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

Thank you very much. I also want to refer to a report from April this year by former Powerlink COO Simon Bartlett and the Victorian Energy Policy Centre's Bruce Mountain, where they slammed AEMO's VNI West transmission line project, which will go across a lot of the areas that these farmers are from, as a 'monumental mistake'. Their report says there are other options, including using existing corridors. These people from these communities would like those other options explored, and that is what we are proposing by this Senate inquiry. We are not saying absolutely no to transition lines, but we are saying we need to review the processes that have been put in place. We need to understand and we need to let these people be heard so that we can ensure, unlike the first iteration of Transgrid, that best practice is followed.

The minister refused to meet with these farmers today. Shame on the minister. We are saying: let the Senate chamber listen to the concerns of the communities and the people who are going to be impacted. The people are going bear the burden and the brunt of this race to net zero before we have in place a proper pathway or even considered the option of nuclear power. We see the price of copper going through the roof and a worldwide shortage of copper, but somehow we're going to miraculously criss-cross copper right across this country. I commend this inquiry to the Senate.