By PHILIP HOPKINS

 

THE new Coalition Leader, Brad Battin, has vowed to abolish Victoria’s revived State Electricity Commission, in an initial announcement of the Coalition’s new policy approach.

The state government said it had re-established the SEC, which was to have a substantial presence in Morwell, to help drive down power prices. The then-premier Daniel Andrews announced the SEC plan during the 2022 state election campaign and seeded it with $1 billion in public money.

However, the SEC 2024 annual report said it had made just one – loss-making – investment, had spent $1.3 million on consultants, and had four board members walk out the door in its first year of operations, with only eight of its 45 staff members executives.

The Nationals Member for Morwell, Martin Cameron, said the government had promised that the SEC “would be brought back to Morwell”, but the town only had a couple of employees working out of the GovHub.

“The SEC is nothing more than a bucket of money going to promotional items for the Labor government to pretend they’re doing something,” Mr Battin told The Australian Financial Review.

“There’s no real employment and there’s no real outcomes. The SEC is gone if we win.”

Mr Battin, 49, also pledged to halt construction on the controversial Suburban Rail Loop if he becomes Premier, while also putting the $2 billion venture capital fund Breakthrough Victoria under scrutiny, and will look to cut property and payroll taxes to improve investment in Victoria.

The Labor Member for Eastern Victoria and Morwell MP, Harriet Shing, was made the Minister responsible for the Suburban Loop at the recent Cabinet reshuffle by Premier Jacinta Allan.

The new Coalition team includes former tennis professional, Sam Groth as deputy leader; James Newbury as shadow treasurer; and Bridget Vallence in finance.

Mr Battin and the Leader of the Nationals and Gippsland South MP, Danny O’Brien, said they represented a united and motivated alternative government, ready to restore fairness and opportunity for all after 10 years of Labor mismanagement.

The Liberals and Nationals new Shadow Cabinet has drawn up a list of critical issues facing the state. These include:
– Cost of Living Relief: Easing the burden on families by reducing energy costs, cutting taxes and implementing targeted support;
– Housing: Fast-tracking housing construction, making the dream of home ownership achievable again and ensuring affordable rentals;
– Infrastructure and Transport: Common sense investment in roads, public transport, and community facilities, particularly in growing areas that have been overlooked;
– Healthcare: Slashing hospital wait times, boosting ambulance services, and improving access to essential family health services;
– Safety: Focusing on crime prevention and youth engagement to create neighbourhoods where families feel safe to live, work, and play;
– Economic Growth and Responsible Spending: Reducing taxes, stopping wastage of taxpayers’ money, reducing the state’s massive debt, and cutting red tape for small and medium businesses to stimulate job creation and reignite the state’s ‘have a go’ spirit; and,
– Education: Strengthening schools and expanding vocational opportunities to support everyone to reach their full potential.

Mr Battin said the Liberals and Nationals’ mission was clear: to end wasteful spending, get the basics right, and govern for all.

“The Liberals and Nationals’ alternative government is committed to rebuilding trust, pride, and delivering results for every family, business, and community,” he said.

Mr O’Brien said for too long, Labor had neglected regional Victorians.

“Regional Victoria makes up 25 per cent of the state yet receives just 13 per cent of infrastructure funding; our roads are goat tracks, our health services are struggling, and people are battling to find somewhere to live,” he said.

“We will ensure that under a Liberals and Nationals government, regional Victoria gets its fair share.”

He added that the new Public Land Management portfolio was a “line in the sand moment” to arrest Labor’s neglect of public land.

“Victoria has some of the world’s most stunning landscapes, but too often under Labor they are neglected, locked away from public access, full of weeds and feral animals and a fire risk waiting to explode,” Mr O’Brien said.

“The Liberals and Nationals will actively manage our public land for better environmental and recreational outcomes.”

The Nationals Member for Eastern Victoria, Melina Bath, is the Coalition spokesperson for public land management.

The Minister for Energy, Lily D’Ambrosio, described Mr Battin as a “hard-right and incompetent Liberal leader” who had just revealed the first of many cuts.

“Brad Battin has used his first policy announcement to cut the SEC – public owned renewable energy made for people, not profit. Brad Battin will recycle his political hero Jeff Kennett’s plan and sell off and privatise Victorian renewable energy infrastructure to private, for-profit companies, at the expense of Victorian families’ power bills,” she said.

“When the Liberals last sold off Victoria’s essential services and profits offshore the generators alone made $23 billion in profit at the expense of Victorian families. Power bills increased 170 per cent from 1995 to 2012 alone.

“A record number of vulnerable Victorians had their power disconnected.”

Ms D’Ambrosio said Mr Battin’s Liberal Party would shut down renewable energy and send Victorians’ power bills through the roof.

“We brought back the SEC for good – enshrining state-owned renewable energy in Victoria’s Constitution. We will fight to keep publicly owned energy in the hands of Victorians to drive down power bills,” she said.

“Construction on the SEC’s first investment – the 600-megawatt Melbourne Renewable Energy Hub – is now at the halfway point, with 650 people employed delivering this critical project, and it’s on track to be connected to the grid in 2025.

“In November last year, the SEC secured its second project with a $370 million investment to build the SEC Renewable Energy Park – a massive solar farm and battery in Horsham.

“The more renewable energy we build, the more we will drive down Victorians’ power bills.”

Mr O’Brien has retained his role as the Coalition’s roads and road safety spokesperson, and is also taking on regional development and liveability.

His Gippsland Nationals colleague, Member for Gippsland East, Tim Bull (pictured) has added disability, ageing, carers volunteers to his portfolio.