‍DR ANNE WEBSTER MP

SHADOW MINISTER FOR REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT, LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND TERRITORIES
SHADOW MINISTER FOR REGIONAL COMMUNICATIONS

FEDERAL MEMBER FOR MALLEE

TOPICS: 

Energy crisis, power prices, renewable rollout, net zero targets, community division, Mallee's Biggest survey, transmission line costs, vanilla slices

‍

KENNY 

 I want to catch up now with Anne Webster, who's the member for the Mildura… that's right, the member for Mallee, sorry, Anne, I know the area, but of course, the member for Mallee in the western Victoria, and she joins us from Mildura. And Anne, I wanted to start off by getting back to the energy topic, because you've been really focused on this in terms of your constituents, not just the power prices, the power bills they're being hit with, but also how the renewable rollout is affecting them and you've written about this in your own newsletter.

 WEBSTER 

 Yeah, look absolutely Chris, it's it remains - and will continue to remain, news flash for the Labor government, both at state and federal level - this is a huge problem for people in my electorate. I've just spent the last two days at Field Days in Speed. I don't know whether you know where Speed is, it's got about 50 people, I think that live there, and the Field Days are huge,

 KENNY

 … yeah

 WEBSTER

 … and lots and lots of people coming up and talking to me about the heartbreak in their communities, the division in their communities. I sent out Mallee’s Biggest Survey a month and a half ago. I've received over 5000 - heading to 5,500 responses and Chris, one of the questions that I ask people is, you know, what's your view on net zero? Are you supportive of it? Are you supportive of 2050 are you prepared to pay for it? Well, as it turns out, in my electorate, 60 per cent do not support net zero, or 2050, targets and let's face it, they're political and ideological, and these are very pragmatic people, and they do not support it. Of the 30 per cent that do support net zero, 68 per cent are not prepared to pay more than $100 a year. Well, the horror story is, as you and I know, Chris, people are paying well more than that already for this disastrous plan!

 KENNY 

 What I have got to do is share with you some research I did yesterday. I shared it with viewers. I pushed AI to just give me the facts on what's happening in energy and when pushed to get rid of the spin and just go with the … what we know they said, will it deliver affordable power? No, will it deliver reliable power? No. Is it helping the economy? No, it's hurting the economy. And will it improve the climate? Well, no, of course. So, the impact globally will be negligible. So - when you look at those answers, and we, we know those are the facts, why are we doing this to ourselves?

 WEBSTER 

Well, you know, there are some days I do want to tear my hair out. It is incredibly frustrating. And this is a fast moving train. The Labor ideological train is just, you know, I can only hope that it derails, because before it does all the damage that it is absolutely heading to do in Victoria, you would be aware the VNI West was $3.6 billion last year, thereabouts, and looks to be $7.6 billion this year.

KENNY

 Wow.

 WEBSTER

 And then, you know, potentially $11. 9 billion for the same piece of transmission line that very few people in my electorate want.  So those costs are being borne on people's bills, and I'm thinking actually of doing a little fridge magnet that has Anthony Albanese and Chris Bowen on it, and please put your power bill here.

 KENNY 

 Fair enough! Now I haven't been to Speed, but I do travel through your electorate a couple of times a year when I do a big trek, a road trip, back to Adelaide, and when you go down through Tooleybuc and head towards Adelaide, you go through a town that claims to have the best vanilla slices in the world. I think that's Ouyen, isn't it?

 WEBSTER 

 No, no, this is a secret: Birchip, a little bit of a dogleg, Chris - absolutely a winner.

 KENNY 

 Great stuff. Anne, Webster, the Nationals MP for the seat of Mallee.