{"id":654832,"date":"2026-05-07T05:14:22","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T05:14:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/654832\/"},"modified":"2026-05-07T05:14:22","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T05:14:22","slug":"energy-policy-to-be-key-victorian-election-issue-as-coalition-vows-to-pause-transmission-projects","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/654832\/","title":{"rendered":"Energy policy to be key Victorian election issue as Coalition vows to pause transmission projects"},"content":{"rendered":"

There could be a major shift in Victoria’s energy transition policy if there’s a change of state government in November, with the Coalition revealing its alternative plan ahead of the state election.<\/p>\n

The Liberals and Nationals have vowed to pause the controversial VNI West and Western Renewables Link (WRL) transmission line projects and conduct a full review of the Victorian Transmission Plan.<\/p>\n

The transmission projects are running behind time and over budget, and are becoming bogged down in widespread opposition from farmers facing compulsory acquisition of their land.<\/p>\n

The Coalition also plans to establish urban solar parks in metropolitan areas, with solar and battery installations on commercial and industrial rooftops.<\/p>\n

\"Rooftop<\/p>\n

The Victorian Coalition plans to establish solar parks in metropolitan areas. (Unsplash:<\/a> Nuno Marques<\/a>, licence<\/a>)<\/p>\n

The Coalition said a full review of the Victorian Transmission Plan would enable the soaring cost of the transmission projects to be rigorously assessed.<\/p>\n

But Shadow Minister for Agriculture Emma Kealy said it was impossible to make a final decision on scrapping VNI West without being in government.<\/p>\n

“We’ll look at the business case and see if these projects stack up or not,” she said.<\/p>\n

“We also don’t know what Labor has signed us up for, we don’t know where the trips and tricks in the contracts might be \u2026 so we’re going as far as we can.”<\/p>\n

\"Emma<\/p>\n

Emma Kealy says if the Coalition is elected, a final decision on transmission infrastructure would be made. (ABC Horsham: Alexander Darling)<\/p>\n

‘Listen to the experts’<\/p>\n

The Coalition said it would consider alternative energy transition options, particularly the Victorian Energy Policy Centre’s Plan B released in 2023.<\/p>\n

That plan recommends focusing on expanding existing Victorian transmission lines, rather than building new ones.<\/p>\n

Its co-author, Bruce Mountain, previously labelled the VNI West project “a giant public policy failure”.<\/p>\n

Dr Mountain has backed rooftop solar on warehouses and shopping centres.<\/p>\n

He found that Australia has enough unused commercial and industrial rooftop space to supply at least 25 per cent of annual electricity use.<\/p>\n

\"Bruce<\/p>\n

Bruce Mountain has been scathing of VNI West. (ABC News: Peter Garnish)<\/p>\n

Ms Kealy said Professor Mountain made a compelling case.<\/p>\n

“It’s really listening to experts in the energy industry who are saying we don’t necessarily need VNI West and there are better options out there,” she said.<\/p>\n

“I’ve read Bruce Mountain’s paper. It has really resonated across the farming community but also among some of the energy proponents.”Farmers fight back<\/p>\n

Marnoo farmer Ben Duxson has been a leading critic of VNI West, and is the founder and chairman of land rights advocacy group Farmers Fightback.<\/p>\n

He welcomed the Coalition’s commitment to pause the project, but said it didn’t go far enough.<\/p>\n

“A pause isn’t enough for us, we want the project stopped entirely,” he said.<\/p>\n

“But of course it does give hope, because we’ve been battling along alone for a long time now.<\/p>\n

“How can you go ahead with something when you haven’t got consent of the landholders that are major stakeholders in it.”<\/p>\n

\"Close<\/p>\n

Ben Duxson says the Coalition needs to commit to scrapping VNI West.\u00a0 (ABC News: Tamara Clark)<\/p>\n

Mr Duxson welcomed the Coalition’s plan to incentivise solar on industrial rooftops in Melbourne.<\/p>\n

“It makes practical sense doesn’t it, create the power where it’s needed, it’s good policy,” he said.<\/p>\n

Mr Duxson said the Farmers Fightback group, which has 55,000 followers on social media, would be unrelenting during the six-month election campaign to come.<\/p>\n

“We’ll use our numbers to lobby politicians and make sure our voice is heard,” he said.<\/p>\n

“It’s OK to draw a line in the sand and say ‘no, we’re not putting up with this’, and that’s what we’re doing.<\/p>\n

“You’ve got to stand up in your life and fight for something.”\"A<\/p>\n

Many farmers have locked their gates to project developers.\u00a0 (ABC News: Tyrone Dalton)<\/p>\n

‘A little bit of hope’<\/p>\n

Katherine Myers is a potato grower at Tourello, north of Ballarat, and is in the path of the WRL.<\/p>\n

The Coalition’s commitment to pause the project came just a day after Ms Myers learned project proponent AusNet had applied for compulsory acquisition powers under recent amendments<\/a> to the Electricity Industry Act.<\/p>\n

\"Woman<\/p>\n

Katherine Myers says the Coalition’s commitment has given her some hope. (ABC: Jane Norman)<\/p>\n

She said the announcement gave her “a little bit of hope”.<\/p>\n

“This infrastructure is going to become an election issue, which I think it needs to be,” she said.<\/p>\n

“I think it’s really exciting that they’re looking at generating significant renewable energy closer to Melbourne, where it can actually be used. That’s what we need for the energy transition.”<\/p>\n

The state government has been contacted for comment on the Coalition’s announcement.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson previously said VNI West was needed “to deliver cheap power and keep the lights on as aging coal-fired generators retire”.<\/p>\n

“The faster we can build new transmission lines, the faster we can connect renewable energy to the grid and the cheaper our energy prices will be,\u201d they said.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There could be a major shift in Victoria’s energy transition policy if there’s a change of state government…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":654833,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[64,63,19161,2572,19215,75,56254,128,7128,33055,316696,33052,10650,316695],"class_list":["post-654832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-electricity","tag-energy","tag-energy-policy","tag-environment","tag-rooftop-solar","tag-science","tag-solar","tag-transmission","tag-victorian-coalition","tag-vni-west","tag-wind","tag-wrl"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/654832","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=654832"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/654832\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/654833"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=654832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=654832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=654832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}