Squeezed From Both Ends: AEMO Report Is Further Proof Family First Was Right on Energy
Family First Party
KEY FACTS:
• AEMO's annual electricity outlook warns Victoria faces a looming “double squeeze” on the electricity grid over the next decade (Herald Sun, 25 August 2026)
• The Yallourn plant in the Latrobe Valley currently provides more than 15 per cent of Victoria's power supply and is set to close in mid-2028
• About 15 gigawatts of coal and gas generation will retire nationally over the next decade
• Data centres are forecast to use seven times more electricity by 2035-36, rising from 5 terawatt hours a year to 34 terawatt hours
• Server farms will soon use 13 per cent of all the electricity in the national grid, up from just 3 per cent today, with Victoria named a key state for new centres
• Nationally, more than 40 per cent extra power will be needed over the next ten years
• AEMO warns Victoria could struggle to meet demand as early as 2030-31 if only currently committed projects go ahead; that timeline pushes out to 2033-34 only if government-backed projects also proceed
• The forecast relies on the VNI West transmission line, already delayed by more than two years, which the state Opposition has vowed to axe if it wins government in November
• Retiring plants have supplied an average of 23 terawatt hours a year over the past four years
• Victorian winter demand is catching up to summer as more homes switch to electric heating and the state government moves to phase out gas
• AEMO chief executive Daniel Westerman: “As electricity demand continues to grow and ageing generation retires, continued investment in generation, storage, transmission and consumer energy resources will be needed to maintain reliability”
• Energy and Resources Minister Jaclyn Symes: “AEMO couldn't be clearer – as coal retires and gas supply declines, we need more generation, more storage and the transmission to connect it so we can keep the lights on”
• Family First's energy policy calls for keeping all remaining coal-fired power stations operational, reopening closed stations using high-efficiency technology, approving nuclear power development and unlocking gas reserves by lifting exploration restrictions: https://www.familyfirstparty.org.au/energy_policy
• Background: Herald Sun, “Australian Energy Market Operator report warns Victoria faces a looming ‘double squeeze’ on the electricity grid”, 25 August 2026
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
25 August 2026
Squeezed From Both Ends: AEMO Report Is Further Proof Family First Was Right on Energy
Family First's Jane Foreman says AEMO's warning that Victoria faces a looming “double squeeze” on its electricity grid (Herald Sun, 25 August) is further evidence for what Family First has argued all year: keep the coal stations running, unlock Victoria's gas and let nuclear into the mix, because you cannot power data centres and electric heating with a press release about batteries.
Mrs Foreman says AEMO's annual outlook confirms Victoria is being squeezed from both ends at once. Yallourn, which supplies more than 15 per cent of the state's power, closes in mid-2028 as part of roughly 15 gigawatts of coal and gas generation retiring nationally over the next decade, while data centres are forecast to use seven times more electricity by 2035-36, jumping from 5 terawatt hours a year to 34 – 13 per cent of everything on the national grid, up from 3 per cent today. AEMO warns Victoria could struggle to meet demand as early as 2030-31, and the later date of 2033-34 depends on VNI West, a transmission line already more than two years late that the Opposition has vowed to axe if it wins in November.
Mrs Foreman says the most telling line came from Labor's own Energy and Resources Minister, Jaclyn Symes, who conceded that “as coal retires and gas supply declines, we need more generation, more storage and the transmission to connect it so we can keep the lights on”. It is the same government phasing out gas and pushing families onto electric heating, which AEMO says is precisely why Victoria's winter demand is now catching up to summer.
“AEMO has just handed Victorians the bill for Labor's energy ideology, and it comes with a double squeeze,” said Mrs Foreman. “Retire the plants that keep the lights on, force every family off gas and onto electric heating, invite the world's data centres in to soak up seven times more power, and then act surprised when the grid cannot cope in 2030. That is not bad luck. It is a plan, and it is the wrong one.”
“Family First's energy policy reads like it was written for this report: keep every remaining coal station open until there is something real to replace it, unlock Victoria's gas instead of banning it, and let nuclear be part of the mix,” said Mrs Foreman. “That is not radical, it is arithmetic. You cannot run 34 terawatt hours of data centres on a transmission line that is two years late and may never be built at all.”
Family First is calling on Premier Ben Carroll to guarantee Yallourn will not close until genuine replacement capacity is generating, to abandon the gas phase-out that is driving Victoria's winter demand higher, and to publish the state's plan for meeting demand from 2030-31 if VNI West does not proceed.
Mrs Foreman says the AEMO outlook is further proof Victoria needs Family First's genuinely independent voice holding this government to account in the Legislative Council after November, because Victorian families are the ones who pay when a grid is run on ideology instead of arithmetic.
— ENDS —
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Family First exists to restore Australia by restoring the primacy of the family in public policy. This will be achieved through a grass roots political party which raises courageous voices in our nation’s parliaments. More details are available on our website: https://www.familyfirstparty.org.au/
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Jane Foreman - Family First Legislative Council Candidate
