Wednesday, 4 March 2026

 Sarah MANSFIELD (Western Victoria) (18:12): I rise to speak in support of this bill. The Energy and Other Legislation Amendment (Resilience Reforms and Other Matters) Bill 2026 takes some welcome steps in the right direction. This bill makes it mandatory for electricity distribution network companies to publish network resilience plans so our grid can better withstand increasingly frequent climate disasters, and the Greens support this. Climate change means Victoria is increasingly vulnerable to severe storms, heatwaves, bushfires and floods, leaving our communities increasingly susceptible to prolonged power outages. We need to ensure our communities are supported to withstand this increasingly hostile climate.

During the Greens-initiated climate resilience inquiry last year we heard heartbreaking stories from communities who had experienced loss of power during extreme weather disasters, often for days and even weeks, with seemingly no accountability taken by these distribution companies. People were unable to keep their fridges going, which affected not just their household food but things like the storage of vital medications. It impacted water systems. It impacted ATMs and telecommunications that rely on power. The simple act of trying to charge your mobile phone was something that became really difficult for many of the people living in these communities. This bill ensures that distributors have a responsibility to ensure energy security for all Victorians, regardless of where they live.

But let us be honest about what is really at stake here. This summer alone we have watched climate change burn our farms to the ground and flood our coastal towns. Communities in my region and across the state are bearing the cost of a crisis they did not create – and they are bearing it right now, not in some distant future. Yet we are not moving fast enough. This bill further consolidates the VicGrid reforms and supports VicGrid’s new approach to planning renewable energy zones and transmission infrastructure. We need an urgent transition to cleaner, renewable energy, and time is running out, and it is not just from a climate perspective but also in terms of the cost of living for everyday Victorians.

Fossil fuel generated electricity is expensive, and it is projected to only get more expensive, but currently we are not moving fast enough to get off these fossil fuel sources of energy. We continue to burn dirty coal and gas to generate our power. Despite more renewables coming online than ever before, coal consumption in Victoria is simply not falling at the rate it must, because our energy demands are growing faster than our grid can carry. This includes energy demand driven by Victoria’s AI data centre boom, and that is a topic we have spoken about at length over recent weeks in this place. The government is rolling out the red carpet and stripping back regulations for these energy-devouring AI data monsters. But the government appears to have no plan for how we will power them without putting our transition from dirty coal and gas into jeopardy.

Let us be clear: the Allan Labor government’s target of 95 per cent renewables by 2035 is at serious risk if they do not dramatically lift their ambition and urgency. In that light we welcome this bill, as it will assist with speeding up the transition, but while legislative reforms like this are necessary, they in themselves are not going to be sufficient. We need to focus on energy demand reduction. That is a whole other subject that I will not get into, but it is one that gets far less attention from this government than it warrants.

We also need to ensure that communities are brought along on the journey, and I say this as a regional MP who hears what regional communities are saying. Rural and regional communities like mine in western Victoria will be hosting a lot of this renewable infrastructure. It marks a major change for these places, and while there is real potential for it to bring positive transformation and benefits for rural Victorians, many are not yet seeing or experiencing those and the projects face ongoing local resistance. The thing is, these communities, more than any, know how serious climate change is. They are on the front lines. They are dealing with the droughts, with the floods, with the fires and with the storms. They are the ones who are having their power cut off for weeks. They know what is at stake. Last year’s changes to VicGrid and the establishment of community benefits programs were good moves, albeit very belated, but there is still so much room for better on-the-ground engagement, listening to and supporting these communities. It is in everyone’s interests that we bring these communities along on the journey and get this right.

Climate change is not waiting. We urgently need to close down our dirty coal power stations and stop burning fossil gas. This bill gets us a little bit closer to that, and I commend it to the house.

 Gaelle BROAD (Northern Victoria) (18:18): I am pleased to have the opportunity to speak on the Energy and Other Legislation Amendment (Resilience Reforms and Other Matters) Bill 2026. I will say power and energy in Victoria at the moment are certainly not very resilient at all. I have been to a number of areas, and I know Euroa, as I have mentioned before in this chamber, had 17 power outages in just a couple of months. I spoke with a bakery there that talked about not being able to afford a generator. Other business owners are getting up during the night to plug in and unplug their utilities in their stores, and it is putting businesses under significant pressure. I have had other residents contact me because no power means no mobile connection. Their booster goes down, and they have got no internet connection and no access to emergency services information. I have spoken to businesses which depend on energy for their work, and at the moment they are facing significant increases in costs. We have heard today about the number of larger employers – I know Mr Welch spoke about that earlier – that are being forced to close down. The numbers do not look good when you actually look into them in greater depth.

