{"id":609582,"date":"2026-04-16T00:35:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T00:35:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/609582\/"},"modified":"2026-04-16T00:35:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T00:35:15","slug":"victorian-farmer-left-feeling-disrespected-by-vicgrid-officers-for-denying-access-to-land","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/609582\/","title":{"rendered":"Victorian farmer left feeling ‘disrespected’ by VicGrid officers for denying access to land"},"content":{"rendered":"

A farmer from Murrabit in Victoria’s north, believed to be one of the first landholders threatened with enforcement action by VNI West officers for blocking access to their land, says he is going to continue “locking the gates”.<\/p>\n

The ABC was there when authorised officers from VNI West visited sheep farmer Nathan McKnight’s property, where powerlines are proposed to cut diagonally through 250 hectares of his 1,214-hectare farm.<\/p>\n

Mr McKnight said he was left feeling “disrespected” after interactions with VNI West, where authorised officers wore body-worn cameras, cited breaches of the law and threatened enforcement action.<\/p>\n

“It’s why we’ve got to this stage that we’re locking the gates and under no circumstances are you going to come in,” Mr McKnight told the authorised officers at the gate to his farm on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

“To be honest, it’s a kick in the guts. We’re not respected for what we’re doing.<\/p>\n

“You just feel like we work our guts out. We’ve produced food for the country, and you get people like that after they’ve just been told why we don’t want them on the farm, treat you like that \u2026 I think that says it all.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Natahan McKnight faces an $800 fine for refusing VicGrid access to his farm. (ABC News: Tyrone Dalton)<\/p>\n

Two of the five authorised officers \u2014 one speaking to Mr McKnight and another waiting by the car \u2014 wore body-worn cameras to film the interaction.<\/p>\n

The interaction has raised questions about the law-and-order approach the Victorian government is taking to see through its renewable energy projects.<\/p>\n

Threats of fines and court-entry orders<\/p>\n

The Victorian to New South Wales Interconnector West \u2014 known as VNI West \u2014 is a proposed 500-kilovolt transmission line<\/a> connecting the high-voltage electricity grid of New South Wales and Victoria.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mr McKnight said there had been no consultation from VNI West about its plans, just notifications.<\/p>\n

“They haven’t taken into account the irrigated farming that we’re doing and producing food and fibre for the country,” Mr McKnight said.<\/p>\n

VicGrid’s authorised officer told Mr McKnight that blocking access to the land meant VicGrid could issue a fine or gain a court-entry order.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Nathan McKnight has padlocked his gates to stop VicGrid from accessing his property. (ABC News: Tyrone Dalton)<\/p>\n

Legislation shows a landholder who obstructs an authorised officer from entering the property at this stage faces a fine of up to $814.04.<\/p>\n

Tuesday’s visit was the second time authorised officers wearing body cameras had visited Mr McKnight’s property seeking access to his land to complete surveys.<\/p>\n

Five VNI West officers got out of the single car to meet Mr McKnight at the gate to his property.<\/p>\n

\"Man<\/p>\n

Brett Hosking says the heavy-handed, law-and-order approach is disappointing. (Supplied: GrainGrowers)<\/p>\n

Outgoing Victorian Farmers Federation (VFF) president Brett Hosking described the footage of Mr McKnight’s interaction with VicGrid’s authorised officers as “shocking”.<\/p>\n

“The bit that really got my goat was when the authorised officer said ‘be warned, that anything you say can and will be used against you’,” he said.<\/p>\n

“That’s not how you request access to someone’s property. That is incredibly intimidating.”<\/p>\n

“When we watch a line like that delivered on the TV, it’s usually while someone is being manhandled into the back of a divvy-van.”<\/p>\n

Mr Hosking said any respectable judge should throw out the court order if it came before them.<\/p>\n

“There is a massive misalignment, I believe, with what the average person watching that video would understand, and what the government and VicGrid are trying to do,” Mr Hosking said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“There needs to be a major reset.”<\/p>\n

Some farmers pro-access<\/p>\n

Not all farmers have taken a similar stance to Mr McKnight.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Since 2023, more than 170 landholders across the project area have agreed to survey access, enabling more than 300 private property surveys to be completed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Tragowel farmer Craig McIntosh is one landholder who is allowing access to his property<\/a>.<\/p>\n

When nearby farmers protested the route of VNI West, Mr McIntosh and his neighbours approached VicGrid to redesign the transmission line and have it run through their properties.<\/p>\n

He said 10 kilometres of the line will run through his farm, but he believes he will be able to continue farming under the powerlines.<\/p>\n

“I think we should be advancing the country, not holding it back,” Mr McIntosh said.<\/p>\n

“When Dad was alive, we always talked about the advancement of the 220 line that came through to help us out, so I can see this one is another advancement in what the future has got to hold.”<\/p>\n

VicGrid’s chief executive, Alistair Parker, said VicGrid had issued land access notices to landholders at 26 properties between Stawell and Murrabit, where access for critical ecology surveys had not been agreed.<\/p>\n

\"Alistair<\/p>\n

Alistair Parker says assumptions will be made where access is denied. (Supplied: VicGrid)<\/p>\n

“We will continue to engage respectfully and seek voluntary agreement, while recognising that all Victorians are relying on us to deliver this project and keep the lights on,” Mr Parker said in a statement.<\/p>\n

VicGrid said refusing access would not affect whether the project proceeded, and that without access, assumptions would be made.<\/p>\n

It said landholders are offered access payments ranging from $10,000 to $50,000 for surveys.<\/p>\n

Mr McKnight said he had not taken any payment.<\/p>\n

VicGrid said landowners were entitled to full compensation for the value of their properties or farming operations, in addition to a Landholder Benefit Payment and additional financial recognition introduced by the Victorian government.<\/p>\n

The Victorian government was contacted for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A farmer from Murrabit in Victoria’s north, believed to be one of the first landholders threatened with enforcement…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":609583,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[40800,13330,36987,43,44,19158,41,39,42,40,57687,33052],"class_list":["post-609582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-court-order","tag-farming","tag-fine","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-renewables","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-vicgrid","tag-vni-west"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609582","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=609582"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609582\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/609583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=609582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=609582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=609582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}