Agriculture
6 March, 2024
TCV pulls pin on talks at last minute
The proponents of the VNI West transmission line have belled the cat that they never intended to listen to farmers in the firing line, Member for Mallee Dr Anne Webster said this morning, after an eleventh hour withdrawal from talks she had...
The proponents of the VNI West transmission line have belled the cat that they never intended to listen to farmers in the firing line, Member for Mallee Dr Anne Webster said this morning, after an eleventh hour withdrawal from talks she had organised in Tragowel and St Arnaud today.
“I am disgusted that this government-run body can treat the community with such contempt,” Dr Webster said, “I have worked very hard to bring community members directly affected by the proposed transmission corridor into one room at Tragowel at 11am and St Arnaud at 2:15pm. Yet, through the Commissioner and not even direct to me, I learn at 10:48pm last night the proponent Transmission Company Victoria (TCV) and AEMOwill not be turning up.”
“I will be turning up, and I will also be turning up the volume and heat to maximum on this travesty. Farmers and community members have set aside time in their day to get to these meetings to share personal, heartfelt stories and TCV do not even have the guts to tell me directly they now won’t be attending.
“TCV’s contempt has been on display from the very start and this has the Energy Minister Chris Bowen’s fingerprints all over it. After the embarrassing scaling back of offshore wind zones yesterday, clearly the Albanese and Allan Labor Government are in panic mode. They think they can shaft regional communities to railroad VNI West through, I tell you this morning, they can think again.
“I have heard many complaints about TCV’s divide-and-conquer tactics and plainly they did not want to hear today from united community members on the impacts this transmission line will have upon their homes, their farms, firefighting capacity and more. I will now be galvanising these landholders about their rights and encouraging them to build a protest movement. Labor cannot railroad regional Australia in their reckless rush to renewables to appease inner city elites.”
In a statement provided late Thursday afternoon, TCV said:
Last week AEMO and TCV accepted an invitation to join two round table meetings with landholders in Tragowel and St Arnaud on 7 March 2024. The proposed meetings were initiated by the federal member for Mallee, and were to provide an opportunity for landholders to discuss concerns with the VNI-West transmission project, focusing on TCV's community and landholder engagement. The two meetings were to be hosted by the federal member, with up to 20 invitees at each meeting, so that everyone had an opportunity to speak and about their concerns and experiences. Executives from TCV and AEMO, along with the Australian Energy Infrastructure Commissioner were scheduled to attend – with the meetings providing an opportunity to directly discuss landholder concerns in a round table format and agree on actions to resolve matters. On Tuesday, 5 March 2024, the federal member for Mallee issued a media release, advertising the times and locations of the meetings, describing the proposed meetings as ‘Town Hall Meetings’, instead of the agreed round table format. The Australian Energy Infrastructure Commissioner suggested that a townhall format would not be effective for the agreed agenda and discussion and would likely be unproductive for the participants. In consultation with the Commissioner, AEMO and TCV have decided to postpone the two proposed meetings. TCV will make arrangements to meet landholders and local community members in coming weeks, consistent with our ongoing community consultation program.