We know from a report done by the Auditor-General that the energy future in this state is looking very grim. The Victorian Auditor-General’s report from December 2025 notes:

Victoria is on track to meet its renewable energy target in 2025, but meeting future targets will be more difficult …

while maintaining reliable electricity. It notes that key projects have been delayed, risking electricity shortages. It does identify the need that, for Victoria to ensure that its energy needs are met, the government should develop contingency plans to address project delays and risks. It talks about the VNI West renewables link being delayed from the original schedule. It is now expected that these projects will not be in service until at least 2030, two years after Yallourn closes, and Victoria will not meet the 2032 offshore wind target. The report said that, to date, planning for Victoria’s energy transition has not adequately considered risks and uncertainties, advice around key decisions has included optimistic assumptions and there are limited options to address potential shortfalls. It says:

If these risks are not successfully managed, Victoria would be more likely to face energy shortfalls after the Yallourn coal-fired power station closes in mid-2028.

It does also mention on page 10 of the report that:

Victoria could face electricity shortfalls to meet peak demand if these risks materialise, which could result in load shedding (planned electricity reduction to selected areas) and blackouts.

And:

… there is still a significant risk of electricity shortages after Yallourn closes.

I spoke with a business recently which was in that situation where they were told their power was being switched off, and staff were actually sweltering. They were working in intense heat, and we know that heat stress can actually cause death. It is one of the worst conditions to be in. But this is the situation we now face in Victoria with the likelihood of being asked to turn the power off, so it is certainly anything but resilient.

Yet we know that our demand for power generation in this state is going to continue to grow. We have a growing population. We have heard about data centres and the incredible amount of power that they consume; this is not something that seems to be on the government’s radar. Families and businesses do need reliable, affordable and consistent power supply, but at the moment, as I said, costs just keep going up. Victorians need confidence in the energy system, but this bill just undermines that.

I certainly think it is worth pointing out that under this government we have seen the work on the VNI West link, and it has been shocking. The impact on communities and the way it has been handled has been appalling. The Nationals have made it very clear that we think that project should be halted and that a review needs to be done of the whole transmission plan. What we have seen now from the government is – surprise – that they are making an amendment to this bill. We actually had a briefing, just on the amendment, this morning, and we asked why the last-minute change. We were told an internal government process only approved its release yesterday. This is the situation we are in. We have got a government that is putting in a nice, sneaky little amendment. This amendment is about the environment effects statement still being underway yet having the process of compulsory acquisition happening at the same time. So you can imagine if you are a landowner, if you are a farmer, you are in this situation where you are putting a whole lot of your time, effort, energy and resources into the EES process, then suddenly you could be facing compulsory acquisition. These are not people that are heavily resourced with a whole lot of government resources behind them. These are individuals that could be in a very difficult situation. I think it is very clear.

The Victorian Farmers Federation have expressed their disgust at this sneak attack on land rights and environmental laws, and they believe it should be stopped. VFF president Brett Hosking said the move was a betrayal of trust and due process:

This amendment is being jammed through at the eleventh hour with zero transparency or consultation with the farmers whose livelihoods are on the line.

It would allow the Minister to bypass Victoria’s environment and planning laws, and potentially waste millions of taxpayer dollars in the process.

You don’t build the roof before you pour the slab, and you certainly don’t compulsorily acquire a farmer’s land before you’ve even finished the independent assessment proving the powerline is safe, necessary, and in the right spot.

This goes on to say:

Mr Hosking warned the amendment would damage perceptions of the EES process and strengthen the hand of power companies which are already treating communities with contempt.

I think it is worth pointing out that the government does not have the numbers in this chamber. They do not have the numbers for this legislation to go through, and this amendment is being pushed through under the carpet. It is a very slippery slope, and this Labor government has certainly already slid too far. I think we all know there have been some significant things. We have seen the $15 billion that has gone into the hands of criminals on government projects. The fact that that has happened in this state is extraordinary, and yet the Premier does not want to look into it: ‘Nothing to see here’ – unbelievable. Again, the state is going backwards. Our power supply, as the Auditor-General pointed out, is not resilient; it is going backwards. Mobile phone coverage, certainly in regional areas, I know is going backwards. Our roads and the maintenance or lack thereof, again, are going backwards. Education: we have seen the shortage of teachers – again, going backwards. And health services: significant delays to our health services – again, going backwards.

This bill talks about a resilience plan for companies, but I think the government needs a resilience plan for the whole state, because certainly people are under pressure at the moment. There are parts of this bill that we do support, including things like strengthening poles to withstand high winds, relocating assets from flood-prone areas and deploying mobile generators to support affected communities. Yes, they are elements that we do support, but certainly this amendment that is being put forward is not one that we want to see happen and I would just encourage the chamber to consider that.

