Thursday, 24 September 2026

 Wendy LOVELL (Northern Victoria) (09:56): In my final members statement I want to mention a couple of achievements that I forgot to include in my valedictory speech. The first was how delighted I was to round out my career with a win for farmers in what was to be the Central North renewable energy zone. To be their voice and debate the matter in the second-last sitting week was a privilege. For the government to announce they would scrap the REZ during that debate was a win for people power and common sense.

The second was a win I had back in 2007. The Bracks government recalled Parliament before Christmas to introduce what they called the critical water infrastructure bill. This was at the height of the millennium drought, and the bill sought to do two things: establish an authority to build water infrastructure and strip landowners of all rights under public acquisition. Labor said they needed this to acquire the land for the Colbinabbin pipeline. As a local member, I knew the Colbinabbin land had already been acquired and that the government were up to something, so I convinced shadow cabinet to amend the bill to remove the public acquisition section. I then convinced the crossbench to support my position. This house amended the bill and returned it to the Assembly, where they left it sitting on the paper for four years until it died. It turned out all Labor really wanted was to trash landowners’ rights, but the questions asked in the committee stage of that bill in this house were used extensively in court cases between the government and landowners over the north–south pipeline. This is why, as Deputy President, I have been so determined not to allow Labor members or other members to verbal ministers on their answers.