I want to congratulate everyone for continuing to fight for their farming communities affected by energy cowboys’ proposals for the region.  It is no coincidence that state Energy Minister Lily D’Ambrosio visited Kerang and Wycheproof this week and VicGrid’s chief executive Alistair Parker was in the region, both at-times receiving justifiably prickly receptions.

Shires, community advocates and protestors have made their voices heard loud and clear that Labor’s railroading of regional communities is completely unacceptable.

VicGrid are talking about compelling energy project developers to deliver ‘the best community benefits’ and a ‘Renewable Energy Zone Community fund’.  At last, talk of real ‘REZ’ benefits for locals but let’s ensure, if the projects happen, benefits are long-lasting and shared equitably.

VicGrid also proposes reducing the number of solar panels proposed in Victoria’s renewable energy zones.  Victorian Planning Minister Sonia Kilkenny had indicated her government wanted 6.4 gigawatts’ generation in the REZs to come from solar, but VicGrid are capping new solar at between 0.9 to 1.5 gigawatts. One gigawatt generated from our current coal-fired power plants would power about 1 million Australian homes annually.  One gigawatt of solar-generated power supplies around 300,000 homes.  That’s the inefficiency of ‘renewables’ (more like ‘replaceable’, with 4 million panels in Australia needing disposal of this year, rising soon to 8 million a year - and only 10 per cent are recycled! – but I digress.)  

Federal and state Labor government political targets interconnect here, with the Allan Victorian Labor Government wanting 95 per cent ‘renewables’ by 2035 – an impossible task! – and their ‘net zero’ target is by 2045.  The Albanese Labor Government wants Australia to reach ‘net zero’ by 2050 – all to bolster Labor’s bid to strut at a 2026 COP31 global climate conference they hope to host in Australia.  

Under Labor, Net Zero means railroading regional communities and nowhere else in the world is Labor’s plan being tried at the geographical scale of Australia.  Other nations are using zero-emissions nuclear energy, particularly with AI and power-hungry data centres coming online.  It’s about time Labor caught up.