 David LIMBRICK (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (18:27): I also would like to say a few words on the Energy and Other Legislation Amendment (Resilience Reforms and Other Matters) Bill 2026. With some of the things that this bill is addressing, you wonder how we got to this place in the first place. Firstly, with these resilience plans, this seems to me like a whole bunch of extra red tape for companies to supposedly increase their resilience. I am sceptical of this sort of thing. Really what is going to happen is, I think, it will just turn into a box-ticking exercise that will inflict more costs on consumers ultimately. These companies already try to manage resilience. The idea that having some plan submitted to the government is going to make them more resilient when the incentives are already set up in such a way that they should be as resilient as possible – I am sceptical as to whether that will help or not.

I am disappointed that we are not seeing any protections for property rights at all after the awful VicGrid bill last year, which was an affront to property rights. There are many people in regional Victoria that are actively resisting what these companies are doing. Some of them have said they are willing to go to jail over property rights. The government have been heavy-handed in the way they are handling this. I am concerned that ultimately it is going to end up in conflict and people are going to get arrested, and I do not want to see that. In fact I would like to see people’s property rights respected.

Dr Mansfield before bemoaned the use of gas in Victoria for electricity and how much gas we are using. No-one seems to ask questions about why we are using so much gas in Victoria for electricity. Well, the reason is because we have renewables, and when the wind is not blowing and the sun is not shining, you need something to back it up. Coal cannot ramp up quick enough. Batteries do not have the capacity. So we have gas, and that is why we use so much gas in Victoria for electricity production. The government, both at state and federal level, do not want to support introducing nuclear technologies. So ultimately what I think we are going to come to in Victoria is the realisation that we have made our grid massively more complex and massively more unreliable.

Those coal power plants that we have out in the Latrobe Valley have been derided by so many for so long now – they are derided by the Greens, they are derided by everyone, but not derided by me – but ultimately we are going to realise that actually they have great value. They take advantage of a natural resource that we have, which is brown coal; we have abundant amounts of it. Ultimately, we are going to have to think about what we are going to do, because they are falling apart now. There has not been a lot of investment, because why would anyone invest in something that the government actively regulates the hell out of so it is not going to be profitable? What I would like to see is us get to the point where we say, ‘Well, actually, maybe we need a new coal power plant.’ I think that we are going to get to that point eventually. There are people in the Labor Party I know that agree with this. They would like to see a whole bunch of boilermakers and other engineers go ahead and build a new coal power plant, because we are not going to build a nuclear one, apparently.

In other countries with more sensible policies, you will see that they are preparing for this. It has been brought up many times, the AI data centre rollout, and they are going to need enormous amounts of electricity. In fact I read about one case recently in America where a single data centre needs 24/7 single-gigawatt power, so basically they are contracting the entire output from a single nuclear power plant for this one plant. Argentina want to be the AI superpower of South America. They know that the only way they can do that is with nuclear energy. They are rolling out a nuclear power fleet in order to become an AI superpower. The idea that we want Victoria to be some data centre superpower and yet we are making our entire grid dependent on intermittent energy sources seems fanciful at the least, because it is not going to happen. That is the fact of the matter. We are lucky that we have the data centres that we have got already. But when we come to the realisation that, like every other country, we are not going to get to net zero and we have to think of something else in the meantime, that is going to be plugged by gas. Gas prices are going to go up. Electricity prices are going to go up.

The government keeps saying, ‘Oh, we’re making electricity cheaper,’ but the consumers know that is nonsense, because every year their electricity bill goes up, and it is not going to be any other way. In fact what we are seeing is the economics of the way that batteries work means that the first batteries on the network are going to make a lot of profit, because what they do when electricity is oversupplied is store it at a great profit, and then they sell it when it is undersupplied, when the electricity price is high. But every battery that you put on the network narrows that curve and in essence narrows the profit margin. It not only narrows the profit margin of new batteries; it narrows the profit margin of existing batteries. So these companies that have gained the favour of government to set up battery farms are all of a sudden incentivised to resist new market entrants – and won’t the politics of that be interesting when you have the renewables companies or the battery companies, the companies that supply these, all of a sudden resisting it because new batteries on the market will reduce their profitability. That is just the way that the economics work on this; it is just the way it is. So you are never going to get this mass battery rollout because it will just get less and less and less and less profitable, to the point where companies will not bother investing in it.

