Wednesday, 20 March 2024

Bills

Energy and Public Land Legislation Amendment (Enabling Offshore Wind Energy) Bill 2024

Second reading

Debate resumed.

Wayne FARNHAM (Narracan) (18:01): I am pleased to continue my contribution. I will start with a reference that the member for Narre Warren South made earlier about a Michael Buxton. I think he got a little bit confused about which Michael Buxton it was. The Michael Buxton that actually wrote the report is Professor Michael Buxton, who worked for a Victorian government planning and environment agency – Environment Protection Authority Victoria – and formerly headed up an intergovernmental process for developing Australia’s national greenhouse strategy. Obviously he is a very, very well respected professor. The professor made comment about the government’s renewable process, and I will just quote from what he said:

Wind and solar generating facilities will be placed in the wrong location. It’s likely that all those broader impacts, the loss of farming land, the impacts on biodiversity and landscapes, won’t be properly considered, and what will really only matter will be the need to complete the project, anywhere, no matter what.

That professor is not a donor to the Liberal Party and that professor is not worth $400 million, as claimed by the member for Narre Warren South. I would just like to correct that and put it on the record that very, very experienced people are worried about the renewable push by the government. He is a very experienced professor. He has been in that industry a long time, and he has raised these concerns because he can see the problem of the way government is going.

Part of the problem also we are going to have with this renewable push is that I think the government jumped the gun when they said ‘No more gas.’ That is going to be a problem. That is going to be a serious problem in this state – that the government has ruled out gas as part of our energy solution. Gas will need to be part of our energy solution; make no mistake about it. I am not against the renewable push, but I am against the government making kneejerk decisions just on the basis of getting votes. It is not worth our energy sector’s security into the future. The government have to very carefully reconsider their position on gas. Our side of the chamber has very strongly come out and said we will repeal the decision on gas, and we will do that because we know our energy sector has to be reliable. That is the number one thing people are concerned about with renewables – the reliability of our energy sector. It is so important that the government does not get this wrong, because there is too much at risk. We have already seen businesses leaving Victoria because of the gas decision. Businesses have come out strongly and said, ‘We will not trade in Victoria anymore. We will go to South Australia or we will go to New South Wales because those states believe gas has to be part of the solution.’ The member for Warrandyte has said it a few times: it is very hard to cook with a wok on an electric hotplate. It does not work that well.

More to the point is what this is going to cost our economy if gas goes away, and we are seeing businesses go. In the last 12 months the figure is 129,000 businesses that have either closed or left Victoria. That is going to have a massive economic impact on our state, no matter what figure you put on it. It will have a massive economic impact because that is 129,000 businesses, and that is people leaving our state. That is people not paying taxes in our state. That is going to be a massive problem into the future, and the government seriously need to have a look at their energy program because, as I said earlier, the wind side of it is in trouble. There is absolutely no doubt about that now that the Port of Hastings has been shelved or they have got to go back to the drawing board on the Port of Hastings. Gas will have to be part of the solution. You cannot run this state without gas. There are too many homes and too many businesses that rely on it. I urge the government to reconsider that, because it is so important, and the reflection of business leaving our state is going to drive our state deeper into debt.

Paul MERCURIO (Hastings) (18:06): I am happy to rise to give my contribution to the Energy and Public Land Legislation Amendment (Enabling Offshore Wind Energy) Bill 2024. This bill amends the Land Act 1958, the Crown Land (Reserves) Act 1978, the Forests Act 1958, the National Parks Act 1975 and the Electricity Industry Act 2000. I think it is pretty fair to ask what this bill means and what the changes in this bill mean to people in the chamber and to our families and people in our community. Quite simply, when I look at it and bring it down to one idea, this bill is about getting us to net zero. That is what it is doing, and it does it in a variety of ways. Some of the arguments that I have heard from the other side of the house are that people are saying that there is not enough information in it – there is no plan, there is no structure, what if this, what if that – and I feel like you are putting the cart before the horse. This bill does what it needs to do to get us to net zero. When I wake up in the morning and think I want to cook a roast lamb, I do not go out and put the barbecue on, then go out and buy the lamb, take it home, marinate it, put it in the fridge and cook it in the afternoon. I feel like that is a little bit of what the opposition is involved in. Let us just go out and buy the lamb, do the work and get to net zero.

This bill is just one tranche of the Allan Labor government’s journey to achieving net zero, and I will talk about that a little bit more. I just want to acknowledge that my electorate is Hastings. Member for Narracan, you have had a few words to say about that. We have had a little bit of a beating lately, but I do believe that Hastings could and hopefully will play a major role in building offshore wind farms and in Victoria attaining net zero. We did not get a great result, but I disagree with the member, because it is not dead in the water. There is a lot of work to be done, and I am very positive. I would like to reiterate to the house that the Minister for Ports and Freight and the Minister for Energy and Resources are working with the federal government on a path forward to progress the port. Stay tuned to this spot. I remain positive.

