Victorian election 2022: What are the parties promising farmers?

From timber harvesting to roads, brumby culls and council rates — here’s what Labor and Coalition policies mean for Victorian farmers.

Victorians have voted. Here’s what Labor and Coalition policies mean for farmers.

ROADS

LABOR

$165 million to repair flood damaged roads.

Budget papers show total road asset management funding across suburban and regional areas has been cut from a Covid-stimulus high of $822.5m in 2020-21 to $605m in 2021-22, before being wound back to $592.7m in 2022-23. No allocations beyond this financial year.

DoT reports show resurfacing and rehabilitation was cut from 14,000,000 m2 of road pavements in regional Victoria in 2020-21, to 11,400,000 m2 in 2021-22.

Despite forecasts of a wet year DoT reports also show that while 7000 culverts and roadside drainage pits were cleaned out in 2020-21, just 4000 were done in 2021-22.

LIBERAL-NATIONALS

$10 billion over 10 years for road repairs of the VicRoads’ 23,000km highway and arterial road network.

Plus $288m over the first four year term towards a country roads and bridges program, delivering annual grants of $1.5 million for each of Victoria’s 48 rural shires and regional councils.

RIVERSIDE CAMPING

The public will have to cross Stuart Crosthwaite’s property to access three camp sites DELWP has created on the Kiewa River bank adjoining his property.

LABOR

Opened up almost 120 river banks adjoining farmers land to public camping, where there are no toilets and camp fires can be lit. Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning bureaucrats are planning to assess and list even more sites.

Environment Minister Lily D’Ambrosio failed to deliver on her promise to establish a register of riverside campers, so they can be identified, regulated and prosecuted for cutting down riverside vegetation, escaped fires, rubbish or damage to neighbouring farms and livestock.

Farmers fear they will be left to police campers.

LIBERAL-NATIONALS

Landholders will be given the final say over who can camp on river frontages adjoining their land.

MURRAY BASIN RAIL PROJECT

The Murray Basin rail project has been left half built.

LABOR

The Andrews Government left the project half-built after running out of money in 2019, with a mix of standard and broad gauge lines.

Trains travelling down northwest Victoria’s standard gauge network must now divert from Maryborough to Ararat, adding 248km to a return trip to Geelong.

Ouyen Inc volunteers recently enlisted Mildura Independent Ali Cupper to lodge a plan to complete the original project’s Ballarat-Geelong corridor with the independent Parliamentary Budget Office, which estimated it would cost $115.1 million.

But Labor Transport Minister Jacinta Allan has ignored the call.

LIBERAL-NATIONALS

Committed to completing the original project to standardise and upgrade all lines, subject to undertaking a new business to- establish the full cost.

TIMBER HARVESTING

Victorian sawmill workers face a bleak future as coupes are locked up by legal action and the Andrews Government promises to phase out native forest harvesting.

LABOR

Phase out native forest logging, from 2024-25 to its full cessation by 2030.

LIBERAL-NATIONALS

Dump Labor’s phase out of native forest harvesting by 2030.

End third party litigation by environment groups against VicForests, allowing the Conservation Regulator to do the job.

GREENS

End native forest logging in 2023, and protecting native forests.

Creation of the Great Forest National Park

$21m to employ former logging contractors as Victorian disaster response team

Repeal Labor’s forest protest laws that impose fines of up $21,000 on activists entering coupes.

Repeal the Woodpulp Agreement Act, which locks the Victorian Government into supplying native hardwood pulp to the Maryvale mill to manufacture paper and cardboard.

BRUMBY CULLS

Dean Marsland used trajectory rods to show how a stallion and three mares were shot from above, by what locals say were Victorian government contractors in August 2022.

LABOR

In June Parks Victoria confirmed it intends to eradicate all 500 brumbies in the Barmah State Forest and would begin ground shooting another 5000 in the Alpine National Park.

Parks Victoria demands contract shooters must use silencers and operate covertly, due to what it called the “significant risk posed by feral horse activists”.

Tender documents also state that while shooters can take out pigs, deer and goats, it is feral horses that are the “primary target”.

LIBERAL-NATIONALS

Has ruled out aerial and ground shooting of brumbies.

ANIMAL JUSTICE PARTY

End the cull and find other means, such as fertility control to control brumby populations.

GREENS

No policy

ANIMAL WELFARE

Labor will introduce new animal welfare laws, which if breached could lead to penalties of up to $22,717.

LABOR

Will introduce a new animal welfare Act in 2023, if elected, founded on the principle of animal sentience – the capacity to feel fear, stress and other emotions.

New regulations drafted under the act will set new standards of care outlining how humans must positively interact with animals “to minimise anxiety, fear, pain or distress”.

A person who fails to comply with the new standards would face penalties of up to $22,717 or up to six months imprisonment.

Farmers and hunters fear the new act will lead to a new wave of animal activist litigation against them.

A copy of Labor’s plan can be found HERE

LIBERAL-NATIONALS

Commit to a review of the current Prevention of Cruelty to Animals ACT, BUT not acknowledge sentience. If elected the coalition would engage key stakeholders to determine what measures may need to0 be strengthened.

