<\/p>\n
VicGrid employees were unsuccessful in their attempt to use compulsory access powers. (ABC Rural: Angus Verley)<\/p>\n
No access under any conditions<\/p>\n
Greg Roberts, the owner of the Wycheproof property, spoke to the ABC while waiting for the VicGrid employees to arrive.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He said there were no circumstances under which he would let them on his land. \u00a0<\/p>\n
“There are profound issues about forcing yourself onto people’s properties,” he said.<\/p>\n
“We’ll be standing inside the access gateway, and when they come and ask to enter our property, I’ll be reading a statement saying that they will not be given access.”<\/p>\n
While tens of thousands of dollars have been offered to affected farmers, Mr Roberts said he had not considered taking the money.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“We’ve given no consideration to the financial aspect. I can’t even tell you what money has been offered to us,” he said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
More than 50 people met at two properties yesterday to deny access to VicGrid employees. (ABC Rural: Angus Verley)<\/p>\n
If you or anyone you know needs help:Suicide Call Back Service<\/a> on 1300 659 467Lifeline<\/a> on 13 11 14Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander crisis support line 13YARN<\/a>\u00a0on 13 92 76Kids Helpline<\/a> on 1800 551 800Beyond Blue<\/a> on 1300 224 636Headspace<\/a> on 1800 650 890ReachOut<\/a> at au.reachout.com<\/a>MensLine Australia<\/a> on 1300 789 978QLife 1800 184 527<\/a><\/p>\n Mr Roberts said he was opposed to the project for many reasons.<\/p>\n “First of all, there’s a significant devaluation of your property, and it will make our farming practices, with wide machinery, extremely difficult,” he said.<\/p>\n “Then you’ve got the environmental damage from excavation and heavy machinery \u2014 we’ve got an endangered species on our property, the Victorian inland carpet python.”<\/p>\n He said the project was taking a heavy mental toll on farmers who were spending a huge amount of time and energy fighting it.<\/p>\n “The mental health aspect is really profound,” he said.<\/p>\n Farmers barricaded the entrance to the Greg and Robyn Roberts’s property, denying access to two VicGrid employees. (ABC Rural: Angus Verley)<\/p>\n ‘Crucial project’<\/p>\n In a statement to the ABC, VicGrid chief executive Alistair Parker said VNI West was “a crucial project to keep the lights on for all Victorians”.<\/p>\n “Our strong preference is always \u2026 voluntary access. That’s the way we want to keep working, because it leads to better outcomes for everyone,” he said.<\/p>\n “Safety comes first \u2014 for landholders, for community members and for our staff \u2014 and we’re asking everyone involved to approach this calmly and respectfully.”<\/p>\n VicGrid CEO Alistair Parker says voluntary access to private property is its preference. (Supplied: VicGrid)<\/p>\n Mr Roberts said, while farmers would continue to block access, there was no prospect of violence.\u00a0<\/p>\n “Absolutely not, everyone here today is here with the intention of being quiet and peaceful,” he said.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the Victorian Farmers Federation has launched a petition calling for farmland to be preserved for farming.<\/p>\n It’s calling on the state government to develop a strategy to protect high-value agricultural land from fragmentation, ensure fair compensation and better consultation for landholders and guarantee shared benefits for regional areas impacted by energy development.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Farmers have thwarted VicGrid in its first attempt to use compulsory access powers to enter their properties. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":291316,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[167537,43,167536,44,41,39,42,40,57687,167539,167538,33052],"class_list":{"0":"post-291315","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-compulsory-access-power","9":"tag-headlines","10":"tag-land-access","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-top-news","13":"tag-top-stories","14":"tag-topnews","15":"tag-topstories","16":"tag-vicgrid","17":"tag-vicgrid-powers","18":"tag-vicgrid-workers","19":"tag-vni-west"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291315","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=291315"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291315\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/291316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=291315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=291315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=291315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/p>\n
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