Anne Webster (Mallee, National Party, Shadow Minister for Regional Development, Local Government and Territories) Share this | Hansard source

I rise with some great news. On Thursday, I met with over 200 farmers down in St Arnaud at the town hall there. Matt Canavan, the Leader of the Nationals; Darren Chester, the Deputy Leader of the Nationals; and Danny O'Brien, the Leader of the Nationals in Victoria, were there to hear from farmers. The very exciting thing that occurred was that Matt Canavan announced that we would be scrapping net zero and stopping VNI West and WRL. The joy in the room from the farmers who are impacted by these projects and also the renewable energy zones was palpable. We made the formal announcement the next morning in Maryborough, and I've got to say that the farmers present, who have been fighting for years for this to take place, have felt so threatened. Even at the state conference on Saturday, those announcements were made. I want to give a very fast shout-out to some of the leaders of these farmers: Ben Duxson, Andrew Weiderman, Marcia McIntyre, Gerald Feeny, James and Emma Burke, Barry Batters, Bill Baldwin, Jason Barratt, Will and Rachel McIntyre, Spud Hepworth and Kelvin Clark. These people are heroes. (Time expired)

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