direct cost to business and industry. I have spoken in this chamber about the disastrous impact of these policies on manufacturing in Victoria. We have seen gas consumption in industry drop, not because businesses have magically become more efficient but because they have shut down entirely. Gas-reliant manufacturers simply cannot compete under Labor’s anti-gas, high-cost regime. The closures are real, the job losses are real, and they are directly linked to the skyrocketing cost of energy in this state. Under some plans prices are up by 16 per cent. The Victorian default offer is up again this year – 1 per cent for households, 3 per cent for businesses. But many market – (Time expired)

Jacinta ERMACORA (Western Victoria) (14:13): Well, it is really hard to know where to start in response to this motion. What brings to mind –

David Davis interjected.

Jacinta ERMACORA: I am so glad you are here, Mr Davis, because really, reading the motion and then listening to the speakers – particularly you, Mr Davis – makes me think that the theory from the opposition is: if I just keep saying it, it might become true. It is just so not true about energy pricing – absolutely not true – and it is a bit rich that the party that caused the massive energy price rises by selling off the SEC to the private sector is now abrogating culpability for it. Victorian energy consumers absolutely know the relationship between privatised energy production and energy price increases. As I said, I think if they say something often enough they might convince themselves that it is true. But the independent data does not agree with that proposition at all.

We know that the Kennett government privatised energy and sold it off to multinational companies, but there was also another four-year period where a further stuff-up was achieved, and I was fascinated that you raised it in this chamber yesterday. That was trying to blame our government for the mess created by the privatised fake gas scheme, where the prices were going to go so much higher because of the failed private sector model that you put in place when you were last in government – that small four-year window where you got to meddle with what was going on and really things did not work very well – when it was the coalition government that brought in the private company Solstice Energy under its regional gas infrastructure program. It was not purchased, it was brought in. It is worth noting that just last week, on 7 August in the Standard, it was reported that from the closure of the program:

… customers would ultimately be better off with lower energy bills.

A Solstice Energy spokesperson said costs had increased over the past few years, which the company had been absorbing, but that was no longer viable.

So there we have it: the opposition blaming us for their own failed program. Solstice have said themselves that if the program did not close prices would have skyrocketed beyond the current levels.

I am not sure if Mr Davis realises that Victorian Labor has a proven record on cheaper household energy bills. You just cannot keep saying that is not true. The Liberals –

Members interjecting.

Gayle Tierney: On a point of order, Acting President, I request that you call the house to order. There have just been incessant interjections, and now we are having adjectives used against a member which I find offensive.

The ACTING PRESIDENT (John Berger): Ms Ermacora, do you request a withdrawal?

Jacinta ERMACORA: I do request a withdrawal.

The ACTING PRESIDENT (John Berger): Mr Davis, will you withdraw?

David Davis: I do withdraw the word ‘goose’.

Lee Tarlamis: On a point of order, Acting President, Mr Davis knows that it is unparliamentary to withdraw by restating what he has been asked to withdraw. He should withdraw without reservation.

David Davis: I withdraw.

Jacinta ERMACORA: The Liberals have a proven record of driving prices up when it comes to energy, and the truth is that when the Liberals were last in government retail power prices soared by 34 per cent. Disconnections, as my colleague Mr McIntosh said, doubled from 28,000 to 58,000, leaving vulnerable Victorians without power or heat. Since the Liberals privatised our energy system Victorians have been exposed to a model designed to protect corporate profits, not people. Jeff Kennett’s government sold our energy assets to multinational corporations. This delivered billions in profit for them and thousands of job losses. In the process they stripped the government of the tools needed to keep power affordable.

It is a bit rich Mr Davis is today complaining about energy costs when Labor has been working step by step, year by year, to fix the system we inherited from their sellout. We have tackled rising costs head-on. We have strengthened consumer protections. We have invested in public renewable energy to put power back in the hands of the public. We introduced the Victorian default offer, cutting standard prices by 24 per cent in its first year. This has kept bills nearly 10 per cent lower than they were in 2019. We have made Victoria’s energy consumer protections the toughest in the country, and this has stopped unfair disconnections and price gouging in embedded networks. We have rolled out Solar Homes and Victorian energy upgrades to help millions of households save hundreds on their bills, and we have revived the State Electricity Commission, with $1 billion in public renewable projects to deliver the cheapest new power available – renewable power.

This is an incredibly important milestone with so many positive outcomes. In May Premier Jacinta Allan and Minister for the State Electricity Commission Lily D’Ambrosio announced the signing of retail contracts to power all Victorian government operations with cheap renewable electricity. This means that from July this year the State Electricity Commission is powering Victoria’s schools, museums, trains, trams, traffic lights and more with clean, reliable publicly owned renewable energy. It is the first time that the SEC has been delivering power to Victorians since it was sold off by the Liberals 30 years ago. I certainly hope that we never have to go backwards again, back to the way things were last century, because if the Liberals had their way, they would scrap most if not all of these programs; they have told us this repeatedly. Minister Lily D’Ambrosio warned on 27 May this year that if Brad Battin and the Liberals are elected they will cut the SEC, just like how they sold off Victoria’s energy and sent profits offshore in the 1990s.

