General News
7 March, 2026
United against legislation
Several farmers have described recent changes to state legislation granting transmission and renewable energy companies greater access to private land in Victoria as a clear betrayal of rural communities.
The Victorian Government passed amendments to the Electricity Industry Act on March 5, enabling transmission companies to acquire property for renewable energy and transmission projects before an Environmental Effects Statement is completed, rather than after.
The VNI-West high-voltage transmission line is planned to cross prime agricultural land in Victoria between Dinawan in NSW and Bulgana/Kerang, and has been opposed by numerous landholders along its route.
The amendment, in their view, has further reduced what some farmers say are their rights as landowners, and comes just days after Mallee MP Anne Webster's Bill for greater land rights was presented in parliament.
The threat of hefty fines has not deterred farmers from refusing entry to their properties by transmission line companies in 2025, and they say they are still united in their resolve to protect their land and livelihoods, as well as the food and fibre industry.
“The Allan Government isn't just ignoring the regions; they are actively orchestrating the destruction of rural Victoria,” Andrew Weidemann, Across Victoria Alliance chair, said.
“The Allan Government seems hell-bent on destroying the fabric of our Australian society, through destroying our farms, our farm businesses and regional communities, and our hard
working families.”
He described the government's action as a blatant betrayal of rural Victoria, using its numbers to ram through cowardly legislative amendments which he said legalised state-sanctioned trespass, handing multi-national energy companies the keys to bulldoze generational family farms.
“Their so-called 'progress' delivers nothing but devastation. It destroys prime food production land, it destroys family businesses, and it guts Australia’s food security,” he said.
"They are handing foreign energy cartels a blank cheque to march onto our land and compulsorily acquire our livelihoods.
"The new amendments strip away fundamental property protections, weaponising the law against the very people who feed the state.
“Worse still, if a farmer dares to stand at their own gate to defend their property and bio security from contaminated corporate vehicles, Jacinta Allan’s government will now hit them with massive, crippling fines. It is absolute thuggery.”
Mr Weidermann said he believes, "Anyone with an asset should be concerned. This is not just about farmers."
Ben Duxson, Marnoo sheep farmer and Farmers Fightback chair, condemned the government's total abandonment of democratic principles but said he was not surprised.
Mr Duxson is among the many farmers who have blocked entry to their properties by VNI-West Vic Grid transmission line workers in 2025.
“Show me another government in the free world that holds a gun to the head of its own food
producers, ordering them to step aside while international corporations dig up and destroy
their home,” he said.
"No legitimate Government would ever do this to its farmers.
“It is an unprecedented act of political desperation.
“Jacinta Allan and her Ministers have entirely forgotten who they were elected to serve, acting instead as the enforcement arm for billionaire energy developers.
“They have stripped away fundamental property rights with the stroke of a pen.”
Despite the legislative assault, the farming community said they remain unbroken.
“This country was built on a 'fair go' and democratic respect,” Mr Duxson said.
"The Allan Government has just taken a bulldozer to both.
“But if they think a piece of paper will make Victorian farmers quietly surrender our homes, they are dead wrong.
"We are drawing the line, we are standing strong, and we thank the thousands of Australians who are backing us.
“We will fight this tyrannical overreach every step of the way.”
Lowan MP Emma Kealy has condemned the government's action, saying she believes the new legislation violates farmers' rights.
"These changes apply broadly to all power lines, including both transmission and distribution lines, and grant authorities the power to enforce access, including the use of force if necessary," she said.
Victorian Farmers Federation president Brett Hosking said the Federation was gutted that parliament had backed laws allowing farmers' land to be taken for transmission lines before the environmental assessment was even finished.
"This will pour fuel onto the anxiety and uncertainty already gripping communities at the heart of the energy transition,” he said.
"Families now face the shadow of compulsory acquisition hanging over them while they are still trying to understand what a project means for their homes and livelihoods, as well as provide comprehensive information to the EES process."
"It tells us that those in charge don’t genuinely understand the sentiment on the ground.
“It sends a clear and devastating message to regional Victoria that getting towers in the ground matters more than delivering a robust Environmental Effects Statement and treating people with dignity."
Mr Hosking said he thanked the members of Parliament who questioned and opposed this change on behalf of regional communities.
Wimmera Mallee Environmental and Agricultural Protection Association president Ross Johns said the government's latest move was disgraceful.
"This is a diametric action to decent people,” he said.
"This is not the actions of a democratic government but a totalitarian one.”
Mr Johns said this did not follow proper process and that the government was making the rules up on the fly.
"Even the people of Melbourne who are not immediately impacted by this change to legislation would see that," he said.
A Victorian Government spokesperson said in defence of the legislative changes that only Labor would build the energy infrastructure needed to “keep the lights on and lower bills”.
"The faster we can build new transmission lines, the faster we can connect renewable energy to the grid and the cheaper our energy prices will be,” the spokesperson said.
"Jess Wilson's Liberals want to block laws that would help lower power bills for Victorian families.”
The spokesperson said that the legislation would align transmission infrastructure laws with major transport projects and with other states like NSW, and that the changes would not affect the Environmental Effects Statement process.
Any requirements, conditions, or environmental management measures determined through the Environmental Effects Statement process would have to be met before major works could begin.