The Allan Labor Government is failing to enforce its own planning protections for renewable energy developments, prompting The Nationals Member for Euroa, Annabelle Cleeland, to call for greater accountability and proper consideration of the cumulative impacts facing regional communities.
Speaking in Parliament recently, Ms Cleeland raised concerns about the growing concentration of large-scale solar factories, battery storage facilities and associated transmission infrastructure across Northern Victoria.
“Regional Victorians have carried the burden of Victoria’s renewable energy transition, but they haven’t been given the planning safeguards needed to protect their communities from its cumulative impacts,” Ms Cleeland said.
“Victoria’s planning framework already recognises the importance of protecting agricultural land, biodiversity, landscapes and local communities. The problem is that these protections are not being consistently applied or enforced.”
The concerns follow the extraordinary volume of solar factories approved and proposed across the region – from Glenrowan, Winton, West Mokoan, Goorambat, Corop and Colbinabbin – fundamentally transforming productive farming districts, driving up insurance pressures and eroding land values.
“The problem isn’t one project. It’s what happens when multiple projects are approved across the same district, with no meaningful assessment of their combined impact on farming, local infrastructure, fire preparedness, the environment and surrounding communities,” Ms Cleeland said.
“We also have no convincing plan for how these sites will be rehabilitated at the end of their operational life. Regional communities deserve confidence that productive agricultural land will not simply be abandoned, with the bill passed on to future generations.
“Too often communities are left negotiating with developers project-by-project, with different commitments and consultation depending on who is proposing the development. Victorians shouldn’t have to rely on the goodwill of individual companies to determine what environmental protection or site rehabilitation will be delivered.”
Ms Cleeland said renewable energy projects must be assessed through a whole-of-life lens, with clear, enforceable statewide requirements consistently applied.
“Regional Victoria is doing its part to power the state, but country communities cannot keep shouldering all of the impacts while Melbourne receives the benefits. If Labor expects us to host this infrastructure, it must start enforcing the planning protections that already exist.”
Ms Cleeland has asked the Minister for Planning to explain how existing protections are being enforced, how cumulative impacts are assessed across developments, and what action will be taken to ensure communities receive the safeguards already provided for under Victoria’s planning framework.
