Massive pile-on in marginal Melton as planned power towers spark protests

A group of furious farmers and landowners in the crucial state seat of Melton are throwing their weight behind a campaign against a high-voltage power line they claim would cause mental stress and poorly impact the electorate’s rural areas.

The group is pushing for the power lines to run underground and wants to use the attention of the election campaign to push the project back to the drawing board. It claims the Andrews Labor government has not taken its concerns seriously.

Barbara Ford farms at Plumpton on the outskirts of Melton, and is pictured with other locals unhappy about the proposed Ausnet power lines.Credit: Jason South

Melton has been held by Labor since the seat was created 30 years ago, but is a realistic prospect of changing hands on November 26. It is held by Labor with a 5 per cent margin under newly redrawn boundaries.

The Western Renewables Link – a state-government project being delivered by AusNet – will be a 190-kilometre, overhead, high-voltage electricity transmission line with hundreds of towers carrying renewable energy from wind farms in the state’s west to Melbourne.

Work is due to start on the project in 2024.

Landowners from Melton through to Ballarat and potato-growing areas near Daylesford are among the “Stop Ausnet Towers” and “Piss Off Ausnet” groups, which have organised protest signage through western Victoria.

Protesters brought Ballarat to a standstill in July when 70 tractors drove through the main street.

“Around Moorabool, they’ve got ‘Piss off Ausnet’ ploughed into their hills. So, they’re pretty militant, the Ballarat farmers,” said Barbara Ford, a farmer from Plumpton, on the outskirts of Melton, who has rallied dozens of affected landowners in her area.

The route of the transmission line stretches from Bulgana in western Victoria to Sydenham in Melbourne’s north-west, and cuts through the marginal seat of Melton close to sporting fields, the local pony club, the Melton airfield, a new high school and about 15 to 20 private properties.

Among the many concerns raised by protesters is the negative impact they expect the towers will have on their property values. They’re also concerned about the proximity of the lines to private homes, how close they will be to the airfield and how that will impact flights, the fire risks and the need for AusNet employees to have access to private property.

Earlier this year, Ausnet responded to community uproar about the project by proposing an alternative route for the power lines, but Ford’s group was not appeased.

She said locals felt their concerns about the safety and impact of the project were not being taken seriously by Ausnet or the government.

No Labor representatives turned up to the Ballarat tractor rally, while Liberal and independent candidates were there.

The Stop Ausnet Towers group has launched legal action against the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO), citing “fundamental flaws” in the planning process for the project.

Melton City Council has also questioned the way AEMO chose the route for the power lines and has asked the state government to conduct its own independent review.

Landowners have been told they will be reimbursed for the lost value on property, but residents in Ford’s group are sceptical of the process.

“This isn’t just a case of ‘not in my backyard’,” said Ford.

“Overhead, high-voltage transmission shouldn’t be in anyone’s backyard.

“The mental stress that is being inflicted on the community is unacceptable.”

One farmer’s hillside protest against the Ausnet project in Blampied, near Hepburn Springs. Credit: Piss Off Ausnet

Sitting Labor MP Steve McGhie said he “has concerns” about the project, and would prefer it if the power cables ran underground.

“But that’s not going to resolve it for the whole of the line because I don’t believe it will go underground all the way along,” he said.

“So we’ve got to come up with the most appropriate outcome.”

Liberal candidate Graham Watt told The Age if his party won this month’s election, there would “be no Ausnet towers through Melton”. But Watt did not specify whether that meant the line would be rerouted or taken underground.

Leading independent candidate Dr Ian Birchall said he supported renewable energy but had concerns about the environmental impact. He said a new route, taking the lines underground, and better provisions for the rights of access to the assets needed to be considered.

A spokesperson for AusNet said it was considering “partial under-grounding” of the power lines, and its findings would appear in a forthcoming environment effects statement.

“The Western Renewables Link is critical infrastructure that will deliver clean and affordable energy to more than half a million Victorians, as the state transitions away from coal-generated electricity,” they said.

“This project is urgently needed to reduce congestion on the existing transmission network in western Victoria, which is now at capacity, and will help keep the lights on and place downward pressure on wholesale electricity prices.”

This story is part of our in-depth local coverage of the key seats of Melton, Hawthorn and Richmond at the November state election.