Friday, 14 November 2025

 David DAVIS (Southern Metropolitan) (21:33): (2126) My matter for the adjournment tonight is for the Minister for Energy and Resources but also for the Premier, and it is particularly for the Premier in the context of an email I have received, which has been sent to the Premier by Kevin Scolyer, who is a person in the north of the state. He is associated with the Nathalia compressed natural gas action group. That is a group of people who have been impacted by the state government’s decision to withdraw support from Solstice Energy and to force them to close their whole network across 10 different towns that had compressed natural gas as part of their energy mix. The gas is being pulled out of those towns; the rug is being pulled out of the businesses and households in those towns. This was a 20-year contract, and the state government is supporting Solstice pulling out 10 years early. The natural gas action group makes the legitimate point that the agreement to cancel the particular contract – the development agreement, or DA, as they call it – should not have occurred. They say the statutory, licensing, regulation and code-of-practice requirements have been infringed. They say contracts and agreements have been breached and the Essential Services Commission responsibilities have been contravened. They say residents had a cosy, comfortable energy source in their homes, and now they have not. How on earth has this been allowed to happen?

On 31 October, the group made a request for compensation to the Premier’s office:

We respectfully ask that you throw your weight behind our request for compensation …

Of course these people should be treated appropriately. Of course they should have support to make sure that they can have a secure future. It is absolutely outrageous. Jaclyn Symes in this chamber, who as the Minister for Regional Development was initially responsible for part of this, and the Premier have obviously allowed this to occur and have allowed an agreement to be unwound. I think the Premier needs to meet with Solstice Energy, but she also needs to meet with the Nathalia CNG action group. I understand Nathalia has got a big day out not this Saturday but the one after.

Wendy Lovell interjected.

David DAVIS: An energy expo – perhaps the Premier would like to attend that. She should certainly meet with this group. They are seeking compensation, and they have a legitimate cause to complain. The gas has been turned off in their area; the contracts have been broken. It is absolutely outrageous.