Adjournment
Danny O’BRIEN (Gippsland South) (19:01): (1739) My adjournment matter this evening is for the Minister for Energy and Resources, and the action I seek is for the minister to take action on ongoing power outages in Gippsland, particularly in my electorate of Gippsland South. I have heard great frustration expressed by my constituents, particularly in the area around Yarram, Won Wron, Devon North, McLoughlins Beach and Woodside, notwithstanding that there are many others as well. This area has had so many power outages that some businesses have actually closed down because they are sick of having to turn away customers. I am talking about a couple of B & Bs in particular that literally cannot risk taking a booking when the power might be out. I have got constituents who have been keeping logs of the power outages, one who has particular medical equipment that actually shows every time there is a power outage, even if it is a 1-second blip. He has got, for January this year, literally 30 or 40 outages in that month.
This has been happening for quite some time now. I have been attempting to work with AusNet, and I acknowledge that the team that I contact there have been responsive, and I know that they have also done some work on one of the feeder lines that comes from Foster into the Yarram and district area. However, it does not seem to have addressed the issue. One of the explanations I had at one stage was that the weather had caused issues – trees falling and that sort of thing. Well, the powerlines have been there forever and a day – not literally, but certainly for five or six decades, if not longer. The trees have been there the same amount of time. I do not buy that sort of excuse.
It is a great frustration to the community. They feel like they are being treated as second-class citizens. They certainly say that this would not be accepted in a metropolitan area, and I concur entirely. I know this is a privatised system, but surely the minister can do something about it. Surely she can be calling in AusNet and asking for an explanation. Surely she can be demanding action on this, because we have seen it too often. We have instances where works are required, and indeed we need works done to keep the system well maintained, but there are far too many unscheduled outages happening, and it is not good enough. People are paying for a service. They are not getting that service, and they are getting disruptions and interruptions that are affecting their homes, their businesses and their lives. The government needs to do something about it.