The residents are asking VicGrid to explain why Dookie was included in a proposed zone without local assessment.
Member for Northern Victoria Wendy Lovell last week tabled a petition in parliament with an extra 1300 signatures, on top of 10,400 presented for the same petition in July.
She told parliament Dookie was not inside the original draft plan revealed in 2025 and the community was shocked to discover the region was inside the latest draft.
The Dookie community is demanding answers from VicGrid after its latest correspondence confirmed key local information was not considered before productive farmland surrounding Dookie was included in the proposed Central North Renewable Energy Zone.
The Protect Dookie and Goulburn Valley group said it had been told by VicGrid that locality-specific agricultural information was not used in the proposed zone and the University of Melbourne’s Dookie campus was not considered, local biodiversity information was not captured in the statewide datasets and available cultural heritage information was incomplete.
Dookie was also excluded from the earlier consultation process that resulted in boundary changes elsewhere.
“VicGrid has now told us what it did not know about Dookie when the boundary was drawn,” Protect Dookie and Goulburn Valley spokesperson Jodie Fleming said.
“What it still has not told us is who made the decision, when it was made and what evidence justified it.
“You cannot include one of Victoria’s most productive agricultural regions in a Renewable Energy Zone without properly investigating its farmland, flood risks, environmental values, cultural heritage and local communities.”
The group is also demanding that VicGrid identify the “well-progressed” renewable energy projects and high levels of industry interest it says influenced the eastern boundary.
“If proposed projects helped determine the boundary, the community has a right to know what those projects were, where they were located and how much influence they had,” Mrs Fleming said.
The group has asked VicGrid to release Dookie’s results under its agricultural modelling, including its scores, classification, weighting, mapping and comparison with alternative locations.
“If the modelling found Dookie suitable, VicGrid should release the evidence. If Dookie was never specifically assessed, it must say so clearly,” Mrs Fleming said.
Speaking to the petition, Ms Lovell said the huge number of signatures was a testament to the energy and dedication of Dookie residents who had driven the campaign.
She said the new draft zone was a target painted on their backs telling developers to concentrate their efforts in this region.
“Rural landowners around Victoria will tell you that this often ends up in harassment, with energy developers chasing farmers and pressuring them until they sell up,” she said.
“A Greater Shepparton City Council community survey found that about 75 per cent of people believed the boundary selection process was flawed and they opposed the current REZ proposal.”
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