Electricity infrastructure: motions

The question put

That this house: (1) notes: (a) the Victoria to New South Wales Interconnector West (VNI West) and West Link transmission lines are proposed to be built in Northern and Western Victoria by Transmission Company Victoria (TCV) and VicGrid; (b) the significant community opposition to these high voltage powerlines; (c) the powerlines propose to cross valuable agricultural land which plays a significant role in Victoria’s agricultural production and agricultural exports; (d) the Paris agreement, a legally binding international treaty adopted by 196 parties at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP21) in Paris, France, on 12 December 2015, states at article 2 that the agreement aims to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change by ‘Increasing the ability to adapt to the adverse impacts of climate change and foster climate resilience and low greenhouse gas emissions development, in a manner that does not threaten food production’; (2) is of the view that: (a) the consultation process by TCV and VicGrid has been inadequate; (b) the impact of the proposed transmission lines on remnant vegetation at certain sensitive locations must be fully and transparently assessed; and