The Victorian Government and opposition have clashed over the best route to a net-zero future.
The government has launched VicGrid to co-ordinate renewable energy planning, aiming to build the right infrastructure in the right places, including regional communities, while protecting energy, food and water security.
But the Nationals say they want to put local voices first.
While the government’s approach prioritises renewable energy generation and its renewable energy targets, it is also highlighting the need for a rigorous examination of proposals, including noise, visual impacts, biodiversity impacts, native vegetation removal and traffic.
The Nationals want those examinations to include more input from the people living in areas affected by renewable energy developments.
State Member for Euroa Annabelle Cleeland said for too long, residents across the Euroa electorate had been denied a voice amid this renewables push.
A push she said was coming from multinational corporations as well as the government.
This, she said, had led to a lack of effective consultation about projects in areas such as Colbinabbin, Winton, Ruffy and the Strathbogie Ranges.
Ms Cleeland said regional communities had been ignored for too long when it came to the locations of renewable energy projects.
“Too often we are seeing a lack of community consultation result in our prime land being covered with renewable projects when there are several more suitable options available,” she said.
“These projects will profoundly impact the lives and land of our farmers and landowners, and it is deeply disappointing to see this government disregard their valuable input on these matters.”
Ms Cleeland said the Nationals and Liberals’ Regional Energy Development Policy would reinstate the right of appeal to VCAT — which the Victorian Government withdrew earlier this year — ensuring community voices were heard in the planning process.
“Local communities must have a seat at the table in shaping renewable energy projects,” Ms Cleeland said.
“A right to appeal process and rigorous planning assessments not only protects our environment but the values and livelihoods of the people who live there.”
The opposition said the policy would also:
- Ensure major transmission and large-scale wind and solar generation projects faced a rigorous and independent planning panel assessment
- Institute a default 2km buffer zone around proposed wind towers to minimise the impact on residential properties and local communities
- Ensure lower-emission generators, high-voltage transmission lines and large-scale battery owners were required to comply with all relevant bushfire overlays
- Revoke planning scheme amendment VC261, instituted by Labor to strip local communities of planning powers over high-voltage transmission lines
- Advocate to the Federal Government that any compensation received by landowners for hosting major transmission lines, or for impacts caused by such projects, was exempt from taxation
- Develop principles that ensured overhead lines adhered to strict setback requirements to minimise visual and environmental impact
A Victorian Government spokesperson said Liberal leader John Pesutto was so desperate to keep his job that he had caved to climate science deniers in the Coalition while he secretly signed on to federal opposition leader Peter Dutton’s toxic, risky and expensive nuclear fantasy.
“The last time the Liberal Party was in government they effectively banned wind farms and set our transition to cheap, clean renewable energy back years,” the spokesperson said.
“This plan will do the same thing — renewable energy projects will stall, investors will leave the state, power bills will increase, jobs will be lost and Victoria will face an energy crisis of John Pesutto’s making.
“We’re getting on and building for our future energy needs — quadrupling our renewable energy generation, driving down power bills, creating 59,000 jobs and bringing back the SEC.”
Ms Cleeland said it would be a breakthrough for regional communities, including those impacted by the proposed Cooba Solar Facility, the Fera Wind Farm, the Winton Hydrogen Refuelling Station and many others set to be built in local areas.
“Our proposal restores the balance between the roll-out of renewable energy and the changes to transmission networks,” Ms Cleeland said.
“We support the transition away from coal; however, this must occur in close consultation with regional communities.
“A Nationals and Liberals government will reinstate the third-party appeal rights that Labor has stripped from regional communities because it is unfair and anti-democratic to deny those who are directly affected by these major projects from having a say.
“We will also instate a bond system — something that already operates in the mining sector — to guarantee that developers ensure all decommissioned projects are fully cleaned up and restored.
“Our policy will also protect the community from dodgy operators who, for their own personal gain, want to get approval for projects then flip them to buyers, unknown to the community.
“The Nationals and Liberals will always put local communities first.”