Wednesday, 15 October 2025

 Wendy LOVELL (Northern Victoria) (17:46): I rise to speak on the state budget 2025–26, budget paper 3, page 8, the output initiatives. It outlines that $5 million each year over the next three years will be put aside for incorporating renewable energy zones into the state planning policy, and we have gone through this process in northern Victoria recently. There was a draft transition plan put out on 16 May for consultation. A final version of that plan, the 2025 Victorian Transmission Plan, was released in August. I was shocked to read it and find that the Allan Labor government had included in the final plan a completely new renewable energy zone west of Shepparton that was not in the draft plan. They created the new REZ without any notice, denying locals any opportunity to give feedback and to have their voices heard. This is a significant decision that could alter the landscape for a generation, and locals were not even consulted on the proposal.

In the draft transmission plan the Central North renewable energy zone was a very large area between Bendigo and Shepparton, and locals were well informed about the proposed zone and well organised in their opposition to its size and its location. They stressed the importance of protecting the irrigation district and productive farmland from inappropriate renewable projects, like the solar farm that was recently approved in Colbinabbin against the wishes of the locals and the Campaspe council.

In the final version of the transmission plan this large renewable energy zone was reduced to a smaller area close to the existing transmission line. However, to compensate for the reduction in this zone the government created a whole new zone to the east of Shepparton between Pine Lodge and Glenrowan. The new zone takes in cropping areas around Dookie that are famous for their golden canola fields in spring. This section of the Central North zone was not in the draft plan, and farmers did not know that their land was being considered for inclusion in the zone. Stakeholders in the area never had the opportunity to view the draft boundaries of the zone and never had the opportunity to offer comment and feedback on the land use and landscape values in the area.

Labor’s decision to completely bypass the local community and impose a renewable energy zone on the land, without warning and without consultation, is outrageous. Even worse, the transmission plan admits that the zone was created just to satisfy developer interest. This reveals the Allan Labor government’s cynical contempt for regional Victorians. Creating this new renewable energy zone without warning has caused significant anxiety and uncertainty among the local community, who are already suffering under Labor’s disastrous energy policies. The Dookie & District Development Forum has issued an open letter, rightly criticising the total lack of consultation with local farmers whose land could be included in the new renewable energy zone. The letter tells us that Dookie has 17 owners in the Greater Shepparton area on the eastern side of Mount Major, 21 on the western side and 16 in the Benalla shire area that are all within 1 kilometre of the transmission lines. That is 54 landowners that have serious and legitimate concerns about the boundaries of this energy zone, and yet none of them were consulted before their land was included in the final version of the 2025 Victorian Transmission Plan.

The letter notes that data for grain production indicates that for Shepparton East, Dookie and surrounds the productivity of dryland cropping is 67 per cent above the state average. This is highly productive land that is not compatible with solar energy facilities that have thousands of solar panels covering the land in shadow. The letter also notes that Dookie and Mount Major are big drawcards for regional tourism due to the great views from the summit in an otherwise flat landscape. Members of the forum have said that the six-week engagement period is simply not long enough and does not provide for an adequate response time.

I back their call for the finalisation of the plan to be pushed back to allow time for due process to be followed, for proper consultation with local landowners, for proper study and assessment of the agricultural value of the potentially affected land and for time to consider the impact on Aboriginal heritage sites in the area.