Ross Cadell (NSW, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I, and also on behalf of Senator Colbeck, move:

That the following matter be referred to the Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport References Committee for inquiry and report by 1 December 2023:

The adequacy and fairness of processes and compensation to acquire or compulsorily access agricultural land, Indigenous land, marine environments and environmental lands for the development of major renewable infrastructure, including wind farms, solar farms and transmission lines, with particular reference to:

(a) power imbalance between farmers and fishers, and governments and energy companies seeking to compulsorily acquire or access their land or fishing grounds;

(b) terms and conditions for compulsory access and acquisition;

(c) fairness of compensation;

(d) options for the development of a fair national approach to access and acquisition;

(e) options to maintain and ensure the rights of farmers and fishers to maintain and ensure productivity of agriculture and fisheries; and

(f) any other matter.

Here we are again, transmission Tuesday. I said it would come. This is the fifth time we've moved a similar motion to this. They say stupidity is doing the same thing and hoping for a different result. I call it hope. There are people out there who need this. We're not asking to change legislation. We're asking to talk about these things. There are so many consequences to what transmission lines, to what gas pipelines and to what so many things do from compulsory acquisitions, and they all hurt rural Australians. They hurt rural towns. They hurt cultural lands. But the power of divested compulsory acquisition is absolute. We want a balance so that landholders, rights holders and traditional owners can have a say, can have a balance—nothing more. Come and tell us your stories.

We hear of transmission towers getting ever bigger, up to 174 metres. We hear of the consequences getting ever bigger. But these people are shut down. They don't have a voice. They can't have a say. Regional and rural Australia is becoming the kicking bag for everything in this country. If you want to own regional and rural land, it's the best way to have no say in what you own. 'We will make it an E zone. We will tell you what you can plan. We can tell you what you can grow. We will tell you what land we are taking off you. We will take that land and do what we want with it. You'll have to consult with every other person around you, some of whom wouldn't know your land, on what you want to do.' But it is your land. It is land you have paid for, and land where you are having your rights taken away from you.

That is not good enough. You deserve a voice if you have your land. And that is what we're asking for today. We want to give you that voice. If the evidence is so great from when you come to this committee and tell us what is going on, the government will need to change the laws because it is obvious. And let's get to what we're looking at here. We're looking at the possibility of undergrounding lines where that's possible.

We are looking at different routes where that is possible. We are looking at whether it is needed, because the consequences are so great. We're looking at unintended consequences. If you get a transmission line through your property through compulsory acquisition, you have no choice; it is dedicated as off-farm income. What happens if there's a bushfire? What happens if there's a flood? What happens if anything happens? What happens if there's a drought and you no longer qualify for government assistance because your off-farm income is a greater proportion than is allowed? No-one has considered this. No-one is looking at this. What happens if the upfront money puts you in a different tax bracket. All these things and the way things are done need to be looked at.

I heard and I listened with intent to Senator Cox just now say that it is never right when there's a top-down approach to these things. It is the same for us. These things need to be done with consensus. There will always be a problem where we can't fix everything, a problem where something is difficult or where something is hard. We get that. We will never ever get 100 per cent, but we need to try. We need to aim for it because, if we aren't aiming for best practice, we are deciding to fail.

So we are here today again, asking that rural and regional Australia, traditional owners of land and environmental land be given a voice in how we do this. We hear about the just transition authorities that will look after workforces in these areas. But if you're a landholder you are left out of that. You don't deserve a just transition. You don't deserve a look at how this works, how it affects you and what happens. And remember the numbers from last time. We are talking about stage 1 and stage 2 requiring 77,000 square kilometres. That is the size of Singapore or Bahrain. They're just going to take that land in Australia. And let's not forget stage 3 of Rewiring the Nation, which is 28,000 kilometres—it is almost three times as big as that.

Are we saying that this is the way to look after the environment of Australia? This is not the way to look after the environment of Australia. This is the way to look after towers in Brisbane and in Marrickville and in Melbourne. When you want your power, when you want your 400 flat screens in a tall building, when you want your 200 electric cars powered downstairs, the bush can pay. Why? Let's get down to it: it is because they have no power, because they are spread out, because they are vulnerable and because they don't vote Labor and they don't vote Green.

I think Ms Webster in the other place had some people show up at a protest when the Prime Minister was there, and suddenly there's a bit of an inquiry—not a real inquiry, a bit of an inquiry. We hear that they're going to refer this to the electricity infrastructure ombudsman to have a look at it. That's not a public inquiry. That's not a real inquiry. That's a cover-up. In St Arnaud yesterday, a public meeting was shut down when there were questions asked. I have been told that—I don't know it, so if I'm wrong I'll say so—but, if that is true, that is exactly what we are talking about.

Back in the 2000s, people were hailing the movie An Inconvenient Truth. This is the inconvenient truth: there are real victims of what you are doing, and you don't want to hear about it. You don't want to give them a voice, and you don't want to see it because it will bring into question what we are doing—and it is wrong. Bringing these people here is asking the question. We had 60 farmers up there who travelled through the night last time this came up. If we lose today, we'll be back again later with something until the right thing is done. Nothing less is deserved. This is not something that should be in question. We should all be supporting this. It shouldn't need a debate. It shouldn't need a division. It should be: 'That is fair.' What's going on here is politics.

In a different debate the other day, I said—I like it and I'll say it again—leadership shouldn't divide; leadership should unite. What we have here is a government policy dividing the powerful and the powerless over power. The politics are that you don't count if you live in a region, so you can shut up and go home—and that is wrong.

We need to do the right thing at every stage. Those of you in this chamber know that I don't rally behind stuff. I don't go off on rants. I don't do those things unless it is warranted. And here it is. Something so very simple: a reference to an inquiry, to see what is going on. If I'm wrong, if I'm making this up, then it's bad on me. Ross is full of rubbish. I'll take that. But we know that we are not. This is happening and we are watching it, and this government is standing by, not only letting it happen but facilitating it happening.

As it gets worse, we see this government building a Ponzi scheme of policy mistruths. When things are failing, when wind farms are not getting there, when the Kurri Kurri hydro plant is not getting there, when all of the things aren't getting there, we just promise more. We'll never deliver these things. We will not get there, but we'll promise more because that is the way of diverting from what is really happening. When we see farmers losing agricultural land to towers, when we see environmental lands bulldozed for these 150-metre wide easements, when we see all of this happening, when we see pipelines going through private lands—and with the state governments, Victoria can reroute an entire section of their plan because it is politically inconvenient.

These people want to be part of the future of our country. If we are to rewire, if we are to go renewable, bring them with us. Let's not fight them. Give them a say to find a better way to do this right. We are living with cost of living. I get that. That's precious. But doing this twice is more expensive than doing it once, doing it right and doing it with consensus. That is all we're asking: find a way forward for these people. I urge all of you today: just consider giving them a voice. There's nothing more. That's all we ask.