Thursday, 30 July 2026

 Gaelle BROAD (Northern Victoria) (18:18): (2653) My question is to the Minister for Energy and Resources. All Victorians need reliable, secure and affordable energy, and those most affected by energy projects living in rural and regional areas across northern Victoria deserve to be heard. Families, farmers and businesses are paying the price for failed energy policy. Over the last decade we have seen reduced local production, higher energy prices and growing uncertainty about Victoria’s energy future. The Victorian Auditor-General has warned that Victoria faces a significant risk of electricity shortfall following the expected closure of the Yallourn power station in 2028. With energy shortages comes the risk of blackouts, higher energy bills and a stalling economy.

Under Labor residents across northern Victoria are being denied a voice. I have heard from residents, one of which has asked many questions of multinational companies developing wind farms surrounding their property, and despite the direct impact on their livelihoods, they are still waiting for answers despite attending community consultation sessions for more than a year. Their home is totally off-grid, yet they are soon to be surrounded by 300-metre-tall wind turbines less than 1 kilometre from their home, and they are living in a state of limbo. Under this government residents have also been silenced by harsh laws designed to bulldoze local economies as they seek to construct costly transmission lines.

The action I seek is for the government to prioritise affordable, reliable and secure energy supplies in Victoria. I ask the minister to give farmers their rights back and repeal the harsh fines on landholders who refuse access to their own land; reinstate the right of appeal to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal to ensure community voices are heard in the planning process; halt VNI West and undertake a rigorous assessment process for all major transmission projects to ensure that they meet community and cost expectations while protecting prime agricultural land; repeal the extraordinary powers that permit compulsory acquisition of easements, even before planning and environmental studies have been undertaken; ensure that large-scale wind and solar generation projects face a rigorous and independent planning panel assessment and institute a default 2-kilometre buffer zone around proposed wind towers; open the door for more locally produced gas to help lower energy bills, strengthen Victoria’s energy security and support regional jobs; and give people back a choice – reverse Labor’s gas ban and let new Victorian households and businesses connect to the gas network; and promote urban solar parks on warehouse and factory rooftops in Melbourne to develop energy where it is needed and minimise the need for more transmission lines across the state. The government must listen to the residents across Northern Victoria and ensure that local communities have a genuine say in decisions that affect their land and livelihoods. I look forward to the minister’s response.