GREENS

End to animal and fish farming practices that are inconsistent with animals’ natural behavioural needs, and a phasing out of all intensive animal farming practices

End the use of leg-hold traps and poison baits such as 1080.

End recreational hunting on public land.

Ban duck hunting

Ban kangaroo shooting

Establish establishment an independent regulatory body for animal welfare to monitor compliance and with full prosecutorial power and standing in relation to animal matters.

The Greens Animals policy can be found HERE

COUNCIL RATES

The fair go rates cap has failed farmers, who are shouldering an ever greater share of the rural rate burden. What’s the solution?

LABOR

Established the fair go rates cap, but it is averaged across the whole rating pool, giving councils the ability to lift annual farm rates by 10 to 20 per cent in some years.

Farmers have asked for relief, in the form of a standard rate in the dollar applied across the whole state, category based caps and averaging farm valuations to smooth out the impact of soaring property prices.

The Andrews Government has ignored these calls.

LIBERAL-NATIONALS

Establish a state productivity commission, which will review local government service delivery, revenue and cost shifting, as well as rates.

Coalition local government spokesman Richard Riordan said he supported all Victorians paying the same rates on properties of the same value, but that the transition to such a model would be difficult.

He said one potential model was for the State Revenue Office to collect rate revenue and redistribute the bulk of it to fund local council infrastructure and community services, with the rest going to council

WATER BUYOUTS

Federal Water Minister Tanya Plibersek is about to wade into water markets to asset strip irrigation communities. Will the next Victorian Government stop her?

Victorian and NSW peak irrigator groups are opposed to any more Federal Government buyouts of their communities’ water.

LABOR

Labor’s Water Minister Harriet Shing said “Victoria has delivered all its Basin Plan obligations to date, including Bridging the Gap water recovery – the federal budget commitment is targeted at other jurisdictions who have not yet met these targets and will not include water recovery in Victoria”.

LIBERAL-NATIONALS

Oppose any further federal buyouts.

GREENS

Buy water to recover 450GL extra water, over and above the baseline target of 2680GL.

PLANNING – extinguish the 40ha dwelling right

Landholder rights to build a house without a planning permit on 40ha or more in farming zones is under threat within 100km of Melbourne.

LABOR

Labor’s Green Wedges and Agricultural Land project proposed extinguishing landholder rights to build a house without a planning permit on 40ha or more in farming zones.

When asked – Will the Andrews Government carry through with the proposal in October this year Planning Minister Lizzie Blandthorn said the GWAL’s “recommended actions and responses following the consultation on the project are still under consideration”.

LIBERAL-NATIONALS

Retain the 40ha right.

TRANSMISSION LINES

Farmers are up in arms over plans to swing 500 kilovolt double-circuit overhead transmission lines between 60m towers to fee power into Melbourne from six regional renewable energy zones.

Farmers are demanding a share of the $190 million in easement taxes AusNet pays the Victorian Government each year, to offset the impact of a new web of high-voltage transmission lines being slung across their properties — scarring the skyline and slashing land values.

The NSW Government has already introduced such a scheme, where landholders receive $200,000 per kilometre of new transmission lines that are built across their properties, paid out in annual instalments over 20 years. The payments are on top of the Land Acquisition (Just Terms Compensation) Act payments landholders already receive to cover the market value of the land under easements, losses due to severance and disturbance, plus other reasonable costs and expenses.

LABOR

When asked if the Government would redirect some of its easement tax to farmers Energy Minister Lily D’Ambrosio’s office said “landowners were (already) currently compensated for easements created on their land to host transmission infrastructure – i.e. Just the standard Land Acquisition and Compensation Act payments.

LIBERAL-NATIONALS

Still under consideration

ANIMAL ACTIVIST INVASIONS

Animal activists take goats from the Gippy Goat Cafe in 2018, which led to a parliamentary inquiry and introduction of on the spot fines for farm invasions.

LABOR

Animal activists who invade farms and breach biosecurity plans, face on-the-spot fines of $1272.

LIBERAL-NATIONALS

Boost individual fines to $10,904, in line with the equivalent fines in NSW.

1080 BAITS

Animal Liberation groups and the Victorian Animal Justice Party want 1080 banned.

LABOR

No change in policy to date. 1080 can currently be used in Victoria to control foxes, rabbits, wild dogs and feral pigs.

LIBERAL-NATIONALS

Guarantee no further restrictions on use or ban.

GREENS

The end of inhumane methods of animal control, including the use of leg-hold traps and poison baits such as 1080.

ANIMAL JUSTICE PARTY

Ban 1080.

CFA

The CFA must second all its 229 assistant chiefs, commanders and instructors from the union-controlled Fire Rescue Victoria service.

LABOR

CFA must second all chiefs, commanders and instructors from the FRV.

LIBERAL-NATIONALS

Give the CFA the freedom to directly employ chiefs, commanders and instructors.

MOBILE BLACKSPOT FUNDING

5G communications tower with man using mobile phone

LABOR

The $230m Connecting Victoria Mobile Program is being rolled out under a tender that lists 97 “locations of strategic interest to the Victorian Government”, 76 of which are in Melbourne.

LIBERAL-NATIONALS

$150 million on mobile booster rebates, blackspots and boosting mobile tower battery backups.