00:00Hi, just an update from Parliament. So here's what happened.
00:05Late Tuesday morning the Labor Government handed the Coalition the Electricity Infrastructure Investment Amendment Priority Network Projects Bill 2035.
00:14And they did it, also telling us that the matter would be dealt with under urgency.
00:21We didn't have time to take the Shadow Cabinet.
00:23It was barely mentioned in the party room before it was rushed into the House that same day.
00:28And then Labor wonders why communities and their representatives, especially in regional areas, dealing with renewable energy projects have no trust in the process.
00:38What's missing from this bill is a clear and transparent planning framework.
00:44One that balances the urgency of the energy transition to the rights of the people actually.
00:51Instead this bill allows projects to go ahead in stages with a clear, final picture.
00:57That makes it incredibly hard for communities to understand how, when or in when they're there.
01:05This kind of fragmented decision making erodes transparency and shuts communities out of the conversation.
01:13The bill also gives the Minister sweeping new powers to direct stage development and hand off parts of the project to different entities.
01:21But with no real requirement for consultation or public scrutiny.
01:26Vague reassurances just aren't good enough.
01:29Communities deserve to be included.
01:33From the start and all the way through these projects, the Upper House Coalition has moved to adjourn the bill to actually give members of parliament time to understand the full consequences before anything moves ahead.
01:49We need a framework that values technical feasibility, market efficiency and lending impact to people.
02:01Right now, labour is available to us.
02:02We can treat regional communities with disregard and obviously, we just can't trust them to get this process right.
02:14Regional voices deserve better and I'll keep standing up to make sure that they're heard.
