HumeLink Energy Transmission Project
Ms Cate Faehrmann: On behalf of The Greens I support the motion. I also support what the Minister said at the end of her contribution about the Central-West Orana Renewable Energy Zone being well and truly underway when the Opposition was in government and that Opposition members were not very noisy about it then. I have sat on the two parliamentary inquiries into undergrounding transmission, the first of which opened my eyes to the appalling way that Transgrid had dealt with regional communities up until that point regarding HumeLink. The way in which Transgrid presented evidence to the committee about underground verses overhead transmission lines, its extreme dismissal of community concerns, its lack of enthusiasm and its complete disregard for undergrounding technology drew the ire of an extremely frustrated community.
I understand that transmission infrastructure cannot be undergrounded everywhere all the time, and that we must act fast and not delay the rollout of infrastructure. However, energy transmission providers can do things differently. In some ways, EnergyCo has dealt with the community a lot better than Transgrid. Its community consultation, the information it provided and the way in which it talked about different options for undergrounding was very different to that of Transgrid. It seems that Transgrid got the community offside very quickly by completely dismissing the feasibility of undergrounding infrastructure, so it has a lot of work to do to build social licence. Landholders are incredibly concerned about what overhead transmission infrastructure looks like on their properties. There are even reports of double lines and more infrastructure needing to be built. What the motion proposes is the least that the State and Federal governments can do. It is mild but The Greens support it. We will also continue to support communities to ensure that renewable energy infrastructure benefits the communities where it is placed.
Full text of the motion:
The Hon. Wes Fang moved:
(1) That this House acknowledges that Transgrid, as the developer of the HumeLink energy transmission project, has pledged community benefits funding to "boost the people who live and work in the regions local to Transgrid assets or construction".
(2) That this House notes that the current proposal put to the regulator for community benefits is approximately 0.003 per cent of the project's total cost and a small fraction of the amount allocated to communities elsewhere in the State affected by similar infrastructure.
(3) That this House calls on both the State and Federal governments to do all they can to make sure the Australian Energy Regulator and Transgrid approve and provide appropriate and adequate compensation for communities along the route.