‘Stop the Towers’ tractor rally to roll in to Melbourne

A convoy of tractors will roll into Melbourne on Tuesday to protest against transmission lines carving up the country.

Rural families will converge on Melbourne in a repeat of April’s St Arnuad tractor rally, but this time with the support of communities right along the proposed 400km transmission line route. Picture: Zoe Phillips

Victoria’s Power Alliance of farmers, their neighbours, and retail and tourism business owners will gather in Melbourne at Parliament House on Tuesday at 12:45pm to hold a ‘Stop the Towers’ rally, aimed at ending the carve-up of regional properties with 60-80 metre pylons carrying 500kV transmission lines.

A convoy of tractors, other agricultural vehicles, horses and fire trucks will depart from Cathedral Place at 12.45pm to form a procession that aims to wind along Spring Street and around Parliament House.

Alliance members from central and western Victoria say they are deeply concerned about the impact the 500kV Victoria NSW Interconnector and Western Renewables Link projects will have on their communities along the route from Sydenham to Bulgana, then northwards to Kerang and into NSW

Stop the Towers spokesman Glenden Watts said: “These transmission towers and lines will carve a destructive 100-metre wide easement through highly productive farms in Victoria’s food bowls, through native habitat and bushfire-prone landscapes and alongside protected state parks.

“They will push their way through where we live and work, impacting all of us and our environment for future generations.”