We need reliable energy. Reliable and abundant and cheap energy is what Victoria needs. The idea that Victoria, or Australia indeed, is going to change planetary weather systems by whatever we do is nonsense. Whatever we do is nothing more than a rounding error. We should be looking out for Victoria first and not pandering to the UN or all these other places that think that we have to do whatever it is that they want us to do. What they are really doing is forcing us to use energy sources. They keep talking about this transition, the energy transition. The energy transition is not like we transition from the current power grid to a new power grid. The transition that we are talking about is permanent – forever. By the time that we get to the point, if we ever get there – let us say we get to 90 per cent renewables – all of the original infrastructure that we built will need to be replaced. We will be constantly replacing this infrastructure, in perpetuity. It is unsustainable. It makes us totally dependent on foreign countries – totally dependent on China, actually.

Many of the materials that are used to build these towers require enormous amounts of mining. The same people that push for renewables also want to resist mining rare earth metals in Victoria, when it is the demand for magnets that they use in wind turbines that is one of the main drivers of demand for this. So rather than mine our own neodymium in Victoria, they would rather we be dependent on China forever. This is dangerous. If we look at the supply chain in China, the polysilicon supply chain, the estimates are that vast amounts of it are actually tainted by slave labour in China. When people talk about cheap renewables, maybe we should ask: why are these panels so cheap? Well, the polysilicon is tainted with slave labour. If that is what we want to dedicate ourselves to becoming dependent on forever, then I do not think that is a good thing. I do not think that is moral. I do not think that is the right thing to do. Then some people say, ‘Why don’t we make it in Australia?’ Well, guess what, it is not cheap anymore then, is it?

What we should be doing, to my mind, is building a massive nuclear fleet. We are not going to do that. So if we are not going to do that, we should take advantage of the resources that we have in Victoria. I totally disagree with Dr Mansfield about phasing out coal. It is never going to happen. It is never going to happen in Victoria. Sooner or later we are going to come to realise the value of what those visionaries in Victoria did all those years ago when they set up those power plants in the Latrobe Valley. We are going to come to see them in a new light and how valuable they really are, and maybe we will build new ones.

 David ETTERSHANK (Western Metropolitan) (18:36): I rise to speak on the Energy and Other Legislation Amendment (Resilience Reforms and Other Matters) Bill 2026. The bill amends the Electricity Safety Act 1998 to require Victorian electricity distribution businesses to prepare network resilience plans and to provide for the approval and enforcement of these plans by Energy Safe Victoria. We will be experiencing more frequent and more severe weather events due to climate change, and energy distribution companies will need to take proactive steps to prepare for these events. That might include fortifying infrastructure to withstand high winds, relocating assets from flood-prone areas or providing generators to communities left without power in the wake of an extreme weather event. The resilience plans will be enforceable, and there will be penalties for businesses that fail to take reasonable steps to implement their resilience plans.

During the inquiry into climate resilience in Victoria we heard evidence of communities being left without power for extended periods following floods and bushfires. It is great to see the minister responding to the findings and recommendations of that inquiry. The bill makes other changes, including amendments to life support provisions under the Electricity Industry Act 2000 and the Gas Industry Act 2001, amendments to the National Electricity (Victoria) Act 2005 to support the transition of the energy sector from fossil fuels to renewables, and amendments to the Statewide Treaty Act 2025 to ensure the Self-Determination Fund can receive and administer the relevant benefits to traditional owners, as well as other minor amendments which I will not go into now.

There have been amendments moved by the government and the opposition. Let us look at the opposition amendments first, the first of which is to impose a requirement on electricity retailers to itemise the proportion of funds that will go into the Traditional Owners Fund. The legislation relating to the three groups receiving benefits under the scheme was passed in the previous VicGrid bills. Those groups all received the same amount: landholders, affected communities and traditional owners. It is an accepted practice to include the compensation and benefit payments in the project costs, which are then reflected in the network component of the retail bill. The opposition say that this amendment is about transparency – that consumers are entitled to know what they are being charged for. But if this is about transparency, why aren’t they seeking for all funds to be itemised on the bill instead of just the Traditional Owners Fund component? Why is the opposition only interested in the amount being paid to traditional owners?

Their other amendments seek to amend the national electricity act 2005 to remove various clauses relating to environmental assessments and to applications to the grid impact authority for approval of generation, storage or hybrid energy projects located outside of a declared renewable energy zone. The bill amends the National Electricity (Victoria) Act 2005 to allow the Minister for Energy and Resources to make an order relating to the regulatory arrangements related to the declared transmission system where an environment effects statement has been ordered, so it allows those two processes to run concurrently. However, the conditions of the EES must be satisfied.