This bill will allow for offshore wind project proponents to undertake crucial project planning and design work for connection points that will run through Commonwealth and Victorian waters to an offshore electricity grid connection point. This will be done in a few ways, which include enabling the Victorian licences to be issued or to have agreements entered into so that offshore wind proponents can conduct investigatory works as part of any proposed construction of offshore wind. I might say I have had a lot of people come to my office very excited about doing exploration and getting involved in the offshore wind project in Gippsland. This bill will also allow the minister that administers the Electricity Industry Act 2000 to declare an entity to be an offshore wind generation company so they can begin investigatory activities if necessary under the National Parks Act 1975. It amends the land, Crown land and forests acts – I have already said that – but what that does is enables activities to be approved on public land relating to the investigation of offshore wind connection assets. These are important measures to be undertaken, as we are in a climate crisis. Coal-fired power stations are closing, and a nuclear thought bubble will not provide power to our homes. This bill will mark a continuation of the delivery of 95 per cent renewables by 2035, net zero by 2045 and achieve wind energy targets of 9 gigawatts by 2040 as well.

For those on the other side, this would still be faster than any nuclear project and come at a fraction of the cost as well. Offshore wind is economically viable and environmentally responsible. Wind power is an infinite source of renewable energy. It creates no greenhouse gas emissions, making it an enormously important source of energy for us to achieve net zero, and, guess what, it is free. Fantastic! Wind is free. Nuclear power is not free. We can harness the wind and it is free, but it costs a lot of money to create and harness nuclear power. I think that is a terrific thing for all of us to remember.

We need to provide certainty for our country’s first offshore wind industry, which is why this bill is before us today, allowing for offshore wind developers to have long-term certainty that public land can be used for electricity infrastructure to power this state with clean renewable energy. This connection infrastructure is required to deliver electricity generated by offshore wind projects in declared Commonwealth waters into the Victorian grid.

There are many things that we are proud of in Victoria. We have the best education system in the world, we are the major events capital of the country and a cultural and arts hub, just to name a few off the top of my head. On top of all that, we can be the offshore wind energy leader in Australia as well. Passing this legislation will put us on track to achieve that. The facts of the matter are our reliance on coal is ending, our coal-fired plants are shutting down and those same industries are looking to the future of energy, which is renewables. But we need to ensure that we build the necessary transmission infrastructure to support our renewable energy sector by cutting red tape, allowing proponents to scope out possible sites to see the viability of them and clearing up bureaucratic backlogs that are only stifling the progression of offshore wind rather than accelerating it, so we can meet our targets, drive down emissions and give Victorians cheaper and more reliable power.

Understandably there is some community concern surrounding whether the transmission lines will be underground or above ground, and it is important that we strike the right balance between the two. It is just not economically feasible to put all of the transmission cables underground, as this would be a huge expense, and it has its own environmental impacts. There are advantages and disadvantages to both options. Many factors come into play, and I am confident that this government can and will work through those challenges. But as I said, that is putting the cart a little bit before the horse.

VicGrid have been tasked with coordinating the delivery of transmission infrastructure to ensure that it remains cost-effective, minimises the impact on communities and we do not have a situation where proponents develop individual transmission lines that are not in harmony. There are also great opportunities for landowners to benefit from these projects. The investment for jobs in these regions will provide an economic boon and the chance to train up a new generation of renewable energy workers. Not only will it lead to local job creation, development of new industries and grow training and skills but it will also allow for payments to be made for people hosting transmission lines on their land. This will be done through the Victorian transmission investment framework for our renewable energy zones.

We can talk about all the benefits that this bill will achieve once passed, but currently they are all words. We on this side back those words up with real and tangible outcomes and with legislation to address climate change and progress our renewable energy sector. We have proven to the rest of the country that we can not only achieve our emission reduction targets but smash those targets. We have done that by showing a positive and forward-thinking plan to the Victorian people that does address climate change, and they have repaid us with their faith through voting in three successive Labor governments.

We have cut emissions by more than any other state since 2014, and we have the strongest climate change legislation in the country. That is what Victorians voted for, and that is what they are getting. However, we cannot do it all ourselves; an organised national approach is needed. We are a massive country and we can easily be a renewable energy powerhouse on the world stage, but we need a nationally consistent approach that helps progress offshore wind, not hinders it. We have had to deal with the former Liberal–National federal government, which provided no plans for renewables – no plans for nuclear, for that matter – even though they had nearly a decade to action it, and gave no tangible actions to curb rising emissions. We welcome the Albanese government as our new partners in Canberra and are committed to working alongside them to achieve a net zero future, which will be done through clean renewable energy, with that work starting right here in Victoria, the soon-to-be renewable energy state. It is a very exciting time to be in this space. It is a very exciting time to be a Victorian and to be in government. We in this place stand on the precipice of making what was not that long ago believed to be unattainable attainable. Net zero 2045 is not only possible but probable, but we need to work together – federal, state, local and community. We need to make some brave decisions. It is a brave new world out there, and it is ours for the saving. That is what this bill will do. I commend this bill to the house.