Instead the Allan Labor government continues to focus on our future. Our investments are creating new energy jobs, and we are supporting renewable energy skills. The Allan Labor government has made a $116 million investment in six new tech schools across the state, including in Warrnambool, and also invested $10 million to establish the Clean Energy Equipment Fund for new and existing tech schools. Our TAFEs are busy training up the newest generations of tradies in renewable energy construction skills thanks to our Minister for Skills and TAFE here in the chamber right now. This government also invested $5 million at Warrnambool’s Sherwood Park campus for exactly that task, and its funding towards jobs, which include green plumbing, solar battery electrical systems, sustainable integrated building designs and new construction technologies, is underway. I am very proud of our response in this space and our systematic transition, and I do not think anybody should believe a word the opposition is saying in this space.

Trung LUU (Western Metropolitan) (14:22): I rise to speak on this very important motion put forward by Mr Davis, and I thank him for bringing forward this motion, as it will give me the opportunity to put on record my disappointment and concern that after 11 years of the Andrew and now Allan Labor government energy bills continue to rise for Victorian families, especially those in the Western Metropolitan Region, my area, where a good mixture of multicultural, diverse, socially disadvantaged and vulnerable communities, through no fault of their own, continue to suffer.

Those opposite keep blaming history for their failure. They keep blaming the coalition of 20, 30 years ago for their failure, but they have been in government for 11 years and they have not fixed the problem. Those opposite have been 11 years in government, and next year at the election Labor will ask Victorians to give them 16 years in power. After 11 years Labor have delivered higher taxes, whacking Victorians with 63 new or increased taxes since coming into office, racking up an enormous $194 billion in debt. $194 billion – let me put in perspective what that is: 1000 million is 1 billion. The West Gate Bridge only cost $200 million to build. How many West Gate Bridges could we build with $194 billion? How many Eiffel Towers could be built with $194 billion? How many hospitals, how many police stations, how many social housing buildings could we build with $194 billion?

Energy bills keep soaring due to waste and the mismanagement of projects the government is directly responsible for. Imagine the damage there will be after another four years after 2026. And throughout all this, why are energy bills soaring so incredibly high under the watch of the Minister for Energy and Resources, Minister D’Ambrosio? Since she came into office in 2014 we have witnessed a significant rise in energy infrastructure cost blowouts. Please take note: these cost blowouts are identified by the Australian Energy Market Operator, AEMO. It identified that rising infrastructure and energy delivery costs are hurting customers in the market. Victorian households, families and businesses are hurting as the price of energy continues to go up, up and up under the Allan Labor government. AEMO has found transmission costs have risen, particularly for overhead lines, and that these increases in costs for electricity transmission network development significantly impact bills of consumers. It is a no-brainer: if it is going to cost energy companies more due to tax and operation, it will flow down to our consumers, at a time when people can least afford it, during a cost-of-living crisis under the Allan Labor government. Moreover, the government has increased land tax for private, business and commercial property, which includes electricity transmission easements. This easement land tax will ultimately pass on to consumers as electricity providers attempt to recover their increasing operation costs. So this government, with its massive and continued blowouts on almost every project it touches, contributes to the cost-of-living crisis, and households and businesses are paying the price.

You need to look no further than the massive blowout on the VNI West project, the electricity transmission project connecting western Victoria and New South Wales. The figures on this project are startling. No wonder energy prices keep going up, up and up. Estimated costs for this project are anywhere from $5.2 billion and could double to as much as $11.4 billion. This is a good example of the cost escalation under Labor. Every cent of this cost escalation will be shouldered by our consumers, our Victorian families, our Victorian businesses, the normal mums and dads, and the massive cost of project blowouts will eventually contribute to rising energy costs under this Labor government. They can blame us as much as they want. They go back 20, 30 years to blame us for their failure right now. The fact is they have been in government for the last 11 years. What have they done?

Every billing month constituents come and speak to me, saying that compared with last year, the year before and the year before, their costs are going steadily up, up and up. The cost increases can be directly attributed to construction delays, labour costs and of course landholder compensation and easement costs, which under this government have been increasing over the years. It seems that cost blowouts are in the Allan Labor government’s DNA. The problem is not that the government is seeking to build new infrastructure; the problem is the government is consistently accepting cost blowout after cost blowout as a new norm. And who is paying for it? You, the mum and dad, every Victorian who is trying to earn a living and look after their family.

I can recall when the former Premier Daniel Andrews arrogantly boasted in the other place in response to a question about costs. He said, ‘Things just cost what they cost.’ Well, it looks like Minister D’Ambrosio seems to have taken a leaf out of the former Premier’s book and wilfully accepts the price escalation, dismissing criticism from the community and AEMO. The minister claimed that in spite of the inflated price tag, the government intends to proceed with the project and hold the agent of the project accountable. The other question is: when will this government become accountable? When will this government accept responsibility for the cost blowouts and the price of energy going out of control under their watch, under their management?