In relation to the clauses concerning applications to the grid impact authority, I was a little curious as to why the opposition would oppose the streamlining of processes to enable more applicants to connect to the transmission network, notwithstanding their rather well ventilated antipathy towards renewables. These clauses require applicants to prove that they have undertaken due consultation and engagement with affected landholders, communities and traditional owners and that their project delivers meaningful social value and economic benefits. Those very requirements for appropriate consultation I think were admirably highlighted in the inquiry that the Environment and Planning Committee just completed into consultation. I think the feeling of the committee was pretty much unanimous as to the ability to improve this. We have heard those opposite complain about the lack of consultation with landholders and communities. Surely they are supportive of requirements for a grid impact authority holder to consult and engage with these groups. I suspect their resistance perhaps has more to do with the requirement to also engage with traditional owners in this process. This suite of amendments has nothing to do with transparency. I am afraid I feel that there is an element of this which is primarily dog whistling. We will not be supporting them.

Turning to the government’s house amendments which deal with the government’s compulsory acquisition powers, currently the compulsory easement acquisition process for transmission projects can only commence once the environment effects statement process, which includes the heritage impact statement, is completed. This amendment will allow the EES process to run concurrently with the compulsory easement acquisition process, as currently happens with rail networks, with roads and with water infrastructure, so it is not exactly groundbreaking. It will create more certainty for landowners and bring forward completion dates. The acquisition transaction will not take place until after the environment effects statement has been completed, and if it is found that the easement is unsuitable for the transmission line route, if it is not much use to the company anyway, the land can be sold back to the landholder. Either way the landholder is no worse off. That said, this is an area we are looking forward to exploring further with the government tomorrow when we are in committee, although I am told it is fairly unlikely at this stage that an easement would be found unsuitable, as the process of calibrating the transmission line route is more advanced and the route has been altered literally thousands of times. As I understand it, on the current western link proposal the EES is almost completed now and will be released later this year.

The amendment will align Victoria’s compulsory acquisition powers with those that currently exist in New South Wales and have done for some time. These have been uncontroversial and very successful in finalising those voluntary agreements with landholders. In New South Wales 98 per cent of voluntary agreements are reached once the compulsory acquisition process has been triggered, and this is what Victorian landowners have been calling for. Emma Kealy, the Nationals member for Lowan, beseeched the Premier to get on with compulsory acquisitions in September last year. I do want to put a caveat here, which is that I have not had a chance to contextualise this with Ms Kealy, but if I quote directly from the transcript, it says:

Have compulsory acquisitions of land and make it quick and make it fair so our people can move on … I call on Premier Allan: please, if you care about regional people, go out and do compulsory acquisition, as you would for a Melbourne project, and let our people deal with this, because the uncertainty is dividing families.

That seems a very reasonable proposition from Ms Kealy. She is from out that way. As I said, there may be some contextual issue that I am missing, but it seems to me that that is a pretty solid support for exactly this concept of bringing forward the compulsory acquisitions.

Despite this, the coalition are not supporting these amendments. They say that the process undermines the EES process, which it does not, because it runs concurrently. It simply allows the government to trigger one process ahead of the other, which, as I have noted, has been working fine in New South Wales. The outcome is ultimately the same. It is not about how many easements have been acquired. If the EES does not pass, the process will be the same whether the land has been acquired or not. It is bigger than any one site.

I am not denying that there have been issues with the rollout of the government’s renewable energy scheme, particularly when it comes to community consultation in the regions. We heard this loud and clear and shamefully in the Environment and Planning Committee inquiry into consultation processes. But this is something that needs to happen. We must move away from coal-powered energy. Whilst it is all fine for Mr Limbrick to hark back to the days when we had lots of coal and say, ‘We need to build a new coal station,’ no-one is going to fund it, unless Mr Limbrick is going to be arguing that that should be funded by the state government, which would seem to be rather contrary.

In reading some of the opposition contributions to this debate in the Assembly, I cannot help but feel that all the outrage that generational farming families are having to carve off productive country that feeds the state, the nation and the world to accommodate transmission easements is a bit disingenuous. It does not take much to recognise that the greatest threat to productive agricultural land and farming communities in Victoria is climate change. There will not be many more generations of farmers working that land as they do currently if we continue to delay Victoria’s transition to renewable energy. We will be supporting the bill and the government’s house amendments, and I commend the bill to the house.