Martin CAMERON (Morwell) (18:16): I rise to talk on the Energy and Public Land Legislation Amendment (Enabling Offshore Wind Energy) Bill 2024, and there have been plenty of people speaking on this today. Obviously the Victorian government is updating a number of acts relating to land to include offshore wind. The bill will allow offshore wind developers to obtain tenure over public land for the purpose of assessing the feasibility of constructing offshore electricity transmission infrastructure. We can have the offshore wind, but we need the transmission lines to hook it into the power stations. The wind energy that is generated is about 3 miles offshore. The infrastructure from the wind turbines is laid on the ocean floor, and then as it gets closer in to the shore it goes underground. It is going to pop up in a designated zone, and it will come to a hub, as such, where at this stage they are looking at changing it from underground and putting it into transmission lines.

We had the member for Gippsland East in his contribution talk about how this affects the fishing industry, particularly out of Lakes Entrance, with the cables lying on the ground. They are going to need to change the way that they access their catch, as such. A lot of it is nets that are dragged along the bottom of the ocean. There are going to be buffer zones that need to be put in place, which is to be expected, but there needs to be some due diligence done in that area so we do not wreck the fishing potential of Lakes Entrance and all the trawlers that have safe port in their harbour.

On the location of the wind turbines, I know the member for Narracan was being a little bit facetious before about building the wind turbines in Port Phillip Bay out here, but the blades on the particular wind turbines are 150 metres long each. As they crank it onto the turbine and they put it up, that is 300 ‍metres high. To give you an example, each wind turbine is going to be taller than the Eureka Tower, and these are going to go off the shore. They are huge, huge infrastructure. You can imagine carrying a 150-metre blade via ship, and as of late last year there was not a ship in the world built big enough that can carry the size of blades. They have to be made and brought out to Australia to help with the development of it. They are over 300 metres high, and they are going to be on our shore. We are going to be seeing them in my part of the world and in the member for Gippsland South’s, off his patch down there. We might be able to put one out there in the bay that just does not work, and that could be our Statue of Liberty moment of having it there so the people of Melbourne can appreciate just how big these towers are and what the country folk have to put up with – a little bit of eye pollution, as we say, having to look at them all the time.

Then we get into the transmission lines and the designated sites. The government is doing its due diligence in looking at all of those. The towers are about 80 metres high for the transmission lines and they run through state forests and Crown land, so there are going to have to be works done there to remove trees so these transmission lines can go through. The member for Hastings said before that there is the option to go underground, but all the stats and facts and figures prove that the underground option is very, very expensive, so transmission lines seem to be the way that we are going to go. As it goes through there and comes into my part of the world down in the Latrobe Valley, where they will connect into the Loy Yang A power station, it travels through private landowners’ land, so farmers and so forth down there.

We do note that the government has removed the rights of Victorians to take renewable energy concerns to VCAT, and that is a concern. We do need to get it right. We have one opportunity to do it, and they have taken away the rights of people and landowners. If they do not agree with it or think there is something wrong, they still need that avenue to be able to go to VCAT to prove that it is wrong and ensure a proper decision is made. How many trees – that is my question – in these national parks are going to have to be cut down for the transmission lines to go through? What is the buffer zone? Is it going to be 100 trees, 1000 trees, 10,000 trees, and will they be replanted? I know the timber industry, when they cut a coupe down, they had to replant trees. We need to know all these bits and pieces of what is going on.

We mentioned it before, and the member for Hastings said the Port of Hastings has been put on hold at the moment. There is another opportunity at Barry Beach, as the member for Gippsland South spoke about before, but the one thing the Minister for Energy and Resources has to do is guarantee that the port is somewhere in Victoria. The renewable build is built on 59,000 jobs coming into Victoria, so if we lose the port and the ability to manufacture most of the wind turbines here in Victoria – and there are rumours that it may go to Tasmania – the minister needs to do her due diligence and fight for the people of the Latrobe Valley and the people of Victoria so that we do get these 59,000 jobs. That is what is being promised to us all – local jobs.

