Farnham stands firm in radio outburst

Liberal Member for Narracan Wayne Farnham has condemned Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) in his electorate during an outburst on a Gippsland community radio station.

Mr Farnham is a monthly on-air guest of Latrobe City Mayor Sharon Gibson for her weekly two-hour program 'The Valley Talks' on Gippsland FM.

Discussing Liberal Party policy announcements, Mr Farnham declared "if I had two terms (in government)...I'd nearly fix everything - I wouldn't need more funding."

The discussion then turned to the Trafalgar East BESS project, which had received ministerial approval earlier that week.

"If we get into government I'll be looking at reversing that decision," he told Ms Gibson.

"Baw Baw Shire didn't want it, because it was on agricultural land - and the minister's ignored that," he said.

Mr Farnham said there were five BESS developments proposed in his electorate including Trafalgar East, Yarragon North, Shady Creek and two at Bunyip.

He maintained that proposed BESS projects in Baw Baw should be located in the Latrobe Valley, specifically on former Yallourn power station land.

But, Ms Gibson responded, saying her municipality was "the most impacted in Australia", because "no where else has five power stations shut" (referring to Yallourn's now-closed A, B, C, D and E sites).

The exchange heightened, with Mr Farnham using derogatory terms to describe the approvals process.

"They're shoving this sh*t through without talking to the people, and the people represented by council," he said, using coarse language to describe the state government.

When cautioned about his on-air language Mr Farnham doubled down, stating he did not care, and any complaints to the radio station could be redirected to his electorate office.

While the Coalition's position on battery storage has evolved in recent years, Mr Farnham's outburst illustrated the growing political and community division surrounding the rollout of renewable energy projects in regional Victoria.
When discussed in 2024, Mr Farnham said the Victorian Coalition broadly supported BESS usage as a means to manage energy reliability for the state. He said the party had since shifted its emphasis towards household battery storage paired with rooftop solar, rather than large-scale battery projects favoured by the then Allan Government.
Previously in 2022, then-Victorian Opposition leader Matthew Guy announced upwards of a million households across the state would be fitted with batteries by 2035 if the Coalition formed government.
Current shadow energy minister David Davis has taken a different angle, frequently using peak energy sector warnings to accuse the state government of creating an "inadequate supply of renewables and storage" by rushing fossil fuel closures. Mr Davis has advocated for a shift towards "installing urban solar farms on factory roofs, backed by batteries," while heavily criticising regional transmission frameworks for failing to undergo a "rigorously assessed and analysed" cost-benefit review.