 Rikkie-Lee TYRRELL (Northern Victoria) (18:47): I rise to speak on the Energy and Other Legislation Amendment (Resilience Reforms and Other Matters) Bill 2026 and to strongly oppose the extraordinary amendments that were given to me late on Tuesday night. These amendments fundamentally expand compulsory acquisition powers under the Electricity Industry Act 2000. They allow easements to be acquired not only where they are required but where they may be required. ‘May be required’ is not a narrow test. It is vague, it is speculative and it dramatically lowers the threshold for the state to take control of private land. We are talking about farmers, we are talking about family properties, we are talking about generational landholdings across regional Victoria, and this Parliament is being asked to sign off on broader land-taking powers with barely any notice.

But it gets worse. New clause 12A deliberately carves around safeguards in the Environment Effects Act 1978. It makes clear that environmental oversight provisions cannot prevent the Governor in Council from approving the acquisition of an easement. In other words, if there are serious environmental concerns, if communities demand proper assessment or if there are legitimate questions about biodiversity, waterways or landscape impacts, those concerns cannot stand in the way of acquisition. That is not resilience reform, that is executive overreach.

Compulsory acquisition is one of the most coercive powers a government holds. It must be exercised transparently, cautiously and with full environmental scrutiny. Instead these amendments expand power, reduce oversight and sidestep safeguards, and they were introduced at the eleventh hour. If this reform was so reasonable, so balanced and so necessary, why introduce it late at night? Why avoid proper consultation? Why avoid proper scrutiny? Regional communities already feel ignored in Victoria’s energy transition. This sends a clear message: their land can be taken on the basis that it may one day be needed. That is not how trust is built. For those reasons I oppose these amendments and call on the house to reject them.

John BERGER (Southern Metropolitan) incorporated the following:

Thank you, President, I rise today to offer my contribution to the debate on the Energy and Other Legislation Amendment (Resilience Reforms and Other Matters) Bill 2026.

This bill is all about strengthening our energy grid and ensuring that Victorians will have access to affordable and reliable energy for decades to come.

Part of this involves upgrading the resilience of our energy infrastructure.

Another part involves making an adjustment to the Victorian Energy Upgrades program which will allow the system to continue to incentivize people to upgrade their household appliances to more energy efficient, electrical appliances.

Also, changes made to the VicGrid reforms which were delivered in 2024 and 2025 will ensure a smoother process for the declaration of Renewable Energy Zones.

These are smart, pragmatic reforms being brought in by a government which is determined to get the details of policy right.

Big picture reform matters, but governments which want their big picture reforms to work well and last for generations always need to make sure to get the details right.

That is what the Allan Labor Government is determined to do through this bill.

Because, as the Minister for Climate Action, Minister for Energy and Resources, Minister for the State Electricity Commission said aptly in the other in place in her second reading of the Bill.

Climate change is impacting our state, with severe weather impacts affecting Victorian communities’ access to power services.

Bushfires, floods, severe heat and storms leave communities with prolonged periods without power.

And as named in the Bill itself, these resilience reforms intend to give Victorians assurance that they will have access to power in weather events that leave them vulnerable.

The specific changes to energy legislation as detailed in the Bill will achieve this.

By amending the Electricity Safety Act 1998 to require distribution companies to prepare network resilience plans and to provide for the approval and enforcement of network resilience plans.

By amending the Electricity Industry Act 2000 and the Gas Industry Act 2001 to provide increased flexibility for the setting of retailer obligations to life support customers.

By amending the National Electricity (Victoria) Act 2005 to clarify the eligibility of payments to landholders by limiting it to interests in land in relation to new major transmission infrastructure.

To make further provisions in relation to the issue of grid impact authorities.

To confer further functions in relation to the national electricity market onto VicGrid.

And to make further provision in relation to preferred transmission project areas of interest within and between renewable energy zones.

The bill would also amend the Energy and Land Legislation Amendment (Energy Safety) Act 2025 to include, in the consequential amendments being made by Schedule 1 to that Act to the Electricity Safety Act 1998, additional amendments to change references to enforcement officer to an authorised officer.

Amend the Victorian Energy Efficiency Target Amendment (Energy Upgrades for the Future) Act 2025 to repeal certain provisions of that Act.

Amend the National Electricity (Victoria) Amendment (VicGrid Stage 2 Reform) Act 2025 to make an amendment that is consequential to the amendments being made to the National Electricity (Victoria) Act 2005 relating to preferred transmission project areas of interest within and between renewable energy zones.

And amend the Advancing the Treaty Process with Aboriginal Victorians Act 2018 to make further provision in relation to the composition, structure or legal form of the self-determination fund referred to in that Act.

That is a lot of amendments, but President, these changes matter.

In 2021, as reiterated by the Minister, the intense storms of June and October left over 230,000 Victorians without power.

With our cities experiencing outages of an average of 49 hours and, notably, some rural areas experiencing up to 84 days without electricity.

