Wednesday, 13 May 2026

 Bev McARTHUR (Western Victoria) (18:31): (2513) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Energy and Resources, and the action I seek is that she reject AusNet’s application for compulsory acquisition powers for the Western Renewables Link and pause all compulsory access and acquisition activity on both the Western Renewables Link and VNI West until the relevant environmental assessments are complete and genuine alternatives have been assessed. This is no longer theoretical. AusNet has applied to the government for powers to compulsorily acquire easements across private farmland for the Western Renewables Link. This has been made possible by Labor’s changes allowing compulsory acquisition to run in parallel with the environment effects statement before that process has concluded and before the Minister for Planning has made an assessment. That is an extraordinary position. The government is allowing the machinery of acquisition to begin before the project has cleared the process meant to determine whether, where and how it should proceed. As Victorian Farmers Federation (VFF) acting president Peter Starr has argued, ‘Landholders cannot treat negotiations as voluntary when the other side is simultaneously seeking the legal power to take the easement away.’ Hepburn shire mayor Tony Clark has also warned that granting these powers before the EES outcome would disrespect landholders and call the process into question.

On VNI West the situation is just as troubling. VicGrid authorised officers have warned that infringement notices may be issued not only to landholders who decline access but to neighbours and fellow farmers who attend a property in peaceful support. The idea that a farmer could face fines for standing peacefully at a neighbour’s gate is a disgrace. It goes against the ethos of mateship and regional communities, where neighbour looks after and looks out for neighbour – it is deeply un-Australian. This is what happens when a government botches its planning, fails to persuade and turns to coercion. Labor has turned consultation into notification and negotiation into compulsion. Its use of the term ‘social licence’ is a sick joke. The Liberals and Nationals have a clear alternative: we will pause VNI West and Western Renewables Link and conduct a full review of the Victorian transmission plan, including a cost-benefit analysis and alternatives such as urban solar parks generating power on commercial and industrial rooftops.