500-kilometre high voltage project<\/a> will run through farmland to connect renewable energy zones in Victoria and New South Wales.<\/p>\nFarmer and opponent Ben Duxson from Wallaloo East, north of Stawell, is not put off by the legal threat.<\/p>\n
“If they want to start locking us up, they can start locking us up,” he said.<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/0ce0be95b765a8ba6341ff67c58e7cf7.png\")
<\/p>\n
A map showing the VNI West route. (Supplied: VicGrid)<\/p>\n
Need to ‘get on’ with VNI West<\/p>\n
The Australian Energy Market Operator described VNI West as a vital project and said it would ensure reliable, affordable power during the country’s renewable transition.<\/p>\n
Mr Benjamin said VicGrid “really needs to get on with these projects now” and it will use the state government’s strengthened access powers if needed.<\/p>\n
“If [landholders are] still reluctant to, then yes, we will be pursuing the framework that the government have put in place for us,” he said.<\/p>\n
“These are last resort powers and we’ve been working really hard for a number of years to try to get access, but it’s not been possible.”<\/p>\n
Mr Benjamin said a majority of landholders in the path of the project were already onboard.<\/p>\n
“We’ve had a lot of people already allow us access to their properties, almost 170 actually,” he said.<\/p>\n
“There’s quite good sentiment, but there are several properties we still need to access.”<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/cfcfe8a8f44d5ff038cb828c5d4c61d7.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Danny Benjamin says it is time to move forward with VNI West. (Supplied: VicGrid)<\/p>\n
‘Heavy toll’ as agriculture ‘not considered’<\/p>\n
Transmission lines are set to run 700 metres from Mr Duxson’s house and he is standing firm.<\/p>\n
“We’ll have hundreds, if not thousands of people at the gate refusing them entry,” he said.<\/p>\n
“And we’re law-abiding citizens \u2026 if they want to start arresting us, they can arrest us.”<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/03d156f541f40fb064dff52a64ff707c.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Ben Duxson is willing to be arrested as he keeps fighting against VNI West transmission work on his property. (Supplied: Ben Duxson)<\/p>\n
Mr Duxson said he was frustrated alternative options had not been properly considered.<\/p>\n
“There are alternatives out there \u2026 we’ve put through all the submissions and we’ve never been listened to.”<\/p>\n
Farmer Emma Bourke from Donald agreed.<\/p>\n
“We’ve got lots of fire, environmental, biosecurity concerns \u2026 they’re just trying to push this project through,” she said.<\/p>\n
Ms Bourke believes VNI West is bad for the community and Victoria.<\/p>\n
“They’re just trying to push this project through to meet whatever targets or promises they’ve already made for net zero or whatever,” she said.<\/p>\n
“They’re not considering agriculture at all.”<\/p>\n
Ms Bourke said it was “taking a very heavy mental health toll” on the farmers involved.<\/p>\n
“To have people wanting to access our property and we’re not giving consent, we’re not giving in, it’s just terrible.”<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/356aa02dfab51bf85316fc3714b480a2.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Emma Bourke is concerned about the VNI West transmission project and does not want it on her land. (Supplied: Emma Bourke)<\/p>\n
Mr Benjamin said VicGrid remained open to conversations with opponents, before the situation got to arrests and legal action.<\/p>\n
“At any point in time, if any landholder wants to come and talk to us to arrange a voluntary access, we will absolutely meet with them,” he said.<\/p>\n
“That window doesn’t close in our view, you know up until the point of the process has been completed, it won’t close.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Victorian farmers vehemently opposed to VNI West transmission work on their land have been given a month to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":508564,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[32474,64,63,99,180135,20666,2185,255077,57687,33052],"class_list":["post-508563","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-aemo","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business","tag-energy-market-operator","tag-farmers","tag-rural","tag-transmission-line","tag-vicgrid","tag-vni-west"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508563","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=508563"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508563\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/508564"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=508563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=508563"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=508563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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<\/p>\n