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

For the most part, I support Senator Van's motion. From the outset, I want to talk about part (b) of Senator Van's motion, which says that he acknowledges and supports the intent of the Rewiring the Nation policy. We're a bit reluctant to be so enthusiastic about the intent, because we do think that the Rewiring the Nation program puts the cart before the horse. In part (d) of Senator Van's motion, he expresses dismay that this policy may represent an attempt to rectify past investment errors rather than having a forward-thinking strategy. Time and time again, we see that this government does policy first, without looking at how it will be implemented, what the flow-on impacts will be and what the impact on potential investment will be. It's all about the announcements and less about the actual impact.

My colleague Senator Hughes spoke about the bushfire risk of transmission lines. We can't all run around with fire hydrants in the bush. We're too far away. It is a significant risk. The other risk that is often not considered is the insurability of our landscape. I am already hearing from farmers who've had their little, black, waterproof envelope stuck to their farm gate, saying: 'You lucky person! You've won the transmission line lottery. Your property is under a route for a transmission line. We will be in touch to talk.' Those farmers are then also getting phone calls from their insurance companies. Yes—you've won the double lottery, because, if a transmission line goes through your property, your property will not be able to be insured against bushfires. All the farmers that will be under transmission lines won't be able to have bushfire insurance for their farms, pastures, crops—if indeed they can crop—woolsheds and family homes. That is a massive risk.

In a nation like Australia—with my emergency management hat on—insurability is a major issue that I know this government is looking into. This government has set up the Hazards Insurance Partnership program specifically to look into how to mitigate risk and reduce pressures on insurance premiums. At the same time, the Rewiring the Nation program doesn't even consider the flow-on impact those projects will have on insurability. It's similar for people who are next to solar farms. They've also got similar risks. It is a significant risk. The other issue with transmission lines is this. I live in an irrigation area, which is smack-bang underneath the VNI West project, which is to connect a renewable energy zone near Coleambally—an irrigation area—to Kerang in north-west Victoria. This particular project goes directly across an intensive irrigation farming area.

For those who don't really know about irrigation farming, when we're talking broadacre cropping, when we're talking the staples that feed the world, that people turn to for food aid programs and the likes, when we're talking wheat, oats, barley, rice, canola—those beautiful yellow flowers that all the tourists come out to take their photos with—a lot of that work is done using aerial agricultural assistance. You fly on your fertiliser using aerial ag pilots—brave aerial ag pilots I might add. But they're not so brave that they want to dodge transmission lines, I can tell you. And, even if they were, they're not allowed to. There is a 120-metre exclusion zone each way around transmission lines for aerial activity, be it drones going out to check the cattle water on board rangeland or ag pilots flying on urea or other inputs for maximum cropping potential. That's 120 metres each way. That's a 240-metre exclusion zone across the length of the transmission lines. That is going to put a big gap in how we operate and manage our agricultural production in this area.

There isn't an easy alternative. People say, 'Just get the tractor out and put the fertiliser on with the tractor.' Well, I don't know how easy it is to drive a tractor through a flooded rice bay. I'm pretty sure it would get bogged. It doesn't matter how good the tractor is. And we can't just stop growing rise because our rice in this country feeds 50 million people around the world in a good year. We export our rice around the world. If we didn't export our rice around the world, someone else would have to produce it, and I can guarantee you the quality of the production systems, the labour force protections, the chemical protections wouldn't be there. There is a reason why Australia has such a good reputation as an agricultural production country, and it is because we've got very high-class quality controls—chemical usage controls, fertiliser usage controls and labour controls. We don't use child labour. We have water quality controls to make sure that the water we're putting on our crops is of a decent quality and also to make sure the water we're taking off our crops doesn't get back, as a contaminated water supply, into our river system. If you run hundreds of kilometres of transmission lines through our high-quality agricultural production zones, you will have an impact on our productivity and on how we produce.

But it isn't just agriculture that will be impacted. These transmission lines, this rewiring the nation, will impact state forests, and our koalas love our state forests. But apparently it's okay! We'll just bulldoze a swathe of land—because you've got to have cleared land—through state forests at the expense of the koala habitat! It will also impact our national parks. There are some transmission lines going through national parks and above historic homesteads and villages. These are all under threat.

I particularly commend Senator Van's acknowledgement of the lack of social licence. The amazing thing is the small social licence that ever existed with these projects is diminishing by the day. If we had our transmission Tuesday inquiry, perhaps, by having that forensic look, we could actually work on turning that around. But, because Labor and the Greens steadfastly refuse to give us our inquiry, I have no choice but to support Senator Van.