It is a telling coincidence that Premier Ted Baillieu's new anti-wind farm laws have been sharing the headlines with Australia's manufacturing malaise.

The Clean Energy Council estimates the laws will drive $3.6 billion of investment away from Victoria. Pacific Hydro has announced it will cease building wind farms in Victoria after it completes projects with existing planning approval, and community-owned wind projects near Castlemaine and Woodend are now in doubt.

'Liberal leaders [must] come clean on their plans for renewable energy.' Credit:Jessica Shapiro

The winner of the Premier's own Sustainability Award, the Hepburn Community Wind Farm near Daylesford, almost certainly would not have been built under these laws.

Despite protests from Planning Minister Matthew Guy, the prospect of thousands of new jobs for Victoria in a burgeoning "green-collar" industry is now very much off the table. And all this without the government identifying what problem the laws are trying to solve.