Second Reading
Danny O’BRIEN (Gippsland South) (13:57): Well, well, well, how things have changed. At the election in 2022 and for much of last year the SEC was the be-all and end-all. It was the saviour of the state of Victoria. It was going to deliver everything that all Victorians want, and now we are so proud of it on that side that we are going to debate it in 2 hours and knock it off by 5 o’clock today. I mean, what has this government come to? They are not even prepared to stand up and actually debate their own policy that they thought was so good in 2022. They are hiding this policy. It is absolutely extraordinary. This policy is being revealed now – by the fact that the government is trying to hide debate on this and shut it down by 5 o’clock this afternoon – as the biggest con job in politics since Daniel Andrews said that the east–west link contract was not worth the paper it was written on. What an absolute disgrace this government are that they are not even prepared to stand up in this place and let us debate this legislation in full. This is just a con job, and the Minister for Health at the table has the gall to say that this is about protecting Victorians from the Liberals when we all know – who was it that began the privatisation of the SEC?
Members interjecting.
Danny O’BRIEN: Everyone on this side seems to know! Can I hear it from the other side: who began the privatisation of the SEC?
Members interjecting.
Danny O’BRIEN: They have forgotten Joan already! Loy Yang B and Edison Mission and David White. I just cannot believe –
Mary-Anne Thomas: On a point of order, Deputy Speaker, the member for Gippsland South knows that this is not an opportunity to attack members on this side nor to besmirch the reputation –
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: The Leader of the House will resume her seat. There is no point of order. It is, however, time for us to break for question time. The member will have the call when we resume.
Business interrupted under sessional orders.
Danny O’BRIEN (Gippsland South) (14:49): I was disappointed to be interrupted by question time as the wind was taken out of my sails when I was just reminding some of those opposite, who like to say that this bill is actually protecting the SEC from privatisation by the Liberals, as the previous speaker said, of who actually began the privatisation of the SEC.
Members interjecting.
Danny O’BRIEN: Come in, spinner – from the minister at the table. I have actually got the press release here from Joan Kirner, 11 June 1992. The headline is ‘Loy Yang B bill passed by Parliament’, and it includes a direct quote from the Premier of the day Joan Kirner. It says:
The Victorian Government’s decision to involve private investment in this new project is essential to our energy future.
Members interjecting.
Danny O’BRIEN: The Minister for Transport Infrastructure – you can call it whatever you like, Minister. It is privatisation, and if the minister does not like that one, he can talk about the land titles office. We could talk about the Port of Melbourne. We could talk about the VicRoads licensing and registration division. The point is: privatisation when done by Liberals and Nationals – bad; privatisation when done by Labor, past, present or future – perfectly fine, no problem at all.
Members interjecting.
Danny O’BRIEN: Call it whatever you want, Minister, it is privatisation, and this government stands condemned for its absolute charade of the SEC this time around. We heard the then Premier in 2022 say, ‘Offshore wind, not offshore profits’. That was his big pitch: ‘We’re not going to let offshore private companies take profits.’ What did we have at budget estimates last year? I asked the interim CEO of the SEC: will the SEC preclude foreign investors from investment? No, they will not. We also had the Premier say at the time the government will invest as a majority stakeholder. What was the first investment they made – a minority stakeholder with Equus Australia in the so-called big battery out at Melton.
So the government has just fibbed and obfuscated around this from the very start. It misled the public of Victoria into thinking that they were getting the old SEC back. Indeed in the bills that I am actually cognate debating at the moment, one of them is specifically about that. They are actually abolishing the old SEC, getting rid of it, and bringing in their own new one, partly because they did not realise they could not use the logo because the old SEC owned it. I mean, it is extraordinary that the government has got this. The key point in this is that the government is saying, ‘We’re going to bring prices down through the SEC.’ Again, when I asked the minister –
Jade Benham interjected.
Danny O’BRIEN: Down, down, down. In fact it was the minister’s comment, member for Mildura: ‘Down, down, down’. When I asked the minister for clarity at budget estimates last year on what proportion of the electricity generation sector the SEC will control by 2035 – of course 2035 is when the government is saying we are going to have 95 per cent renewables and everything – the answer was: out of 25 gigawatts the SEC will control 4.5 gigawatts. That is less than a fifth of generation, and somehow magically that is going to bring costs down for Victorians. I mean, this is an absolute con that the government is involved in.
I could go on for hours on this, but I know there are other members on our side and we know the government have suddenly become so very embarrassed by the SEC policy and just what a shambles it is and what a disgrace it is going to be and how it will make no impact on electricity prices for Victorians in future that they have actually truncated debate. So as much as I would like to continue on, I will sit down so that my colleagues get more opportunity to say it, because this government is gagging debate on this legislation. We oppose this. We oppose the SEC. It is a sham to try and put it in the constitution, and the government stands condemned for that politicisation.