Chris Bowen (McMahon, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Climate Change and Energy) Share this | Hansard source

The honourable member made a number of assertions in her question. It is appropriate to point out that those assertions are incorrect. In relation to VNI West I'll say this: the number of farms affected will depend in no small part on the final routes selected. AEMO made an announcement two weeks ago that they had changed the proposed route based on community feedback. That is no bad thing. The new Option 5A pivots away from its original path, heading north-west instead of through Charlton and the broad irrigation district, to skirt around Kerang and hit the Murray River downstream of Barmah. This is the result of community consultation. Community consultation is something we take very seriously in the government.

In fact, in the last sitting week, I met with the Murray River Group of Councils, who came to me to talk about the route. I accepted the meeting request, of course. They asked to speak to me about it. They said to me that they appreciated the consultation that AEMO and the federal government had engaged on. They appreciated the engagement with the government. They made that point to me. They requested a meeting and they got one.

Honourable members interjecting—

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