And there is a time frame. We talk about getting to net zero, but this piece of legislation is about keeping the power on, because in 2028, which is four years from now, Yallourn power station shuts. That is about 1.2 gigawatts of energy that will be pulled out of the energy system. I did note that at least 2 gigawatts of offshore wind power by 2032 is what the government is saying will happen. Well, in 2028, 1.2 gigawatts will be off the grid because Yallourn will shut. Then by 2035 there will be 4 ‍gigawatts of renewable power. But in 2035 Loy Yang A shuts, and there is about 2.5 gigawatts of power that comes out of there. We need to build the infrastructure, so we need the power supply to be able to do that.

The offshore wind energy industry in Victoria is going to go ahead. There is no-one disputing that at all. Renewables are going to happen. But there are people that work in the power stations that are closing that have worked there all their lives, and their children there are now starting to work in the power industry. We need to make sure that their jobs are secure. That is my role. I know that we are going to transition into renewables, and I am happy for that to happen, but it has to be done at a sensible rate. In four years one of our power stations, which supplies 22 per cent of the power currently to Victoria, will be gone. It will be off the grid. It will be done. There is no coming back from that.

And then in 2035 the other power station, which supplies 30 per cent of power into Victoria, is coming offline too. So there is a real concern that if the government does not start to tell us the plan that is in place, what are our workers in the Latrobe Valley meant to think? If we lose the port out of Victoria, where are they going to work? What are they going to do? What we do best is we manufacture things, so we need to make sure the port is in Victoria maybe at Barry Beach, if it does not go to the Port of Hastings, so the workers and families in the Latrobe Valley have the security that what the government is trying to do in going to renewables is going to be able to be sustained. Is that time line the right time line? Is it intact? We have got to transition out of coal-fired power stations into renewables. As I keep saying, in four years time our first power station – well, we have already lost Hazelwood; that is shut down – Yallourn is going to be closing. I need to give the people of the Latrobe Valley certainty that everything that we can manufacture for the renewable process that is going to happen is going to be down in our patch. We do not oppose this, because we know we need to have this infrastructure, but we just need to have that plan made clear to us.

Jordan CRUGNALE (Bass) (18:26): I love a plan. I rise to speak to the Energy and Public Land Legislation Amendment (Enabling Offshore Wind Energy) Bill 2024, and I want to start by thanking the minister, her office and the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA) for bringing this landmark bill to us today. It is because of her determination, her forward thinking and, honestly, her national leadership that we are here, and every other jurisdiction is now heading down this renewable road. This bill in its essence will amend the Victorian public land and electricity legislation to allow offshore wind projects to undertake site investigatory activities to determine the design and placement of connection infrastructure. This is important because this connection infrastructure is required in order to deliver the electricity that offshore wind projects in declared Commonwealth waters generate into Victoria’s grid. The bill provides a clearer pathway for proponents awarded feasibility licences in Commonwealth waters to undertake and align related feasibility assessments in Victorian waters and onshore for better project planning.

And we do not have a choice. We are all about getting the transition underway, getting the frameworks in place and setting targets and assurance for investment and industry so we can deliver. The coal stations are closing and will close. These coal-fired power stations are ageing, they are dying and they are kind of limping to the end of their lives. It is not just us saying it, it is them themselves. As we all know, offshore wind is critical in Victoria’s energy mix; in fact it is critical in Australia’s energy mix. This is the new age, and it goes back, I guess, to Alvin Toffler’s 1970s book Future Shock. It is an enormous structural change that has to happen, a revolution of sorts, from an industrial society to a technological one, and so here we are. We lead the country, and we have worked hard to build strong investment interest to see our projects completed successfully. Indeed we have become known as the global leader in the development of offshore wind. We have even become the first subnational jurisdiction to join the Global Offshore Wind Alliance. Personally I think that achievement is commendable.

We have also committed to working with traditional owners on the protection of land and water. Importantly, we have committed to supporting the Gunaikurnai Land and Waters Aboriginal Corporation’s aspirations for mutually beneficial agreements with the feasibility licence holders in line with international best practice. As I have said, offshore wind is a key pillar in our renewable energy future, and we have been very clear about the implementation. It is not necessarily our fault that those opposite cannot google. It is on our website; it is on DEECA’s and the developers’ too. It is energy.vic.gov.au, and you will find it all there. It is an offshore wind 101. It has the process, the locations, benefits, what is happening around the world, interactive maps, explainers, even pictures, FAQs, environment and planning, fishing and offshore wind investigations. It has super clear headings taking us step by step through the program and story.

We cannot afford to wait and go, ‘Oh, sorry, eek, the lights are off.’ We sort it; that is what we are doing. Leave it to those opposite, and we might be living in darkness waiting 20 years for some capital-intensive, expensive, dangerous, unsafe thing that no-one wants in their area, town or backyard. What do we do with the waste and nuclear pollution? It is invisible, which does not mean it ain’t there. That is one meltdown we actually do want to avoid.

