Council’s amendments
Danny O’BRIEN (Gippsland South) (16:27): What a performance that was from the member for Albert Park, telling us what is good for us in regional Victoria. If this is so good and it is so good to bring certainty to transmission lines and everything, why isn’t the government proposing wind towers in Port Phillip Bay and then transmission lines right through Albert Park?
Nina Taylor interjected.
Danny O’BRIEN: You want to do that, member for Albert Park? Well, why don’t we get it happening then? This is the thing we get from this government all the time. We get this all the time: ‘Isn’t it wonderful, all the transmission lines, the solar panels and the wind towers.’ It is all easy for them to say, because they never have to put up with it in their electorates. All the costs are borne by the country and the benefits all flow to the city, and this legislation, this amendment, is appalling. For the government to spring this on the Parliament this week, to bring in compulsory acquisition powers before an environment effects statement has even been completed on a transmission line, is a disgrace.
I sat there at the bush summit in Ballarat last year, where both the Prime Minister and the Premier stood there and said to the people of regional Victoria, ‘We acknowledge we’ve got it wrong. We have been disrespectful in consultation processes on renewable energy transmission and transmission lines.’ They did that the day after they passed the VicGrid bill that threatened farmers with $12,000 fines for having the temerity to stop people coming onto their land. Now, in the dead of night we get this legislation, this amendment – this amendment that was not part of the VicGrid bill last year, that was not part of this legislation – and we get a day’s notice, member for Albert Park, that you are going to bring in these compulsory acquisition powers. What a disgrace from this government. If there is nothing to hide, why was this brought in at this short notice? If there was nothing to hide –
Tim Richardson interjected.
Danny O’BRIEN: No, member for Mordialloc. I am not settling down, because people are angry. People are angry in regional Victoria.
Members interjecting.
The ACTING SPEAKER (Nathan Lambert): Order! Member for Mordialloc, I have called for order. The Leader of the Nationals will direct his comments through the Chair.
Danny O’BRIEN: I am angry about this because the government is taking regional Victorians for fools. They are saying this is about providing certainty. Certainty – they do not want certain death to their farms and their communities from some of this stuff. If this was so important, Minister, why wasn’t it part of the bill when it was brought in? We asked that question in the briefing yesterday, and all they could give us was ‘internal government processes’. All they could give us was that. Why was the amendment not thought of before, Minister? That is the question. This is just a –
The ACTING SPEAKER (Nathan Lambert): Order! Leader of the Nationals, I have asked you to direct your comments, when speaking, through the Chair in accordance with the standing orders. I ask you to do so again.
Danny O’BRIEN: I did that, and I am picking up the comments from the minister at the table and the things that she said in her speech. The member for Albert Park and the minister are trying to say this is about climate change when it is about compulsory acquisition before an environment effects statement has even been done. They are expecting country people to agree to listen to them, to listen to their views. ‘Please put a submission into the environment effects process, but we’re still going to go ahead and compulsorily acquire your land’ – that is the disgrace that this government is doing with these amendments today.
It stands condemned. If there was nothing to hide, why was this not part of the bill last year? If there was nothing to hide, why was this not part of the bill to start with? They have hidden this and tried to sneak it through in the last couple of days, and it is no surprise that regional Victorians are going to be angry about this. The Victorian Farmers Federation has already called it out, as they should, and the government absolutely stands condemned on this.
This is a government that is running roughshod over Victorians. We have seen them already – they are boasting about how they are fast-tracking renewable energy and transmission lines in regional Victoria through the development facilitation process. What does that process do? It takes away the rights of regional Victorians. It takes away their rights to appeal these things at VCAT. Some will say that does not mean anything. I can tell you from personal experience that someone in my community appealed one of these wind farm projects at VCAT, and VCAT found in their favour because the department and the proponent had messed up. They had done the wrong thing, and the department and the government did not even pick it up. That is why VCAT is important. That is why people should have the right to oppose these things and to go to VCAT. The government took that away.
Then they brought in the National Electricity (Victoria) Amendment (VicGrid Stage 2 Reform) Bill 2025 last year and said if you do not let people do tests on your land, you will be fined $12,000. This is the day after the government had said it needed to treat these people with more respect, and now we get 24 hours notice that we are going to bring in compulsory acquisition even before an environment effects statement has taken place.
This is completely disrespectful to regional Victorians. It is consistent with the government’s approach over many years. Members like the member for Albert Park can stand up there and say it is all about cheaper power and climate change and all of that; there is no respect for regional Victorians on this. There is not a single chance this Labor government would do this if it was through the middle suburbs of Mordialloc or Albert Park, but they do not care about it when it is in Lowan or Ripon or outer areas in regional Victoria where the people are providing the food and fibre for this state and this nation. This is completely disrespectful, and the Nationals and Liberals will oppose this every day of the week.