Call for energy plan reset as landholders challenge transmission development
A grassroots revolt against Tasmania's renewable energy plans has erupted as farmers reject hefty payments to host power lines on their land.
More than 30 Tasmanian landholders say they’ll refuse access for new transmission infrastructure and won’t accept Strategic Benefit Payments, after a Stowport meeting over the North West Transmission Development.
They’ve flagged a potential class action and will meet lawyers this week.
Meeting chair Malcolm Ryan, a Latrobe businessman, said the group reached consensus that these energy projects “are not in Tasmania’s best interests and they do not have social licence”.
The letter states signatories will not sign any agreement or let the government build transmission lines on their properties, despite a recent agreement being reached on a strategic benefits scheme.
Affected landholders and other stakeholders, including Braddon MP independent Craig Garland, Lyons MPs, Greens Tabatha Badger and Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Carlo Di Falco met in Stowport on October 27 to discuss the North West Transmission Development, a key pillar of the Marinus Link project — the proposed undersea and underground electricity and data interconnector between Tasmania and Victoria.
After the meeting more than 30 people signed a joint statement calling on the state government to rethink the plan, citing “significant, cumulative harm to sensitive ecosystems and endangered species, as well as increased fire risk” according to the letter.
“Under Project Marinus, hundreds of kilometres of transmission lines are due to rip through some of Tasmania’s best agricultural land and valuable forest communities, and wind farms are to be rolled out on a mass scale across our state,” the letter said.
“It matters to us what legacy we leave to our children.
“We have therefore come to an agreement that we will not sign any contract or accept any offer of Strategic Benefit Payment (SBP), nor accept any other compensation, and we will not permit the construction of transmission infrastructure on our land,” it said.
The letter flagged a potential class action lawsuit and the landholders are meeting with legal representatives this week to discuss their options.
Signatories to the letter called on the government to “stop the NWTD, Marinus Link, and ‘Battery of the Nation’, to re-evaluate Tasmania’s energy plan and to reform the public consultation process”.
When announcing the benefits scheme TasNetworks CEO Sean McGoldrick said the scheme, which will see payments of $200,000 per km paid to landholders as part of Stage 1 of the North West Transmission Developments, was a “a fair and equitable outcome” that balances the needs of farmers with “the needs of Tasmanian electricity customers and industries”.
The Marinus Link project has been labelled a critical project by the Federal and State governments as part of the Rewiring the Nation and Battery of The Nation, programs intended to make clean energy more accessible and affordable for Australian consumers.
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