The Victorian government has an unprecedented $1.6 billion energy package designed to create renewable energy hubs across the state, improve crucial grid infrastructure, decarbonise our energy system, drive down emissions and support more solar homes, because in this transition to renewables it is a whole-of-everything approach. It is not a singular pathway, nor is it mutually exclusive. It is across sectors, across portfolios, across government, across industry and across our community.

We have certainly heard some very vociferous contributions in the chamber today. Let us be super clear here: when it comes to renewable project planning and community consultation, that actually continues, and it is a key part of the process. There are no changes to the public notice process, and all members of the community will be able to make submissions, which will form part of the decision-making process. With more than one in five renewable projects ending up stuck in VCAT, in the overwhelming majority of cases the initial decision to support the project is upheld. VCAT should not be the default arbitrator. The member for Murray Plains spoke about national parks, and I just want to take a moment to travel 3000 kilometres to Noongar nations over in WA on Mirnang country at a national park, Torndirrup, where there is a wind farm of 12 turbines on the land there generating 75 ‍per cent of clean green electricity for Albany, where I was brought up, which is a very popular tourist attraction now.

Thanks to our ambitious offshore wind targets, which have been discussed in this place today and also previously, there will be at least 2 gigawatts of new capacity by 2032, 4 gigawatts by 2035 and 9 ‍gigawatts by 2040. That is ambition on the meter of smarts, and these are the first targets of their kind in the whole of Australia. The best part is that we know we can achieve it. Our state has the best offshore wind resource in the country, and we are amongst the best in the world. I am really pleased that Gippsland is one of the two zones that we have identified for offshore wind in Victoria. In fact the first offshore wind farm will be constructed in the Bass Strait and has the potential to generate up to 2.2 gigawatts of new capacity, powering around 1.5 million homes and 20 per cent of our electricity needs and creating of course a swathe of jobs. Early works have already seen millions of dollars spent in Gippsland creating work in areas such as local boat operations, construction and marine maintenance. This will only grow as offshore wind moves forward in development, creating thousands of jobs – sparkies, construction workers, project managers and engineers.

Then we have our clean energy careers, which will be implemented in our schools, our TAFEs and our universities, creating intergenerational jobs for thousands. Our most recent implementation statement, which updated industry, the public and the unions on our progress delivering offshore wind, noted all this as well. Plus we will set up local manufacturing capability right here in the state, setting offshore wind local content requirements that will maximise and build this industry for generations. Victoria will be a hub for offshore wind manufacturing, procurement, training and employment, and this is all possible because international investors have their eye on Victoria and stand ready to inject that funding into wind projects right here in our state.

Our government does not just care about the economic opportunities that abound with offshore wind; we are protecting the environment that makes these projects possible because, as the Allan Labor government knows, it is about striking the right balance. It is not environmental considerations or offshore wind, it is both – ensuring delivery of reliable renewable energy and conserving our ecosystems and habitats. Our government works in tandem with experts on this right through from the regulators, traditional owners, industry and other community stakeholders through a range of biodiversity, wildlife, sustainability, climate change and community initiatives, because we are serious about getting the balance right.

We know that with any new industry there are uncertainties and there are risks and potential impacts that this sort of development could have on our marine and coastal environments, and that is why we are engaging with international jurisdictions that have already shone a light in these places and learning best practice from them to align our renewable energy goals with our environmental objectives and make sure that our developments comply with strong environmental protections. We will make sure that all offshore wind projects are subject to robust Victorian and Commonwealth environmental management and impact assessment frameworks before, during and after operations commence. As I said, we are serious about striking the balance for everyone and everything involved in our offshore wind developments.

I just want to reiterate that Victoria is leading the nation on climate action. We smashed already our 2020 emissions target of a 15 to 20 per cent reduction when we achieved 29.6 per cent, which is almost double. The following year we built on that success with a 32.3 per cent reduction, and that is because this government does not just talk the talk but walks the climate action walk. Now we have a target of 75 to 80 per cent emissions reduction by 2035 and net zero by 2045, aligning us with the Paris agreement goals of limiting global heating to 1.5 degrees. In the 8 seconds left – 6, 5, 4, 3 – I totally commend this bill to the house.

Jade BENHAM (Mildura) (18:36): I rise this evening to make a contribution on the Energy and Public Land Legislation Amendment (Enabling Offshore Wind Energy) Bill 2024. My electorate is a long way from any offshore coastal environments, but in reading through this bill there were a few things I thought I should make a contribution on, because renewables and transmission lines of course are really topical in my part of the world at the moment, particularly with some bills that have been recently passed.

