Wednesday, 19 March 2025

Adjournment

Enver ERDOGAN (Northern Metropolitan – Minister for Casino, Gaming and Liquor Regulation, Minister for Corrections, Minister for Youth Justice) (19:15): I move:

That the house do now adjourn.

Electricity infrastructure

Joe McCRACKEN (Western Victoria) (19:15): (1521) On Monday I attended a community rally at Ballan, where passionate locals gathered to talk about the government’s plans to push transmission lines across many communities along the Western Renewables Link from Sydenham to Bulgana. I was proud to join my colleagues Bev McArthur MP and Shadow Minister for Energy and Resources David Davis MP, along with the federal Liberal candidate for Hawke Simmone Cottom and the federal Liberal candidate for Ballarat Paula Doran. The mayor of Moorabool shire Paul Tatchell, along with other councillors, also attended. No Labor representatives bothered to turn up. This included both state and federal members who seek to represent Ballan and surrounds. All were invited, but two responded – what a disgrace.

The clear message from the meeting was simple: we will not give up. We will not hand over land that will be used to divide communities. We heard from a passionate CFA volunteer who detailed the pain that he had felt in his local brigade. Crew members have literally been pitted against each other and communities bribed and friendships broken. The CFA’s capacity to field teams to respond to emergencies has been diminished as a result. We heard from locals who are sick and tired of being pushed around by a government that promotes itself as caring and kind and committed to consultation but that cannot be bothered listening to locals, particularly the people that provide food, fibre and world-class products for local consumption and export. It has been almost five years since the announcement of Labor’s transmission towers and five years of harassment, intimidation and even unlawful attempts to gain property access, which locals have had to put up with.

The action I seek from the minister is simple: listen – genuinely listen. Listen to the communities along the Western Renewables Link. Listen to their stories, because communities are made up of people: people who are suffering from mental health concerns and people whose lives have literally been put on hold as they continue to stand against this mean and brutal push by this Labor government. Stop bulldozing your way through properties and livelihoods in some vain attempt to build your big ugly transmission lines. They are not wanted – get the message. The government says it stands for the things that matter; people matter. You are not standing with the people of my electorate; you have abandoned them. It is about time that ministers start to care about the country communities that bear the brunt of their policies, not just the ones that stand to benefit in Melbourne.