It is the first sitting week after the winter break, and I hope everyone is feeling rejuvenated. I am very pleased to be speaking in support of the government business program. The program of course includes two very significant bills – bills that once again demonstrate to the people of Victoria that Labor is just getting on with the job. In particular we have before us the Energy Legislation Amendment (Energy Safety) Bill 2023, which speaks to the Labor government’s commitment to a clean energy future, something which my community of Northcote is immensely passionate about and something which I have been proud to be a champion of since I was elected. Victorians do rightly expect that their government is making changes to the law to embed principles of energy efficiency, energy security and energy safety. That is why since coming to government we have seen a great deal of legislation come into Parliament which gives effect to our ambitions when it comes to addressing climate change.
This bill is yet another, and it is actually emblematic of two very core values and imperatives within our Labor government: worker safety and our transition to renewable energy. Victoria, as we know, is undertaking a rapid transition to renewable energy, with an outstanding target to run the state on 95 per cent renewables by 2035. We are decarbonising at speed, and this also means our state has cut emissions more than any other in the nation. The legislation on the program today is another mechanism in that broader work we are doing as world leaders in renewable energy. It is a critical component, because it goes to the safety of the new and emerging technologies that we are seeing as part of our transition and ensuring of course that technologies such as batteries, wind farms and solar farms are held to the same safety standards as the rest of the energy network.
Members of this house have had quite a lot of opportunity to contribute to debates about our energy sector through the sheer volume of reform that we are undertaking in Victoria as we drive forward our clean energy future, and I must say that these debates are always quite colourful because we know that there continue to be pretty stark ideological differences between the way that our Labor government understands and is addressing climate change and that of the conservatives on the other side and indeed some of the empty showboating of the Greens.
James Newbury: On a point of order, Deputy Speaker, on relevance, as much as the member wants to entertain an ideological discussion, I would remind the member that this is a debate around the government business program, and I would ask you to bring the member back to that question.
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: The point of order was on relevance. I take it. The member can come back to the government business program.
Kat THEOPHANOUS: Sure. I was just reflecting on the fact that, as energy legislation comes up, it is an opportunity for us to elucidate those differences in our ideologies, and I think there is nothing wrong with that. That is what this parliamentary house is for. It provides us with an opportunity to analyse and to reflect on our fundamental position as a Labor government as opposed to the opposition, and what we are about is real climate action.
James Newbury: On a point of order, Deputy Speaker, on relevance, I know that the notes are quite clear and the member is reading from them, but I would say that you have ruled. There are opportunities in this place to debate the questions the member is talking about. It is just not now.
Mary-Anne Thomas: On the point of order, Deputy Speaker, there is no point of order. The member for Northcote is being highly relevant to the government business program in her contributions, and I request that you let her get on with it.
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: On the point of order, I would encourage the member not to branch into debating the bill at hand and to come back to the government business program as a whole.
Kat THEOPHANOUS: Thank you, Deputy Speaker. It is interesting how touchy those opposite are on this. The second bill on the business program is of course the Mineral Resources (Sustainable Development) Amendment Bill 2023. I know that we rely a great deal on earth resources for many vital aspects of our lives, so I am looking forward to hearing that debate in the house later this week. I understand that it proposes some stronger penalty units to ensure the industry operates at the highest standards, and I will be listening intently to that. There was also – oh, I have run out of time, it appears, but I commend the government business program.
