AusNet workers cut padlocks off Myrniong farm gate, enter without permission

AusNet workers have been captured on camera cutting padlocks to enter a farm in Victoria’s northwest without permission, as the Allan government strengthens its plan to roll out transmission lines across the state.

AusNet workers donning body-worn cameras have broken into a farmer’s property in western Victoria as the energy company prepares to roll out controversial transmission lines across private farmland.

Shocking footage has captured the moments after Ausnet workers cut padlocks off a farm gate to gain access to a private property in Myrniong, 15km west of Bacchus Marsh.

It comes as the Allan government strengthens its plan to roll out hundreds of kilometres of new transmission lines across regional Victoria, despite huge community backlash.

In the footage, captured by neighbour Nathan Lidgett, two Ausnet workers confirm they were not granted permission by the owner.

“You haven’t had the landowners’ permission?” he asks one employee.

“Correct,” the Ausnet worker responds.

Mr Lidgett then asks the man to confirm whether they had forced entry to the property.

“We cut the padlock off, yes,” he said.

An AusNet worker at a the property in Myrniong. Picture: Supplied

AusNet workers at a property in Myrniong. Picture: Supplied

The worker and another employee – both of whom are wearing body cameras – then explain that under legislation they are legally allowed to trespass on the property.

The farmland is in the path of the Western Renewables Link, a proposed new 190km overhead high-voltage electricity transmission line running from Bulgana in western Victoria to Sydenham in Melbourne’s northwest.

Under land access legislation by the Essential Services Commission, Ausnet has the statutory right to access private land – laws that have sparked fury among farmers.

“Where a transmission company and a landowner (or occupier) cannot enter into a voluntary access agreement, a transmission company may exercise statutory powers to access private land to plan, design and construct new transmission projects,” a fact sheet for landowners states.

“A transmission company can also use its statutory powers to undertake works on existing transmission assets.”

An AusNet spokesperson told the Herald Sun said while their preference was to work with landholders, if no agreement could be reached Ausnet had the right to access private property.

“We understand that having us access private property to undertake field surveys can be

inconvenient and unsettling for landholders, and some may not wish to enter into a land access agreement with us, however we continue to actively try to engage with landholders to discuss and address concerns that may come with this,” she said.

“We may use tools to provide safe entry, where this occurs, we have repair kits to make sure the property is safely secured upon exit.

“The landowner always retains access to their property and their existing padlocks at all times.”

The incident comes just one day after the Herald Sun’s annual Bush Summit which attracted politicians, industry leaders and farmers to Bendigo to discuss key issues facing the country, including the highly controversial rollout of transmission lines.

And four days after a fiery farmers rally against the lines at the same venue on Friday in which protesters heckled and booed Premier Jacinta Allan.

Protesters held up signs reading “The Allan ideology is destroying Victoria”, “No lines, no turbines” and “Labor stop the spend”, while others labelled the Premier “Joan Kirner 2.0”.