24th February 2023

The State Government has put a price on our lives and livelihoods – and it’s an insult.

Today's announcement of a compensation plan for the proposed Western Renewables Link (WRL) electrical transmission network project has been met with anger and frustration from the thousands of affected community members along the proposed transmission line corridor. The offer only covers a fraction of the millions of dollars of loss landowners will face – many for generations.

In 2019, the Victorian Government announced the WRL (previously WVTNP) in a bid to deliver green energy, by connecting large scale wind and solar farms in West Victoria to homes across the state.

Community alliance Stop AusNet’s Towers spokesperson Emma Muir commented "They want to buy our silence for a fraction of the loss. This compensation is an insult.  We estimated the impact may be as great as ten times this amount, but no amount of money will protect the community from the threat of bushfire, save our farms from devastation or stop the loss of our precious environment and landscapes."

This project will deliver significant impact and risk including direct and long-term impact on agriculture production, tourism related industries and on property values that far exceed the out of touch compensation on offer.

Mrs. Muir continued, "Our community is not for sale. The compensation plan is an ill-conceived PR stunt that attempts to divert people away from the many impactful issues of the proposed project".

The compensation plan does nothing to address the many thousands who sit adjacent the proposed transmission corridor who stand to lose significant amenity and increased risk. By continuing to avoid the real impacts and risks of this project is a feeble attempt to misdirect the issues of the project.

"This offer of compensation is the equivalent of a residential property owner being offered $48 per year to relinquish the entire use of their land and house."

This ill-timed messaging has once again diverted issues way from the massive risks this project will bring to the region, the Government are well aware of the heightened bushfire risk of placing these towers adjacent and through densely populated bush, this project will leave the government with blood on its hands.

"How can the Government, that is espousing a dire need to address climate change issues introduce this dangerous infrastructure into a highly sensitive environment that will ultimately result in loss of life?"  

Community alliance Stop AusNet’s Towers spokesperson Emma Muir believes this is another example of why we need to hold the Victorian Government and the Energy Minister Lily D'Ambrosio accountable.

“Victorian’s deserve a renewable energy future that is founded on innovative, reliable and scalable technology, because we do not want to see our energy future disabled with outdated and dangerous technology like the WRL,” said Mrs. Muir.

CONTACT: Emma Muir, MCHPA, 0412 685 404 MORE INFORMATION: stopausnetstowers.com.au or facebook.com/stopausnetstowers