For almost three months, some of our rural communities could not access this vital infrastructure.

Prompting the Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change to establish the Electricity Distribution Network Resilience Review Expert Panel the following year.

Further, storms in February 2024 damaged 12,000 kilometres of powerlines and poles across the state, and outages caused by these events impacted over 529,000 Victorian homes and businesses.

And circling back to the Electricity Distribution Network Resilience Review Expert Panel established in 2022.

The then-Andrews Government broadly supported the recommendations of the panel, implementing actions to do so in many cases.

To implement immediate reforms to drive investment in the current regulatory period.

Acting to establish medium term, enduring reform to embed resilience investments in the Victorian regulatory framework.

And longer-term reforms to embed resilience investments in the national regulatory framework.

To engage with communities and local councils in emergency planning and response.

And to prioritise the restoration of power following an outage.

To ensure there is adequate communication with customers before and during prolonged power outages.

To deliver relief to customers affected by prolonged power outages.

And to ensure that reviews are undertaken to improve outcomes for customers impacted by prolonged power outages.

Immediate reforms to drive investment in the current regulatory period were implemented, including identifying high-risk locations.

Conducting geospatial analysis through Prolonged Power Outage Risk Assessments.

By supporting local councils to identify the needs of community hubs.

Identifying the range of potential investments preferred investment solutions.

Through conducting cost-benefit analysis and identifying investment sources.

And by introducing new regulatory obligations to invest in energy infrastructure.

Electricity distribution businesses were required to provide support to an emergency response.

By participating in a relevant meeting or shift briefing of any Incident Emergency Management Team or Regional Emergency Management Team daily for the duration of an emergency response.

To attend a relief centre, community hub, or a community meeting, to provide information about incident and response activities.

And to take reasonable steps to ensure that relief centres and community hubs can continue to operate during a prolonged power outage.

The government implemented new directions power to the Secretary of the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action, or a representative, to require the electricity distribution businesses, if requested following a major energy emergency, to provide additional information.

And they were granted new directions power to require the electricity distribution businesses, if requested following a major energy emergency, to provide customer information or to take reasonable steps to deliver or assist in the delivery of relief activities.

But this bill seeks to deliver on all other recommendations made by this panel and supported by the government.

Enforcing obligations for energy distribution businesses to prepare and implement network resilience plans that are accepted by Energy Safe Victoria.

That will detail how these businesses will prepare for and respond to severe weather events such as bushfires, floods, severe heat, and storms.

And penalising energy distribution businesses that do not comply with these obligations.

This Bill seeks to ensure that Victorians can have confidence that these plans are enforced, implemented, and work.

This is important to all communities across Victoria, and especially rural areas that in the past have endured several months of power outages.

This Bill not only improves outcomes in the cases of power outages, but it saves lives.

To support priority restoration of power following long periods of power outages, the government has taken into account recommendations of the Electricity Distribution Network Resilience Review.

By amending the Electricity Industry Act 2000 and Gas Industry Act 2001 to strengthen frameworks surrounding life support provisions.

Making these provisions more flexible, proactive, and responsive, giving certainty, but also safety, to Victorians who require life support equipment in their homes, during severe weather events and power outages.

This Bill support Victorian communities in having access to the services they need, in their home and in daily life, but critically, it saves lives in prolonged periods of power outages.

From the Electricity Distribution Network Resilience Review Expert Panel of 2022’s recommendations, our government has made significant progress to build stronger systems, frameworks, and regulations surrounding the operations and obligations of energy distribution businesses.

But we are living in a period of climate change, with severe weather events becoming more frequent, leaving Victorian communities more vulnerable to the impacts of power outages.

And this Bill ensures that our government and regulatory bodies have the flexibility to adapt to changing situations.

This Bill also makes critical reforms to the Victorian Energy Upgrades program, through its amendments to the Victorian Energy Efficiency Target Amendment (Energy Upgrades for the Future) Act 2025.

It repeals a section of the Act that would exclude a key business model responsible for delivering a significant number of the Victorian Energy Upgrades program activities.

Therefore, ensuring certainty and success in the Victorian Energy Upgrades program achievements.

While still retaining current offences relating to prescribed activities, definitions of scheme participants, and regulated action.

In terms of VicGrid reforms, this Bill relates to a number of existing acts to support our commitment to transitioning to renewable energy and delivering reliable energy to Victorians across the state.

Our stance on the transition to renewable energy is firm.

Not only are coal-fired power stations becoming unreliable.

We are in a period of climate change.

Through the Renewable Energy (Jobs and Investment) Act 2017, the then-Andrews Government committed to renewable energy targets of 25 percent of Victorian electricity generated from renewable sources by 2020, 40 percent by 2025, 65 percent by 2030 and 95 percent by 2035.

