Shadow Minister for Regional Development, Local Government and Territories, Shadow Minister for Regional Communications - Member for Mallee - Transcript - Sky News - Thursday 26 February 2026

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‍DR ANNE WEBSTER MP

SHADOW MINISTER FOR REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT, LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND TERRITORIES

SHADOW MINISTER FOR REGIONAL COMMUNICATIONS

FEDERAL MEMBER FOR MALLEE

TOPICS: Abandoned renewable energy projects, protecting prime agricultural land, cultural heritage, development on private property

KENNY

Let's go to Anne Webster, the Shadow Minister for Regional Development. She joins us from Sea Lake in the Mallee. There you go. Anne. That landscape you see behind you is one we're not familiar with in Victoria, but up there in that northwest corner, yeah, a bit of a salt pan there. Not very pictures-que, as they say.

WEBSTER

Absolutely.

KENNY 

Now, tell us about that abandoned solar farm and fears we'll see more of that. I know the Nats are talking about legislation so that renewables companies would have to pay a bond to make sure that there is money there to clean up their sites when they're done, much like mining companies do. Is that a state government push, a federal government push, or will you need to see legislation in both jurisdictions?

WEBSTER

Well, you might remember, Chris that we went into a break in the Coalition and in that time I put together legislation that addresses not just rehabilitation post-renewables but also the Prime Ag Land Protection Bill and Alison Penfold -now that I'm back in the outer ministry in the Coalition - Alison Penfold, my colleague, endorsed by the Nats Party Room at a federal level, is bringing that bill on Monday. It's an incredibly important bill. I, of course, want to passionately see it come through at a federal level. So much of Mallee, I don't want it looking like Jemalong. I mean, what has been left behind by Vast is a complete disgrace. And we don't want to see that in Mallee. This is prime agricultural agricultural land. It needs to be protected. Our farmers have been crying out for it for years. I've been talking to you about it for years.

KENNY

Yep. And it needs to be followed through with legislation, both at a state level and a federal level in particular. Well, it's just shocking. So much for, you know, protecting the environment and even reducing emissions. That should be pasture land at least now, so you're abating some, you know, carbon dioxide, growing some stuff there. Now it's just a mess, but it's also a fire hazard, so hopefully something can be done there in the future. I want to get your thoughts too on the concerns we have about Indigenous objections being used to prevent development, sometimes last-minute Indigenous developments, sometimes dodgy ones, shall we see, that are contested. There's that gold mine up near Bathurst that we've talked about in the past. The IPA's done a study showing just how prevalent this is. Often it's environmentalists who go and look for the Indigenous objection to try and stop something they don't like.

WEBSTER

Yeah, well, I'm standing right here at Lake Tyrrell. Right next door is Murray and Marie Allan's place. They have been stopped by cultural heritage from developing a small caravan park right next door to this viewing platform - interestingly enough, funded by the Victorian state government and assisted by federal government to put here, and they have been stopped from doing a very minor change on their own property with a small caravan park, which would therefore give people in Sea Lake some more accommodation options. Now, the problem is that I wrote to Tanya Plibersek - when she was in the role as Environmental Minister - about this issue because the Federal Government now have questions and a report has been done by Terry Bailey, which has not seen the light of day. Why not? Murray Watt is now the Environment Minister. We want to know what is in that report because, on their land, the cultural archaeologist came and did the check and found nothing. Nothing. And yet they have been stopped from building on their own land. If people don't think this is something that could happen to them, this is private property. And they are being stopped from doing what they need to do on their own property. It is honestly a disgrace and terribly concerning.

KENNY

It shouldn't still be happening. You know, I cut my teeth on the Hindmarsh Island, so-called 'secret women's business', you know, 30, 40 years ago, and we're still getting this sort of stuff put up. It is a big worry. Thanks for joining us, Anne. I appreciate it. Anne Webster there at Sea Lake in north-western Victoria

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