EUAA Submission: VNI West Consultation Paper – Options Assessment
Emily Wood | April 5, 2023
‘…This submission is short because we believe that the implementation of the NEVA order by the Victorian Government leaves us with virtually no ability to influence the PACR cost benefit analysis. While the NEVA order may speed up the process it does not fill us with confidence that the project will deliver net benefits for consumers.
We therefore focus on what we view as a lack of due process, including a stakeholder engagement process sincethe PADR that has fallen well short of our experience of best practice engagement.
VNI WEST ENGAGEMENT
The EUAA and others have had a torrid experience engaging on VNI West to-date. As a summary of our experience:
• It took some time to get AEMO’s commitment to undertake the required post PADR engagement which eventually occurred on 1st December, 2022.
• There was a tortuous negotiation with AEMO over some weeks to get an agreed agenda; eventually AEMO sent a minimalist agenda a few days before the meeting that gave participants no confidence that the issues they raised in the PADR submissions would be addressed. We had sought a day-long session to cover these issues, AEMO agreed to a 5-hour session that we advised would not be enough time; that proved to be the case.
• It then took considerable time and effort to prepare Minutes and schedule a follow-up meeting to discuss the outstanding issues not covered in the first meeting; this was held on 6th February. Again, we advised AEMO that their proposed 1.5 hours would be insufficient time to address outstanding issues; again, that proved to be the case.
• A third and final meeting on 28th February – scheduled for 1 hour but which went for 1.5 hours – was to address outstanding issues particularly around the Gippsland REZ, and again it proved to be insufficient time to discuss the issues.
• All through this process over a number of months, various stakeholders were asking AEMO questions through email and during the course of the three meetings. They were looking forward to getting written answers to assist in preparing their submissions on the Consultation Report and finally received 25 pages of Q&A yesterday (4 April), plus webinar recordings.
• In the last week we had heard that farming communities had been given an extension until 19 April to make their submissions, but that extension was not available to the EUAA or other PADR submitters who attended the engagement meetings referred to above and asked a majority of the questions that were responded to yesterday.
The quality of engagement prior to the NEVA order was well below best practice. Moving forward, in our view the NEVA order effectively negates any chance of effective engagement where stakeholders consider their views are being listened to and changes made….’
Please download attachment to read full submission.