The Managing the Transition to Renewable Energy report published in December 2025 confirmed that we had reached the target of 40% by 2025.

The ‘Cheaper, Cleaner, Renewable: Our Plan for Victoria’s Electricity Future’, the publically published plan in 2024 to reach 95 percent of energy generated by renewable sources reiterates this.

Because coal-fired power plants are unreliable and this is why they are being closed down.

Because fossil fuels are unsustainable and our government is committed to net zero by 2045.

VicGrid is a key program in delivering this transition to renewable energy sources, in planning renewable energy zones and transmission infrastructure.

With $480 million invested into renewal energy projects that will strengthen and modernise Victoria’s energy grid.

Overseeing the delivery of current major transmission projects underway in Victoria.

Which include the Gippsland offshore wind transmission, the Marinus Link, the Victoria to New South Wales Interconnector West, and the Western Renewables Link.

Coordinating the delivery of the transmission to connect new offshore wind resources to the grid.

Providing key information to communities regarding their activities.

And they are putting the needs of Victorians at the centre of their work to deliver their Victorian Transmission Investment Framework.

Clarifications are made through this bill regarding the National Electricity (Victoria) Act 2005.

In the context of new major transmission projects created in or after 2025.

To support eligible landholders in receiving recognition for their contributions to the transition towards renewable energy.

This Bill also works to support the implementation of renewable energy zones and the new access regime through increased flexibility in Renewable Energy Zone Orders and assessment of Renewable Energy Zone Scheme authorities.

By allowing for renewable energy zones to be set in place where there is existing sufficient transmission infrastructure.

Or where there is not an existing proposed transmission project in that moment.

And by granting VicGrid powers to adopt the most appropriate method for assessing and issuing Renewable Energy Zone project authorities.

With consideration towards the characteristics of the renewable energy zone, projects with interest in participation, and broad market interest.

These changes are critical to support the work of VicGrid in their implementation of their transmission access regime coordinating new energy schemes.

To provide security and certainty for investors and developers supporting new energy projects.

And to ensure meaningful engagement with communities, Traditional Owners and landholders impacted by new energy projects.

This bill supports a limited class of transitional projects at the advanced development stage, including Capacity Investment Scheme projects, to achieve their goals in renewal energy schemes.

By introducing a new head of power for the Governor in Council to make regulations to replace the substantial constraint test set in the National Electricity (Victoria) Act 2005.

Bringing in an alternative assessment process which requires developers involved in renewal energy projects to meet government standards on community engagement, ensuring social value and delivering economic benefits to Victorian communities.

And in our responsibility towards Traditional Owners, this bill makes amendments to the Advancing the Treaty Process with Aboriginal Victorians Act 2018.

Supporting changes to the Self-Determination Fund through the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria, ensuring the fund can have more than one fund, including non-charitable investment vehicles.

Which allows for payments to Traditional Owners to be used for non-charitable purposes.

In our commitment to supporting self-determination in our Victorian Indigenous communities through Treaty last year.

The Allan Labor Government has reached the goal of 40 percent of energy powered by renewable sources by 2025.

And we still have more work to do towards reaching 65 percent by 2030, 95 percent by 2035, and ultimately, net zero by 2045.

Because coal-fired power plants are unreliable, fossil fuels are unsustainable, and climate change is impacting our Victorian communities.

Access to power is one part of that, but it is a critical, and lifesaving one.

And this Bill strengthens and empowers our legislation, regulatory and planning authorities, and projects to deliver on our renewable transition goals.

But it also takes into consideration the impacts and security of investors, developers, Victorian communities, Traditional Owners, and landholders.

It is a considered bill that I commend the Minister for Climate Action, for Energy and Resources, and for the State Electricity Commission for developing and introducing to parliament.

I would also like to thank the Electricity Distribution Network Resilience Review Expert Panel for their contributions which guided the development of this Bill.

The Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action for their planning work towards net zero.

And VicGrid for their work in planning Renewal Energy Zones, the Victorian Transmission Plan, and renewable energy transition projects.

There has been significant work done to ensure that this Bill is measured in progressing our renewable energy transition work, supporting communities impacted by prolonged power outages.

And ensuring that the security of investors, developers, Victorian communities, Traditional Owners, and landholders is preserved throughout our work.

I support the work done by the Minister in presenting this bill to parliament, and I commend it to the house.

 Lee TARLAMIS (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (18:50): I move:

That debate on this bill be adjourned until the next day of meeting.

Motion agreed to and debate adjourned until next day of meeting.