The purpose of this bill is to amend acts, one of those being the Crown Land (Reserves) Act 1978, and this was the first one that sparked my interest. There are some Crown land plots in some very high producing irrigated agricultural parts of the electorate that I know growers wanting to expand have had their eye on for a number of years now, and we know that the process of acquiring Crown land is a lengthy process – we get that. I am usually the eternal optimist, but they have asked questions as to whether there are delays in being able to acquire this land for the purposes of putting more solar farms on, because we already have major private solar investments up in the Sunraysia region. There are more sunny days than the Gold Coast, so why wouldn’t you.

However, one of the issues that occur is council rates and the huge subsidies that they get, and what we are going to see of course from 1 April is the rights of private landholders being taken away, and people in my patch are angry. The fact is that now to appeal development of solar farm storage or wind farms they cannot appeal to VCAT and they have to go through the Supreme Court. I mean, these are not wealthy people that want to appeal this stuff. They just want to be able to grow food, grow fibre, do their job and not have to be faced with not being able to have some levers to pull to appeal a decision to put whatever it might be on or through this land. I refer specifically to the VNI West project. The member for Hastings said before that wind is free. Well, I do not know – the infrastructure is not free; transmission lines certainly are not free. We have spoken to Professor Bruce Mountain this week in fact about plan B and how that would be half the cost of what VNI West would be.

Also, there are amendments to this bill that have been presented by this side of the house, and the first one states that there are no provisions in the bill that require the minister to fully and adequately consult with local stakeholders regarding the impact of the proposed offshore wind licences. If we talk about community consultation – and this was the first thing that really got people in the regions and in rural communities offside – when VNI West was proposed, there were some murmurings about some consultation. Then when the options were presented, a preferred option was decided upon, and then after the election it was changed without consultation. There has been subpar community consultation, and the community are the biggest stakeholders here. In towns that have a population of under 1000 ‍people the community are the biggest stakeholders and private landowners are the biggest stakeholders. They should be consulted adequately and not feel like it is just a tick-the-box exercise.

One of those was conducting surveys with people on a Sunday in IGA. If you know anything about these small towns, supermarkets on Sundays in towns like Charlton on the main street are not exactly a thriving metropolis. It is thriving but not a metropolis, because people have got better things to do. It is dead – you just do not do those surveys on a Sunday at IGA in Charlton. That was the first thing, and then that did not work, so allegedly there was another exercise that paid people coming out of the supermarket 20 bucks to actually take part because they could not get any engagement. There have been meetings that have been scheduled and cancelled at the last minute, and there have been large community forums that the community themselves have organised and invited the likes of the Australian Energy Market Operator to, and they have not fronted up. This makes communities angry.

What also makes communities angry is the fact that there has been no consideration and the contradiction that exists if there is going to be a significant, frightening percentage of productive agricultural land taken out of production. It was first said that it was going to be 70 per cent – that is frightening. It has been changed or there have been conversations, ‘No, it’s not 70 per cent, it is 30 per cent.’ Regardless, taking that out of production without the need for proper consultation or without the ability for appeal to VCAT is insane. And at the same time, landholders have to accommodate their workers, because they need workers to get fruit off vines and off trees and need them to harvest grains and cereals, and you need labour for that, and there is a housing crisis especially out in these rural towns. The rental stock is zero percent, so they need to be able to put worker accommodation on their land. But trying to put worker accommodation on is near impossible for a lot of these people, much less trying to excise a dwelling. The main argument that is often presented is that you will be taking valuable agricultural land out of production. Well, I am sorry – you cannot have one contradict the other. It just does not make any sense.

So you can understand why people in these communities are angry. Even tonight I see that in Boort, in fact – which is just a little bit out of my patch, it is in Murray Plains; however, it will be well attended ‍– there is a meeting at the footy club, and the flyer calls for landholders to come along and share their experiences. It says that the group that are hosting this meeting want to protect landholders and communities, and they want to expose Transmission Company Victoria’s underhanded manoeuvres. They want to hear from people who have been approached or not been approached or have not being consulted when they see that this is the route that this is going to take. Matt McLoughlan is from Charlton, and he is living in his 125-year-old mudbrick house. It has been there 125 years, a generational family home. It was actually the home of a World War I hero and a former Victorian senator Harold Edward ‘Pompey’ Elliott, so there you go. That is right in the line of fire for VNI West. What happens there? Are we just going to go over the top or are we going to consult? Is it going to be compulsorily acquired? No-one knows.

Honestly, you cannot blame these communities for getting so up in arms about the lack of consultation and about the lack of transparency when there is a very clear option on the table for these transmission lines, and that is plan B – use existing easements. It is a far more elegant solution. It makes far more sense, it costs half as much and there is less curtailment out of it. So when you get down into the technicalities and the costings and actually have a look at plan B, why on earth would any government go ‘No, we’re going to spend double the amount and take productive agricultural land out of production so we can do it our way’ and not listen to two or three professors that have written a 108-page report on why plan B is the only plan that should exist?

