Ms Catherine King (Ballarat, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development) Share this | Hansard source

Today, I rise to speak about the Western Victorian Transmission Network Project in my electorate. This project will see 190 kilometres of overhead powerlines built by AusNet between Ararat and Western Melbourne. It is the first time really since the 1970s that we're seeing big investment in this sort of power line infrastructure. The power lines will be very large not only in length but also in sheer physical scale. To put it in terms that all Victorians understand, each of the transmission towers will be roughly the same height as an MCG light tower—thousands of MCG light towers stretching all the way from Melbourne into the heart of Western Victoria. It's my view, and the view of many locals, that, wherever possible, these transmission lines should be placed underground. They should especially be placed underground where there is high bushfire risk, which there is in many areas in my own community.

Across much of the farmland that these power lines will go, there's never been this sort of built physical infrastructure. We know that, in our own community, we are the source of renewable energy. We're seeing great renewable energy projects, and we do want to get that into the grid. But, of course, that means that there are going to be some changes in the way that energy makes its way into the grid. But what I do want to say is that I think it's really important that local communities are engaged, and the understanding is given by bodies such as the Australian Energy Market Operator that consultation isn't something you do after the fact just to get through a planning process; it's something you have to do in a really complex way with local communities.

We know that underground will cost a bit more, but I think it is worth the effort to actually look at how governments can invest in transmission to get renewable into the grid in a way that not only doesn't impact on power prices but also provides the best possible outcome for local regional communities and mitigates against bushfire risks. Everyone knows and accepts that we need to upgrade our energy transmission network. For most of our modern history, Victoria's energy grid has been focused on getting power generated in the coal plants of the Latrobe Valley to the rest of the state. Increasingly, power comes from the west and the thousands of wind turbines that dot our region.

I encourage AusNet and AEMO to actually think about the way they are engaging on this project. It would have been good if AEMO, in particular, had engaged with local councils in a very meaningful way about the planning of where these towers were to go prior to actually putting in the cost-benefit writ statement that they needed to do to the Energy Regulator, because we would have got a much better outcome. I do, again, implore AusNet and AEMO to actually think about the way in which they've run this project and to encourage them to engage far more closely with my local community right the way from Ararat to— (Time expired)

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