Tuesday, 26 November 2024

Electricity infrastructure

David DAVIS (Southern Metropolitan) (19:00): (1307) It will not surprise you that my adjournment tonight is along exactly the same lines. People will notice notice of motion 715, which is on the notice paper, dealing with exactly the same matter, the Electric Line Clearance Consultative Committee, a committee that reports to Minister Lily D’Ambrosio, and whilst my matter is the same substance, I am going to seek a different action. Dr Mansfield is quite correct that the Electric Line Clearance Consultative Committee has made a series of technical and expert recommendations, which sadly have been ignored by Lily D’Ambrosio and her staff. They have rejected these in a kneejerk way. The Allan Labor government has not listened to the technical advice, and essentially what the technical advice is is to prune less harshly in the city in the low-bushfire areas – the low-voltage, low-bushfire areas – which are in metropolitan Melbourne and in some larger country towns where there are urban areas. The fact is the calculations show that there is $1 billion worth of tree canopy that is available for free. We know our cities are getting hotter. We know there are heat island effects.

Georgie Crozier interjected.

David DAVIS: We know the state government’s plan, Ms Crozier, is to tear down houses, street canopy and all of the mature trees that provide the cooling in our city. This is part of their approach with the high-density, high-rise planning that they have in mind for so much of our city. Dr Mansfield is also right that there are in fact significant pieces of information from South Australia and elsewhere that show that this is indeed possible. It is likely to lower energy costs, and it is likely to mean families pay less for their electricity bills. It is also the truth that the very smart people on this committee who have done an enormous amount of work deserve the respect and the good sense of all of us to listen and to examine their material closely rather than a kneejerk response.

What I am going to ask the Minister for Energy and Resources to do is to release the minutes and the material that that committee has relied on. We know those minutes are there. We know the studies are there. People close to the committee have informed me of that. I want the minister to release that information publicly so it can be widely assessed and to reverse this kneejerk reaction, actually take on board the good material that has been provided and take on board the benefits, take on board the cooling effects and take on board the visual effects that will help our cities.