Ella GEORGE (Lara) (18:46): Acting Speaker Walters, it is always a pleasure to see you in the chair. I rise today to speak on the Energy and Public Land Legislation Amendment (Enabling Offshore Wind Energy) Bill 2024. The Allan Labor government is leading Australia when it comes to renewable energy and taking action on climate change, and this bill is our first piece of legislation in our offshore wind program. At the outset I do wish to acknowledge the relentless work being done by the Minister for Energy and Resources in leading Victoria’s vital transition to renewable energy and bringing back the SEC.

This bill paves the way for offshore wind to get started in Victoria. The changes enacted by the bill include introducing the concept of an offshore wind energy generation company into the Electricity Industry Act 2000; creating a category of licence in the Land Act 1958, the Crown Land (Reserves) Act 1978 and the Forests Act 1958 to allow the investigation of connection routes, essential infrastructure that will connect offshore wind farms to land-based transmission lines; allowing a maximum licence term of 21 years for connection routes, which is in alignment to the terms of other types of licences issued by land legislation; and enabling the investigation of connection routes over National Parks Act 1975 land with the consent of Parks Victoria and other agencies as required.

Victoria is currently undergoing a significant shift in its energy sector. As the coal-fired power stations in Victoria continue to age and become increasingly unreliable, the state’s electricity will be provided by more and more renewable energy sources paired with battery storage as part of our renewable energy transition. Blessed with abundant renewable sources such as sun-drenched plains and windy coastlines, Victoria is well on its way to achieving its renewable energy target of 95 per cent by 2035. Just today the Minister for Energy and Resources updated the house on how Victoria is tracking with our targets. We are currently at 39.3 per cent renewable energy, a huge increase from 11 per cent when we came into government.

A crucial element in this transition is offshore wind energy, which will help the state reach its ambitious targets. In November 2023 Victoria passed legislation to set targets for offshore wind energy generation, including at least 2 gigawatts of offshore generation capacity by 2032, which is enough to power 1.5 million homes; 4 gigawatts by 2035; and 9 gigawatts by 2040. It is not just clean, green renewable energy that offshore wind will generate; this industry will create new jobs and entire career pathways, boost manufacturing and supply chain development, increase regional investment and of course support the state’s climate action goal of achieving net zero emissions by 2045. This bill will enable offshore wind to play a crucial role in ramping up our renewable energy.

When thinking about why renewable energy like offshore wind is so important, what comes to my mind is that climate change is happening right around us and the time for denying it is long past. Time and time again we are experiencing unprecedented weather across Victoria and in fact Australia and the world. Just last month we had a hugely damaging storm event in Victoria, with storms and high winds causing chaos. In the electorate of Lara we saw winds take down powerlines and even transmission towers in Anakie. It left some residents, businesses and schools without power for a couple of days and a huge clean-up job with all the fallen trees. Storm events like this are the result of climate change. As a government it is our responsibility to address this to the best of our ability. That means investing in renewable energy. That means setting targets to reduce emissions and taking action to achieve those targets and to achieve net zero emissions by 2045. We know that deploying low-carbon energy sources like offshore wind is an essential solution for cutting greenhouse gas emissions to combat global warming and climate change, which is exactly why we are introducing this legislation and investing in renewable energy.

Our state has made exceptional progress on climate action and is setting an example for the rest of the nation. We are not just making promises about climate action, we are delivering on them at an unprecedented rate. Since the election of the Labor government in 2014 we have taken the lead on decarbonisation and have successfully reduced emissions more than any other state. We have exceeded our target of a 15 to 20 per cent reduction in emissions by achieving a 29.6 per cent reduction in 2020, and this increased to 32.3 per cent in 2021. With the strongest climate change legislation in the country and the support of an overwhelming majority of Victorians, we are determined to continue our ambitious agenda for a more sustainable future.

Along with our offshore wind policy, the SEC is another great example of that. The new SEC will accelerate our state’s energy transition by investing in energy and storage, and with the SEC in place we can assure investors that they will have a reliable partner to support their long-term investment in renewable energy. By 2025 the SEC will be providing power to Victorian government facilities, including schools, hospitals, trains and trams. This sends a strong message to business and investors that the future in energy is renewable and that this government is committed to investing in it.

In the Geelong region we are embracing renewable energy like wind energy, and I want to acknowledge the role of the electorate of Lara regarding renewable wind energy projects such as the Golden Plains wind farm in Rokewood. From last year wind turbine components manufactured by Vestas have been arriving at Geelong Port before being transferred to Rokewood for construction. This project features 122 wind turbines with 1464 components being shipped on 22 vessels to Geelong. The major components include 366 blades; 732 tower sections; and 122 individual powertrains, which make up the gearbox and the generator; nacelles which cover the generator functions at the top of the wind turbine; and hubs that are positioned at the centre of the three blades.

