PREMIER Jacinta Allan has been urged to meet farmers face to face following a recent protest in her electorate over VNI West.
More than 500 people rallied outside All Seasons Hotel in Bendigo where Ms Allan was speaking at a Rural Press Club lunch on August 23.
Nationals Member for Northern Victoria Gaelle Broad attended the rally and said it “reflected a deep level of community anger over the government’s lack of consultation on high-voltage transmission lines planned for Victoria and a range of other issues”.
VNI West is a proposed new high-capacity 500kV double-circuit overhead transmission line to carry clean, low-cost renewable power from renewable energy zones (REZs) in NSW and Victoria, in particular the wind and solar-rich regions of the Murray River REZ and the Western Victorian REZ.
The proposal charts a broad corridor that connects the line to Western Renewables Link (WRL) at a new terminal station at Bulgana and crossing the Murray River north of Kerang.
Ms Broad last week told Parliament that speakers at the rally were especially upset and angry about the government’s approach to implementing renewables.
“They believe rural and regional Victorians are being treated with contempt and have been left feeling like second-class citizens,” she said.
Ms Broad said she attended an event at Parliament House last week where Ms Allan said “when you listen to people and understand people, you get better outcomes”.
“Well, the same action is what I ask the Premier to take: to extend the same courtesy and meet farmers, landholders and key stakeholders face to face, to listen and discuss the direct impact of renewables in northern Victoria.
“Friday’s rally aimed to tell the Premier that rural and regional Victorians matter, and they certainly sent that message loud and clear.”
Ms Allan has refused to reverse a March decision to strip famers of their right to appeal.
Producers impacted by renewable energy projects can no longer turn to VCAT in an effort to fast-track solar, wind turbines, batteries and transmission lines.
Member for Murray Plains Peter Walsh asked Ms Allan in question time last week if she would restore farmers’ rights of appeal to VCAT about the planning decisions that affect them.
Ms Allen said: “The government will not be changing its position on that matter.
“In recognising that for landowners the delivery of transmission does have an impact on their property, the Minister for Energy has already announced payments of $8000 per kilometre every year for 25 years to those landowners.”
Mr Walsh said the Premier constantly said she regularly engaged and listened, yet “those affected could not be protesting any louder”.
Ms Allen said: “I speak to members of regional communities on a regular basis, and that does include speaking with farmers and primary producers.”
Mr Walsh said regional Victorians had lost their right to say no to these projects as the government “steamroll” renewable projects across the landscape.
