It is a pleasure to rise to speak on the Energy and Land Legislation Amendment (Energy Safety) Bill 2025. I always take the opportunity, if possible, to speak on energy in this place. It was a big part of the journey for me to come to this place and be the member for Bellarine, considering that I, alongside hundreds of thousands of people across Victoria, many years ago stood together to speak about protecting our agriculture, protecting our land, protecting our waterways and protecting our community’s health against fracking. I will always take the opportunity to talk about that process. There was an inquiry into unconventional gas, which I was very heavily involved in, and then I sat on an advisory panel about conventional gas, which was established to understand what resources were part of Victoria’s future. We had the lead scientist chair that advisory group, and it was an excellent process to be involved in for me to better understand energy and particularly gas for this state, so I come with a bit of background knowledge in this space.

Sometimes I get a bit itchy sitting in this chair listening to debate when I hear things that are simply not true or simply are rewriting history in this space. I will always take the opportunity to talk to that and to call that out. Talking about that point, a few years ago when we were fighting for a ban on fracking in this state, which was a nation first in this country to have a ban, to have a Labor government put in a ban on fracking to protect our agriculture and our environment from that process, there was debate and talk about if it is not gas, then what does our future look like. Communities – and I know from doing this role and representing the Bellarine community – wanted to see a clean energy future. It meant having cleaner energy and cheaper energy. We all know that means renewables – that is, our wind and solar. The minister just this week talked about the record amount of solar that people have installed on their homes. I am just going to check my notes, but solar homes have had another record year, with more than 78,000 solar panels, hot-water systems and batteries installed in 2024. That is the largest year on record. This is about having people have control over their energy and their energy bills but also being part of the solution going forward, being part of the solution of a clean energy future. Now 30 per cent of Victorian homes have installed solar.

That is what is making a real difference. That is what makes a difference to our state and to those who are really concerned about our future. I am really proud of all the ambitious targets that this government has set over its decade of being in government, and smashing them as well. We do not just talk about them; we actually deliver on these on these projects, and we have a clear vision for this state to transition to a clean and green energy sector, and I am really proud to be to be supporting this bill today, which ultimately talks about the safety of our energy system.

As we embrace new technologies and as new technologies roll out, as we address them we need to make sure our legislation keeps pace with that technology, and a top priority for us is to have a workforce that is safe, and for our wider community as well. This bill is about having that robust energy safety framework to make sure that we are updating our legislation and keeping workers and community safe. At the last election we said we would do this work. We said that we would make a commitment to doing an energy safety review to deliver these reforms, and we are doing that. So that was about making sure we were keeping up with that transition that I have talked about.

In speaking on this bill, I remember before, in 2023, I also spoke about an energy safety bill, and like I said, I will always take the opportunity to talk about energy in this place. We made some amendments, just some really commonsense amendments, to the Victorian energy safety legislation, and that was in line with advice that we had got, working in consultation with our renewable energy companies and modernising our legislation.

I will just talk a little bit about the Bellarine, and the Bellarine community often come to me and talk about their priorities going forward, but interestingly – I am sure it was last year – we had a guest speaker come to the Bellarine organised by several community groups. They asked Tim Forcey to come along and speak about the transition to electrifying their homes. Nearly a hundred people turned up to that forum on the night to understand more with a thirst for information and a thirst for understanding what steps they could take to (1) reduce their bills but (2) have a cleaner energy home. Some of those constituents that came along to that forum had done a whole lot to their homes; they had transitioned their homes to electric and wanted to know what next. A lot of them were talking about batteries, and they had a thirst to have knowledge around batteries. Others were just starting the process; they were just starting to gather that information about what they could do and what actions they could take to electrify their homes. And of course we talked about the offerings that we have – the very generous offerings of rebates to do that work. This government has been very clear and very ambitious in letting our communities know that there is help available if they would like to do that transition.

I have listened very carefully to the debate today, and I just want to raise a few a few issues that I have heard and just go to some of those. Firstly, the member for Brighton did talk a little bit about offshore wind in his speech, and I just want to clarify a few things. Minister Horne and the Minister for Energy and Resources have been working with the Commonwealth on the environment protection and biodiversity conservation determination and what those next steps look like. The Port of Hastings have recommenced their environment effects statement process, and the technical reference group has been established. Since the Commonwealth decision on that referral Minister Horne’s department has made modifications to the project design and directly addressed the issues flagged by the Commonwealth government. This means that we will resubmit the referral in due course. This is a standard practice, and it outlines what is in and out of the scope for formal discussions between government departments.

This is clearly demonstrated, let us be clear, in the letters between the Commonwealth government and the department. This is part of government process. This is the way major projects unfold. And it is not surprising to hear that the other side and other members in the other place, Liberal members of the opposition, do not understand these government processes. They have not delivered projects in the last 30 years. The ministers are working hand in hand with each other, both state and federal, to ensure processes are followed and that projects continue to be on track.

This bill is not just about legislation. This is about safeguarding our future energy in our state, the future of our state, and this is about ensuring that we can continue that transition and accelerate to a cleaner, more sustainable energy system and that safety, as always, remains our top priority. It is about having energy safety laws that are modern and strengthened, and it is about having an affordable energy system as well. These are not just ambitious targets that we set. It is our responsibility as a government. With this bill we are delivering the things and agendas that we have set for this state. I know that that has a lot of support in my electorate of the Bellarine, hence why people are so thirsty to electrify their homes and to have that support. I commend this bill to the house.