Politics & Council
23 June, 2023
Energy minister contradicts on consultation
FEDERAL Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen has put himself at odds with Loddon Shire over AEMO’s VNI West project consultation. Mr Bowen told Parliament last week that Loddon Mayor Dan Straub and other Murray River Group of Council...
FEDERAL Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen has put himself at odds with Loddon Shire over AEMO’s VNI West project consultation.
Mr Bowen told Parliament last week that Loddon Mayor Dan Straub and other Murray River Group of Council leaders had “appreciated the consultation”.
This is despite strident criticism from Loddon on consultation by AEMO.
Mr Bowen was answering a question from Mallee MP Anne Webster who had hosted a Parliament House delegation of farmers from the Loddon and other areas in the proposed Option 5A path. Dr Webster had asked how many more farmers would be “impacted by Labor’s arrogant policy to steamroll local communities in pushing forward 28,000 kilometres of transmission lines” under its Rewiring the Nation policy.
Mr Bowen said: “The number of farms affected will depend in no small part on the final routes selected. AEMO made an announcement two weeks ago that they had changed the proposed route based on community feedback. That is no bad thing.
“The new Option 5A pivots away from its original path, heading north-west instead of through Charlton and the broad irrigation district, to skirt around Kerang and hit the Murray River downstream of Barmah. This is the result of community consultation. Community consultation is something we take very seriously in the government.
“I met with the Murray River Group of Councils ... they said to me that they appreciated the consultation that AEMO and the federal government had engaged on. They appreciated the engagement with the Government
“They made clear to me their support for the project. In fact, they announced in response to the Government’s announcement of Rewiring the Nation that, with local supply chain investment estimated to be in excess of $1 billion and with more than 3,000 jobs in the construction phase, this investment will deliver stimulus effects and long-term economic and social benefits.”
The AEMO-released Option 5A map shows land of interest surrounding Charlton before heading through irrigated farmland around Boort and then towards Kerang.