Book 8 - Parliament of Victoria

ADJOURNMENT
Wednesday, 1 June 2011 COUNCIL 1671
Mr Lenders’s request was for the government,
particularly Mr O’Brien, to give some certainty for the
future about the use of brown coal for electricity
production beyond just blaming the federal government
for that uncertainty. I think Mr Lenders needs to reflect
again on those remarks, because in the last six months
this government has given a fair degree of certainty in
respect of the future of brown coal use beyond that
provided by the former government. Was it not the
previous government that was negotiating to reduce the
size and capacity of Hazelwood power station and
suggesting a buyout? The current government has said
it is not negotiating to reduce any capacity at
Hazelwood.
Moreover, a recent decision that was just announced
was for a new 300-megawatt brown coal-fired power
station in the Latrobe Valley, and that new power
station will be using means by which there will be
reduced CO2 emissions. In terms of giving some
certainty to the future use of brown coal as a fuel source
in the Latrobe Valley, I would have thought that those
two things in themselves are very clear examples of
how this government is providing some certainty to the
people of the Latrobe Valley and doing so in the face of
the federal government, which would look to put in
place measures that would jeopardise the future of
those initiatives. We are not blaming the
commonwealth government; we are doing far more
than that, which is what Mr Lenders has asked of the
minister tonight. I am sure Minister O’Brien in his
ultimate response to Mr Lenders will canvass those
issues and others in a fulsome reply.
That being said, those are the 10 issues raised on the
adjournment tonight. I also advise that I have no written
responses to adjournment matters that I can report to
the house tonight.
The PRESIDENT — Order! The house now stands
adjourned.
House adjourned 6.23 p.m.