We’ve welcomed the Victorian Coalition’s commitment to cancel the VNI West transmission project if elected in November, saying the decision is a major win for farming families and regional communities that have endured years of uncertainty, division and coercion.
VFF President Ryan Milgate said the decision to move from a ‘pause and review’ position to outright cancellation would bring much-needed hope to weary farmers and local communities after a multi-year battle to get the project scrapped.
“VNI West has long been a failed project that is tearing apart generational farming families and would rip up some of the best farmland in the country.”
“From the very beginning this project had been fundamentally flawed on so many levels, this commitment from the Coalition is a huge step towards getting it thrown on the scrapheap forever.”
“This pledge from the Coalition confirms what farmers and communities have been saying all along and there’s still time for the Carroll Government to stand up for regional communities and do the same.”
“VNI West has been an over-budget, unmitigated disaster that’s causing enormous stress and division across our regional communities.”
“The estimated cost has more than doubled from the original $3.6 billion estimate to at least $7.6 billion, with costs potentially reaching $11.4 billion. That is an extraordinary blowout for a project that would also have imposed an enormous cost on Victoria’s farming communities,” Mr Milgate said.
Mr Milgate said the financial blowout was only part of the story, with VNI West also threatening some of Victoria’s most productive agricultural land.
“You cannot put a dollar figure on the loss of irreplaceable, highly productive farming land or the damage caused when you carve a massive transmission project through established farming operations.”
“These are working farms, family businesses and communities that have been built over generations. They should never have been treated as collateral damage in energy planning.”
“Farmers deserve an energy system that delivers reliability without destroying the agricultural land and communities that underpin our food and fibre production,” Mr Milgate said.
Mr Milgate added the Western Renewables Link (WRL) must now face the same fate, with the VFF continuing to call for the project to also be scrapped.
“WRL has the same fundamental problems. It threatens highly productive farming land, disrupts farming families and communities and creates years of uncertainty for the people who have to live with these projects.”
“There is no good reason to recognise that VNI West has failed, while allowing WRL to continue down the same path.”
“The VFF will continue to call for WRL to be scrapped. Farmers deserve a clean slate and an energy plan that protects food production, respects regional communities and makes better use of existing infrastructure,” Mr Milgate said.