This is a really significant project in our government’s transition to a clean energy future. A large project like this not only contributes to the target of 95 per cent renewable energy by 2035 but contributes to local economies and creates job opportunities, with 400 jobs created during the construction phase. Once completed, the Golden Plains wind farm is expected to produce enough clean energy to power around 450,000 homes and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by over 4 million tonnes annually.

GeelongPort are doing a great job supporting our state’s transition to clean energy, and this complex operation to move these massive wind turbine components safely and efficiently is another great example of them putting their unique infrastructure, expertise and location to great use. I am thrilled that the Geelong region is playing its part in our energy transition, with local expertise leading the way and making it happen.

This is not the only renewable energy project where the Geelong region is leading the way. In 2022 GeelongPort partnered with Barwon Water and Barwon Health to form the Barwon Renewable Energy Partnership. This partnership has made a commitment to use 100 per cent renewable electricity and produce net zero emissions after securing a power purchase agreement with the Mount Gellibrand wind farm. This 10-year agreement will see renewable electricity produced at the farm, sent to the grid and then allocated to these three organisations, offsetting the energy used at the three facilities. Barwon Water has a target of using 100 per cent renewable electricity by 2025 and achieving net zero emissions by 2030, so this project is a step towards those goals. For Barwon Health the agreement will provide them with 15 gigawatt hours of clean electricity annually for the next decade, reducing their total greenhouse gas emissions by around 14,000 tonnes per year.

This government has a goal to achieve 95 per cent renewable energy by 2035, and offshore wind plays a crucial role in achieving that. Victoria is leading the way in offshore wind development, and we are proud to announce that the first offshore wind farm will be constructed here and power 1.5 million homes. Our ambitious offshore wind targets – of at least 2 gigawatts of new capacity by 2032, 4 ‍gigawatts by 2035 and 9 gigawatts by 2040 – are the first of their kind in this country. Victoria has become a global leader in offshore wind development, even becoming the first subnational jurisdiction to join the Global Offshore Wind Alliance. We are excited about the potential of offshore wind to provide us with clean, sustainable energy for years to come. We are committed to making Victoria a hub for offshore wind development and innovation.

On this side of the house we are not interested in dangerous nuclear power. We are not the ones proposing a nuclear plant in Anglesea. We are investing in clean, green, renewable energy like offshore wind, and we are setting up policies and frameworks for projects in this new industry to get started and start powering our state. Ambitious plans for offshore wind are exactly what Victorians voted for. Victorians voted for a government that is taking serious steps to address climate change, a government that is committed to creating renewable energy solutions and a government that is committed to driving down energy costs. I commend the bill to the house.

Meng Heang TAK (Clarinda) (18:56): I am delighted to join the hardworking member for Lara today to speak on the Energy and Public Land Legislation Amendment (Enabling Offshore Wind Energy) Bill 2024, another really important bill that adds to the host of energy legislation that has passed this place over the previous weeks and months. Just last sitting week of course we had another important milestone for Victoria with the constitutional amendment and the SEC amendment bills coming through the house. This is a really significant milestone for Victoria and for my community in Clarinda for a host of reasons but particularly because this kind of legislation, these amendments, are good news for bills and cost-of-living pressure.

Cost-of-living relief is so important for those doing it tough. For those on fixed income support, for pensioners and for those doing it tough, every little bit helps. The Allan Labor government has been delivering real and meaningful help: free kinder and free TAFE, restricted rental increases, discounted electricity and gas, school breakfasts and our Smile Squad, which was out at Westall Primary School in my electorate last month. There are so many more initiatives, and we are helping Victorians and Victorian families in big ways and small ways, because every bit adds up.

It is an exciting time, and we had last week a milestone in Victoria’s energy transition, because the new SEC will really accelerate that transition by investing in renewable energy and storage, supporting households to go electric and building the renewables workforce for the future. As we know, that transition is underway, with Victoria transitioning to 95 per cent renewable energy generation by 2035. Offshore wind is critical to this. Offshore winds provide a competitive level of generation capacity, more than onshore renewables, moving us quicker away from fossil fuels and toward 95 per cent renewables by 2035.

I am really glad to see this legislation here today, coupled with the other pieces of energy legislation here last week. It is supporting a large amount of solar and wind coming online, large-scale storage capacity essential for storing the renewable energy from this new project, and all pushing to a future of driving down bills for Victorian households and meeting our energy and climate targets. So this is another step in that transition journey here today with this bill, the Energy and Public Land Legislation Amendment (Enabling Offshore Wind Energy) Bill 2024.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! I am required under sessional orders to interrupt business now. The member will have the call when the matter returns to the house.

Business interrupted under sessional orders.