I think this motion by Mr Davis is important, because we are holding the Minister for Energy and Resources responsible for those increased energy costs and not allowing her to once again pass the buck, as this government continues to do. She needs to be accountable for the pressure Victorian families and small businesses are enduring right now. She is the Minister for Energy and Resources and holds the ultimate decision. Whether it is electricity infrastructure or transport infrastructure, under the Allan Labor government costs blow out the budget each time, costing Victorian taxpayers more at a time when they simply cannot afford it.

It is not just soaring electricity prices Victorians are suffering from. Under this Labor government we also see a less secure power grid. Labor is running a chaotic and mismanaged energy transition. It takes the shadow minister Mr Davis and his FOIs to reveal just how out of touch this government is, laying bare that its much-hyped 2025 VicGrid transmission plan is nothing but a laughing stock. The documents have shown the government’s plan shows significant delays to infrastructure projects like the VNI West and other critical infrastructure that we are facing and that there are no serious plans to bring down the rising costs for Victorians. We know because supply and usage charges increased further from 1 August 2025 for both electricity and gas.

We on this side of the house have always opposed the Labor government’s reckless ideological war on how Victorians cook, heat their homes and manage their energy bills. We oppose Labor’s rebate for replacing old gas appliances because we believe in choice in the energy system and that Victorians will make the right choice for their own homes. Labor’s plan is unfair and is not based on choice; it is based on ideology and government imposition. Unlike those opposite, we on this side always back the right to choose. Whether you cook with gas or you choose the energy to suit your home, it is your budget at the end of the line and your way of life. We understand the pressures that rising bills are having on families. In the last minute I want to say to all the constituents in my electorate: on this side we will continue fighting to make sure energy prices go down. We will make sure that governments account for what they are doing as the bills go up and up and up again.

David DAVIS (Southern Metropolitan) (14:32): This is an important motion because it goes to a key factor in the cost-of-living crisis in Victoria. Victorians are paying more on every turn, and their standard of living is falling. Income per household and income per head in our state are falling. That is the record of the Andrews and Allan Labor governments over almost 11 years in government now. But costs are rising, and costs have been rising faster than the household income of so many Victorians. Victorians are being squeezed, and a big part of that squeeze is energy costs. Electricity costs have gone up, gas costs have gone up and people’s bills have gone up, and on 1 August most of the companies in this state put up the costs further. They put up the costs of the supply charge and they put up the charge that is paid for electricity by volume and gas by volume, so almost everyone in this state will feel those increased costs.

It is true you can shop around and you may trim a bit off the bill, but it is also true that through almost every outlet, almost every firm that is supplying this energy, the costs have gone up. Lily D’Ambrosio has tried to say costs will go down, down, down, and that is what she said in the lower house just a year or two ago – costs will go down, down. She was aping the ad, the Coles ad, but actually that is not what has happened in Victoria since then. Costs have gone up, up and beyond – further up. The sad thing is that this is squeezing Victorian families and it is squeezing Victorian businesses, and it is important that the chamber makes this very clear.

People have got a lot of views on how to fix it and a lot of views on how this has come about, but the essential facts are that energy costs have gone up. We have heard somebody try to blame the Kennett government back from 1992, noting that privatisation actually began under the Cain–Kirner government in 1991 with the sale of Mission Energy – so let us just get that very clear in people’s heads. Through the latter period of the 1990s and the 2000s, under John Brumby and under Steve Bracks, actually energy costs were very low – historically low – and low compared to other jurisdictions, and they were a major part of Victoria’s revival through that late 1990s period and indeed beyond. But under this government – 11 years of government – the standard of living of Victorians has fallen, the cost-of-living crisis has deepened and this government has allowed energy costs to surge upwards. The surging upwards is going to get worse the way we are going under this government. The government has loaded more and more and more onto the supply charge that is being paid by everyday Victorians.

Victorians can feel the pressure. The screws have been turned on Victorians by the Allan Labor government, and they have been tightened and tightened and tightened again. It is time we stood up to the Allan Labor government, it is time we stood up to the Minister for Energy and Resources and it is time that Victorians were able to call out this government’s failure on energy policy and the prices they are paying for energy.

Council divided on motion:

Ayes (14): Melina Bath, Gaelle Broad, Georgie Crozier, David Davis, Moira Deeming, Ann-Marie Hermans, David Limbrick, Wendy Lovell, Trung Luu, Bev McArthur, Joe McCracken, Nick McGowan, Rikkie-Lee Tyrrell, Richard Welch

Noes (20): Ryan Batchelor, John Berger, Lizzie Blandthorn, Katherine Copsey, Jacinta Ermacora, David Ettershank, Michael Galea, Anasina Gray-Barberio, Shaun Leane, Sarah Mansfield, Tom McIntosh, Rachel Payne, Aiv Puglielli, Georgie Purcell, Ingrid Stitt, Jaclyn Symes, Lee Tarlamis, Sonja Terpstra, Gayle Tierney, Sheena Watt

Motion negatived.