Western Victoria Region
Joe McCRACKEN (Western Victoria) (12:54): My question is to the Minister for Energy and Resources. It concerns the establishment of renewable energy zones, in particular the Grampians Wimmera REZ. It is no secret that consultation in establishing these REZs has been poor. I was up in Marnoo last week talking to locals, and they are sick and tired of being pushed and bulldozed over by this government. One member of the community has even taken it upon themselves to talk to locals because the government simply has not. The results are pretty clear: the communities around Marnoo, Navarre and Campbells Bridge do not want to be declared a renewable energy zone. What is even more astonishing is that if you overlay the REZ with the biodiversity mapping from the government, you soon realise that Kara Kara National Park and Morrl Morrl conservation reserve, along with a slew of other areas, are high biodiversity contained within the REZ. So my question is: will the minister order that the consultation is restarted with the locals and insist a genuine, meaningful process is established, or will she continue to ignore country people?