Landowners in regional Victoria feel they have not been adequately consulted or informed about plans to construct massive electricity transmission lines on their land and around their communities.
The state government announced today that it will pay landholders who host the electricity transmission infrastructure $8,000 per kilometre per year for 25 years.
But Larry Mclean, a farmer who owns land at Bulgana, north of Ararat, told ABC Ballarat that the planning process had been "shambolic" and that the new payments would not amount to much for him because the powerlines only extended a few hundred metres across his property.
"They put a wind farm here and a wind farm here and then they think about where they're going to join them up to," he said.
"It doesn't seem to be very well planned.
"The companies are all owned by different people and there seems to be not much consultation with anybody that's involved in the area."
Safety concerns
The government's scheme is part of an initiative to construct hundreds of kilometres of large scale, high capacity powerlines to send renewable energy generated in regional areas – predominantly in the state's west and north-west – into the grid and to the areas where demand is highest.
Mr Mclean's property is close to the newly confirmed site of a terminal station, which will be more powerful than was initially planned.
He said he was worried about the prospect of a large station so nearby.
"We've got batteries there now that are fire prone, so the more gear they get there the more chance there is of accidents and fire in the future," he said.
"The roads are only little rural gravel roads — they're not very suitable for heavy traffic when they're doing the construction, and they also want to smash up all the trees in the area, so they get rid of a lot of vegetation … when they're doing the construction stage."
'Equitable legacy'
The state government's first $8,000 payments will go to landholders who host transmission lines along the Victoria to New South Wales Interconnector West and Western Renewables Link transmission corridors.
Farmers have been campaigning against the Western Renewables Link for years, which proposes 500-kilovolt high-voltage transmission lines up to 85 metres high.
Landowners impacted by the Marinus Link project between Victoria and Tasmania and transmission links connecting the state's Renewable Energy Zones and future offshore wind projects will also be eligible.
In a statement, Victorian Minister for Energy and Resources Lily D'Ambrosio said the payments acknowledged the important role landholders played in hosting energy infrastructure.
"We want to get the process for planning and approving new infrastructure right so we can make sure the renewables revolution is a shared, equitable legacy for all Victorians," she said.
Fifth-generation potato farmer Katherine Myers, who lives in Victoria's Central Highlands, says the payment is a "blunt instrument" to compensate regional landowners for something they have no choice over.
"It's [like] offering farmers the same price for a kilo of wheat as a kilo of asparagus," she told the Country Hour.
"It's really not considering any of the complexity or what's gone into producing that food."
Anger over use of power
On Monday, it was revealed via the government's gazette that the government had introduced changes that exercised new ministerial powers.
Ms Myers believes the change will reduce landholders' chances of seeking legal redress.
She said it came into effect the same week as a scheduled court hearing challenging the Western Renewables Link.
"On Wednesday, we should have been in court at the directions hearing, getting a date set to properly challenge what we believe is an unlawful project," Ms Myers said.
"On Monday morning, Minister D'Ambrosio brought out this government announcement and a directive saying that she's taken over the project as a Victorian government project, and it's a new project.
"So we can't appeal anything that's happened in the past."
In response, Ms D'Ambrosio said how people chose to interpret the move was "a matter for them".
"What we've done this week … is to ensure that we move quickly on ensuring that transmission projects are done," she said.
"That, of course, includes all of the necessary consultations that needs to happen with communities so that they feel that they are heard and listened to."
Ms D'Ambrosio said there were other possible avenues for compensation.
"Landholders will continue to have access to negotiated outcomes or, indeed, where negotiations can't be concluded or achieved … they can seek redress under the Land Acquisition Act," she said.
"There are several opportunities for landholders to be able to negotiate."
'That just smells'
Rosemary Irving, a landholder in Woodside, told ABC Gippsland the decision to offer payments was "cynical."
"If the government has that sort of money to throw around, why aren't they assisting the community by helping to put the powerlines underground?" she said.
"I just think the whole thing is disgraceful.
"There are already proposals for underground cables going through this same area and it's a private company.
"If it's able to put its cables underground and a private company has to make a profit, why can't everybody else do the same?
"It should be regarded as best practice."
Ms Irving said landholders were effectively "powerless".
"The community doesn't want it," she said.
"The government should be governing for the community, and they're not listening."
She questioned why the transmission lines could not be built in the same manner as the MarinusLink transmission line.
It is set to operate underwater and underground to transmit electricity between Victoria and Tasmania.
"In Britain they're taking down a lot of their overhead power lines and putting them underground," Ms Irving said.
"To offer compensation for an overhead line — that just smells."
