It gives me great pleasure to speak in favour of the Public Health and Wellbeing Amendment Bill 2020 today. As my colleagues on this side of the house before me have outlined, the amendments in this bill address the issue of duplication in the regulation of wind farm noise in Victoria, including and most importantly defining and strengthening the regulatory framework, creating confidence. It creates confidence for local communities.
Having spent over a decade working in this industry, there is nothing I love more than coming to this place and talking about energy, especially our government’s resolute commitment to provide reliable, affordable and clean energy for all Victorians. I stand here with confidence when I say that since being elected in 2014 the Andrews Labor government has indeed made Victoria a leader in this country on renewable technology and has successfully created a market that is now experiencing a boom in renewable energy, particularly with new wind and solar farms being built across the state. Now, it was only last sitting week that I stood here in the same place and commented on our government’s track record of making Victoria’s energy market simpler and fairer. And today I am going to add to that sentiment. We are quickly becoming a government that is committed to providing investor confidence when it comes to investing in and backing in our wind and solar farms, and this confidence is not only helping us achieve the Victorian renewable energy targets but is also creating jobs. It is creating thousands of jobs.
Members interjecting.
Ms CONNOLLY: The importance of investor confidence, I say to those opposite, should never be underestimated, yet sadly it is still something that the coalition federal government struggles to grapple with, largely because they have no climate change policy, no plan and no renewable energy vision for our country. Certainly when I was working for some of Australia’s largest electricity networks, this failing was a constant source of frustration and absolute disbelief. I personally feel like technology—and even the renewable technology revolution, if you want to call it that—is constantly pushing the boundaries, but in a good way. After working for a decade on energy policy and regulation in my past life, I think it is correct to say that legislation and regulatory frameworks can struggle to keep up with the pace of this type of technology, and indeed in an industry like renewables, with massive investment and investor confidence, they are critical. It is imperative that governments like ours keep up. And we must keep up, because in so many respects the bills that we debate in this place and the legislation that we pass helps pave the way for Victoria’s energy future—the future that you have no vision for. What is so pleasing to someone like me, coming from such a heavily regulated sector, is that our government constantly has bills before the house. I say to Victorians: you can be confident in our absolute, resolute commitment to deliver cheaper, fairer and cleaner energy to households right across the state.
Now, I get out in my community, out in Wyndham, and I talk to a lot of people about the things that matter to them, and what matters to families in the outer west and what they are telling me is that what they care about are jobs. They care about transport, education, health services and climate change. Let me tell you, the action we are taking on the first four are absolutely 100 per cent visible and happening right across Wyndham right now. Billions of dollars have been invested in the infrastructure in my community. Whether it is in schools, in kinders, in hospitals, in roads or in rail, we are getting on with the job of delivering the things that matter to the west and creating jobs in the process—more jobs for more locals.
When it comes to renewables, we are doing a heck of a lot of work in this space. It is not always visible if you are driving around Wyndham, unless you are checking out the solar panels on the rooftops of estates like Truganina and Tarneit.
Ms Britnell interjected.
The ACTING SPEAKER (Mr Dimopoulos): Order! The member for South-West Coast is undertaking continual dialogue. I would appreciate it if she gave the member for Tarneit a little bit of space to make her contribution.
Ms CONNOLLY: Thank you. That would be very respectful. Now, since 2014, 26 projects providing 1177 megawatts have been completed, and projects providing 1326 megawatts are undergoing commissioning and are already providing clean energy to our grid. Eleven renewable energy projects totalling 1744 megawatts are currently under construction. Because of this success we are on track to hit our renewable energy target of 25 per cent—
Ms Britnell: On a point of order, Acting Speaker, the member has not been speaking on the Public Health and Wellbeing Amendment Bill. She has not mentioned the bill once. This is not a bill about solar or the—
The ACTING SPEAKER (Mr Dimopoulos): Okay, so your point is about relevance? Thank you, member for South-West Coast.
Mr Foley: On the point of order, Acting Speaker, the second-reading debate is, as we all know, general in its nature. The honourable member, to my recollection, has more than once referred to the issues around wind energy and is directly relevant to the bill.
The ACTING SPEAKER (Mr Dimopoulos): I have heard the member talk about the bill, and I would encourage her to continue.
Ms CONNOLLY: Thank you, Acting Speaker. Here I was thinking I was pointing out the importance of keeping up with renewable technology and amending and passing legislation to ensure that we can continue with our renewable energy future, but again those opposite have no vision for this state’s future, let alone our nation’s future.
Because of this success we are going to be on track to hit our renewable energy target of 25 per cent renewables by 2020. Now, this is an extraordinary achievement, and it did not happen by accident; this stuff does not happen by accident. It happens when governments have a plan—have an energy plan. It happens when governments formulate policy, create and amend legislation, provide investors with certainty, upskill the workforce and, let us be honest, just get on and deliver it. This is what is making Victoria’s renewable energy future a reality. That is action, and that is what people voted for twice—action on climate change—because the alternative for this state was a coalition intent on smashing the renewable sector through their destructive planning laws and their ridiculous ideological opposition to action on climate change.
Of course our action on this front and the massive investment have seen Victoria become the renewable energy powerhouse of Australia. The Clean Energy Council’s Clean Energy at Work study shows more jobs were created in renewables in Victoria than in any other state, so when I say we are leading the nation on this stuff, we are also showing that there are jobs in it as well. In fact 30 per cent of those jobs in renewables were here in Victoria, more than New South Wales and more than Queensland. With that 2030 Victorian renewable energy target of 50 per cent we will create 24 000 jobs, drive an additional $5.8 billion of economic activity and reduce energy bills for families and businesses. And we are not slowing down—we have just announced a massive $792 million for a package to reduce energy bills for households, because we know the best way to clean up our grid is to use less power in the first place. We are going to be helping 250 000 households replace inefficient heaters, providing energy efficiency upgrades for 35 000 public housing tenants and expanding the successful Victorian Energy Upgrades program.
Ms Britnell: On a point of order, Acting Speaker, this is about how complaints are made; this is not about renewable energy and how much the government has funded. She has not mentioned the complaint process once.
Mr Foley: On the point of order, Acting Speaker, I renew my opposition to the honourable member’s earlier point of order. Second-reading debate speeches are broad in nature. I am pretty sure that wind energy is part of the renewable grid, and I would urge you to reject the honourable member’s frivolous point of order.
The ACTING SPEAKER (Mr Dimopoulos): The member was relevant to the bill, and there is no point of order.
Ms CONNOLLY: Now, the Victorian Energy Upgrades program: we have expanded this program to small businesses with 15 000 rebates being made available to ensure that local businesses—our local pizza shop or our fish and chip shop—can take advantage of clean energy too. These investments will support thousands of jobs, but they will also make sure that no-one is left behind as we transform our energy system.
So I am pleased to say that the amendments in this bill will help bring certainty and clarity to the wind farm industry and councils and bring confidence to communities in a strengthened regulatory framework for wind turbine noise. It is important to ensure our legislation and our regulatory frameworks keep up with renewable technology. It is part of our role as a Labor government to pave the way for Victoria’s renewable energy future and our technology. As this bill will assist our government in meeting renewable energy targets, I commend it to the house.
