Perin Davey (NSW, National Party, Shadow Minister for Water) Share this | Hansard source

I too acknowledge the people in the gallery. Thank you so much for driving up here and showing your commitment to your landscape and to your environment. As Senator Roberts said, this issue is not limited to Victoria and New South Wales. I've also received letters from regional Queenslanders objecting to power lines going through the Borumba national park and the catastrophic effects that such lines will have on wildlife and plant life—all in the name of connecting an as yet unbuilt $14 billion pumped hydro project that itself has minimal community support.

I want to note the importance of what you're doing today—because sometimes people listen. In 2021, Transgrid was forced to have an independent review of the footprint that its proposed HumeLink was going to have and the route that it was going to take. This review found that Transgrid's projects and processes did not meet best practice, and they got sent back to the drawing board. What has come out since does not satisfy everyone's needs but it is certainly a far better proposal than the original one. Had it not been for the work of the communities—the HumeLink Action Group and others—that project would have a 150-kilometre larger corridor than it now proposes.