Eastern Victoria Region
Renee HEATH (Eastern Victoria) (12:43): My question is for the Minister for Planning. Victoria has a history of approving wind farms based on inadequate environmental studies that benefit the developers. In 2009 a parliamentary inquiry recommended an enforceable code of conduct for consultants and mechanisms to stop false and misleading information being used in planning processes. None of the recommendations were adopted by the then Labor government. Since then the situation has only worsened, with the government’s priority to rush through renewable projects and scrap due processes. Minister, the coalition’s renewable energy development policy requires large-scale renewable projects to be subject to rigorous and independent planning panel assessments. Will you commit to the same action and restore public trust in the statutory planning process? As projects have been approved, environmental damage has been done and community trust eroded.