It has been revealed the Allan Labor Government has approved more than two-thirds of Victoria’s renewable energy projects outside its declared Renewable Energy Zones, as The Nationals vow to review the proposed zones and broader transmission plans if elected in November.
The Nationals Member for Euroa, Annabelle Cleeland, has demanded answers after Government figures showed 77 of Victoria’s 111 approved renewable energy projects are located outside Renewable Energy Zones.
Ms Cleeland said serious questions were raised about whether the policy was achieving its stated purpose or simply dividing communities while industrialising productive agricultural land.
“Labor has spent years telling Victorians that Renewable Energy Zones are essential to strategically manage the energy transition, yet more than two-thirds of approved projects sit outside those zones,” Ms Cleeland said.
“If Renewable Energy Zones aren’t determining where projects are built, then what exactly are they achieving?
“Meanwhile, regional communities are being left to deal with the consequences, including the loss of productive farmland, declining land values, insurance pressures, fire risk and concerns about long-term land contamination.
“People are being asked to participate in a process when it increasingly feels like the decisions have already been made.”
The Allan Labor Government recently declared five Renewable Energy Zones across the state while confirming consultation on the proposed Central North Renewable Energy Zone remains ongoing.
Despite this, renewable energy projects across north-east Victoria and surrounding communities continue to advance through the planning system as though the outcome has already been determined.
“How can Labor tell communities consultation is still underway while projects continue marching through the system across the very areas they are supposedly still consulting on?” Ms Cleeland said.
“For years Labor has divided regional communities by removing planning appeal rights, sidelining local voices and forcing industrial-scale energy developments into farming districts.
“The people who grow our food should not be expected to carry a disproportionate share of the impacts while Melbourne consumes the vast majority of the electricity.”
Ms Cleeland said the figures exposed a planning framework that was failing both communities and investors by creating uncertainty while doing little to guide development into designated areas.
“The Nationals have committed to reviewing the Renewable Energy Zone framework and broader transmission plans because regional Victorians deserve a process that is transparent, consistent and based on genuine consultation,” she said.
“Renewable projects must be delivered with communities, not imposed on them.
“There are enormous opportunities to generate power on industrial rooftops, warehouses, commercial precincts and urban land closer to where electricity is actually consumed.
“Communities are not anti-renewables. They are asking for honesty, consistency and respect.
“When Labor has already approved 77 renewable projects outside Renewable Energy Zones, regional Victorians are entitled to ask whether these zones are actually about planning or simply creating the appearance of planning.”
