As I wrote recently, wealthy Greens and Teal voters in the expensive suburbs of Sydney and Melbourne are quite happy for other people to pay to “save the planet”. Who cares if country people have to watch their environment be buried beneath, and I quote a Climate Cultist scientist, “Forests of windfarms carpeting hills and cliffs from sea to sky… [and] endless arrays of solar panels disappearing like a mirage into the desert”. After all, they can’t see the “forests of windfarms” from Kooyong or Manly.
Nor do they have to endure thousands of kilometres of new transmission lines stalking across their million-dollar views.
But farmers do. And they’re not happy about it.
Farmers in tractors are circling Victoria’s parliament to protest against a plan to build transmission lines across their land.
The connected Western Renewables Link and Victoria to New South Wales Interconnector (VNI) West projects would run through western Victoria from Melbourne to NSW.
This is just the beginning of the massive new transmission infrastructure — hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars worth of it — needed to cope with the peculiar demands of unreliable, intermittent “renewables”. Those “forests of windfarms” and “endless arrays of solar panels” will quickly collapse existing transmission infrastructure.
The proponent, the Australian Energy Market Operator, says the transmission lines are necessary to help transmit electricity between states as more renewables come online.
But farmers say they will limit their ability to farm, devalue their land and create firefighting risks.
They have the backing of the Victoria Energy Policy Centre’s Professor Bruce Mountain and retired transmission expert Simon Bartlett, whose report No Longer in Transmission puts forward an alternative plan.
“I think if VNI West goes ahead it will be a giant public policy failure,” Professor Mountain told the ABC earlier this month.
Gee, another “giant public policy failure”? Whodathunkit.
Perhaps taking in the lessons of their Dutch counterparts, farmers are firing up the tractors.
This morning farmers drove more than 20 trucks carrying dozens of tractors via the Western Highway to an unloading yard in West Melbourne.
The tractors were unloaded there and driven through the city to Parliament House.
Jason Barratt, whose farm could fall in the pathway of VNI West, helped organise the rally.
“These lines need to be stopped and the best part about it is there is an alternative,” he said.
“Professors Mountain and Bartlett have come out with a plan B, which utilises existing easements.
“Ultimately it’s the government’s decision to stop this, so we need to take it right to the front doors of Parliament House and say, ‘You’re the guys who can stop this, so look at it properly.'”
Ha. A ha ha ha. This is Victoria we’re talking about.
Mr Barratt said Victorian Energy Minister Lily D’Ambrosio and Premier Daniel Andrews, who declined invitations to meet with farmers, were feeling some pressure […]
Earlier this year Ms D’Ambrosio issued ministerial orders allowing the project to be fast-tracked.
ABC Australia
The farmers should be grateful at least that Dictator Dan didn’t turn the rubber bullets and pepper spray on them.
