High voltage cables from former PM’s pet project Snowy 2.0 will rip through mother-in-law’s land

The high voltage power line from former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s Snowy 2.0 hydro electric plant is about to rip through his mother-in-law’s farm, and she’s furious.

The high-voltage power line from former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull’s Snowy 2.0 hydro-electric plant is about to rip through his mother-in-law’s farm – and she’s furious.

Christine Hughes is one of 660 landowners who have written to NSW Treasurer Matt Kean to protest the threatened compulsory acquisition of their land by privatised, and now foreign-owned, poles and wires company Transgrid.

Ms Hughes said the 85m-tall pylons that will carry the 500 kilowatt HumeLink power line was an “unintended consequence” of her son-in-law’s vision for Snowy 2.0.

“All prime ministers leave the following government with a very expensive project which the government is compelled to do – Malcolm’s was the NBN,” she said.

Ms Hughes said: “The imposition of the huge 85m towers marching across 350km or more of countryside will be an eyesore for nearly a century.”

(From left) Russell Erwin, Garry Wakim, Virginia McCallum and her grandson Luca Morning, 7, and Christine Hughes oppose Transgrid's plan for compulsory acquisition of their land in Bannister. Picture: Jonathan Ng

She has joined forces with other landowners including the Bannaby Resident’s Action Group, which is protesting a proposed dog leg in the power cable route.

Spokesman Peter Rose said: “The people next door to me have koalas in old grey forest and Transgrid is going through it with a bulldozer.”

Then-Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull during a visit to Snowy Hydro in Cooma in 2017. Picture: Alex Ellinghausen/Fairfax/POOL

He said heavy-handed threats to compulsorily purchase land had alienated owners. Federal Energy Minister Angus Taylor said he had raised community concerns with Transgrid and stressed the need for them to be properly addressed.

Landholder and retired economist Andrea Strong said: “It’s ironic that a project driven by the need to do something about climate change … is causing so much environmental destruction.”

She has crunched the numbers and found the cost of the HumeLink had blown out from $1.3bn to $3.3bn and should be put underground to reduce environmental impacts, including the risk of bushfires. The cost of building the network will ultimately be passed on by Transgrid to NSW electricity consumers.

A Transgrid spokeswoman said HumeLink was awaiting approval. “We appreciate most landowners do not want a new transmission line on their property,” she said.

She said the company had implemented 20 Fair Trading recommendations to improve community engagement.