Farmers and regional community members stage mass protest outside premier’s lunch

Hundreds of angry farmers and regional community members have staged a mass protest outside an event attended by state’s premier.

Hundreds of angry farmers and community members from regional Victoria have staged a mass protest while Premier Jacinta Allen was metres away addressing the Rural Press Club.

The farmers and regional Victorians were protesting the government’s plan to “run transmission lines and renewable energy projects on private farmland,” the Herald Sun reported.

The Victorian government has proposed a multi-billion dollar transmission network called the Western Renewables Link that will stretch overhead high-voltage electricity transmission lines 190km from Victoria’s west to Melbourne’s northwest.

The government also wants to connect the transmission lines from Victoria to NSW Interconnector West (VNI West) that would see a 500 kV double circuit transmission line connect high-voltage electricity grids in NSW and Victoria.

Hundreds of farmers and regional community members in Victoria staged a mass protest in Bendigo just metres from where Premier Jacinta Allan was addressing a Rural Press Club event. Picture: NewsWire/ David Geraghty

Inside the Rural Press Club event, Ms Allan told guests the transmission lines were needed to protect regional and rural communities from climate change.

“Whether it’s water, whether it’s the quality of the soil … we are the most exposed to this issue in regional Victoria and part of the answer to that is delivering more renewable energy,” she said.

“We must deliver new transmission networks.”

Outside the event, hundreds of raging protesters were holding signs that read, “Stop industrialising country Victoria,” and “No wind turbines, no solar farms, no overhead transmission lines,” and “Stop toxic mining on our stolen farms.”

A farmer who addressed the crowd, said they stopped a wind farm from being developed north of Ballarat after they had fought hard for seven years.

Hundreds of protesters surround Premier Jacinta Allan's car as she leaves a Rural Press Club event in Bendigo. Picture: NewsWire/ David Geraghty

“There will only be a couple of them remembered … Andrews will be remembered, and Jacinta Allen will be remembered because she is Joan Kirner 2.0,” he said.

“If you are old enough you will remember what Joan Kirner did to this state, it was a disgrace.

“Get rid of them, toss them out.”

Regional Victorian residents Loretta and Paul Greco told the Herald Sun they were being treated as second class citizens.

Farmers and community members from across regional Victoria were protesting against the government’s plan to run transmission lines and renewable energy projects on private farmland. Picture: NewsWire/ David Geraghty

“Country people are carrying the burden for all of this renewable stuff, I don’t see any wind turbines going through Melbourne,” Mr Greco said.

“City people get all the fancy roads and the massive infrastructure projects.”

Victorian cattle and grain farmer Jason Barratt said the premier was pushing an ideology on regional Victorians.

“We are farmers and we farm food and fibre – we don’t farm electricity and we won’t farm electricity,” he said.

“We’re sick of being pushed over by the government and we’re pushing back.

“It’s beyond belief the contempt that Jacinta Allan shows for us.”