Vol. No. Vol. 2818No. 2327
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Wednesday,December January 13, 2016 Wednesday, 3, 2025
HARD NO: Head of the Wallalloo and Gre Gre District Alliance Ben Duxson was supported by about 150 people to stop a VicGrid representative from accessing his land at Wallaloo East. Picture: PAUL CARRACHER
‘There’s a lot at stake’ P
BY LAUREN HENRY
rotesters from as far away as Melbourne and Castlemaine joined landowners at Wallaloo East yesterday against the Victoria New South Wales Interconnector, VNI, West project.
About 150 people gathered at the property where Ben Duxson, head of the Wallalloo and Gre Gre District Alliance, farms as a VicGrid staff member asked to gain access to the farm to conduct ecological surveys. ‘Access denied’ was the catch-cry used by the crowd – many landowners in the region – as Mr Duxson told the surveyor that he did not permit him to come onto the land. It was the latest, and largest, of a series of protests in the past fortnight where opposing landowners along the proposed route for the high-volt-
age transmission infrastructure have denied VicGrid staff access to their farms. VNI West, which will connect energy systems in Victoria and New South Wales, starting at Bulgana, east of Stawell, has been met with significant criticism by affected landowners where the transmission line is proposed to be built. An Environmental Effects Statement for the project is currently underway, with technical studies on ecology, agriculture, traffic and transport, landscape and visual amenity, social factors, and cultural heritage. Landowners called for VicGrid chief executive Alistair Parker, Victorian Energy Minister Lily D’Ambrosio, Premier Jacinta Allan, and Federal Energy Minister Chris Bowen to meet with them to hear their concerns and discuss the project.
Mr Duxson said it was the third visit to his farm, south of Marnoo, by a VNI West worker. “We’ve been doing this for two weeks and we’ve made sure that it’s a hard no – access denied,” Mr Duxson said. “We’ll keep having that stance just because of the way they’re going about it, but also the policy they’re putting in. “We need a policy that’s going to be good for the next 100-200 years. “We really question their energy policy at the moment, and how affordable it can be to Australian consumers and Australian businesses as well. “That’s the principle of what our fight is about. It’s not so much ‘it will be a horrible thing to have it, land values will decrease and it will be terrible to farm around it’, but it’s all on the principle that this isn’t good for
Australia.” Mr Duxson said the VNI West cost blowout from a $3.8-billion to a $7.6-million project, with some estimations it could balloon out to $11.4-billion, was also a key issue. “We need to educate the city people that this is going to have a big impost on their lives – not only does it put transmission through here, but it puts agricultural products and food and fibre at risk, sustainability gets weakened and affordability goes up as well,” he said. “There’s a lot at stake here, and it’s about making sure people are educated about it and make their own decisions. “I don’t know of anyone who’s power prices are actually going down at the moment, so there’s a real issue going forward that we can’t afford this.” Teghan Pearse, who farms at Donald and Quambatook, both of which will
be affected by the VNI West project, travelled to the protest yesterday. Both her and her husband are sixthgeneration farmers who are inextricably linked to their farmland, and they would not accept any compensation offered. Mrs Pearse said her major concern was about how the project would affect the environment. “This might be the best plan there is now, but it’s still a terrible plan for our nature,” she said. “The trees that we’re going to lose and the soil that is going to be replaced with concrete in our paddocks – it just is heartbreaking. “I feel like technology is moving so quickly.” Continued page 3
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