{"id":892889,"date":"2026-09-15T12:54:15","date_gmt":"2026-09-15T12:54:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/892889\/"},"modified":"2026-09-15T12:54:15","modified_gmt":"2026-09-15T12:54:15","slug":"premier-orders-cost-review-of-western-renewables-link-hours-after-environmental-approval","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/892889\/","title":{"rendered":"Premier orders cost review of Western Renewables Link hours after environmental approval"},"content":{"rendered":"

Victoria’s premier has ordered a cost review of a controversial $1.5 billion transmission line project, the same day the planning minister approved a major planning hurdle.<\/p>\n

Ben Carroll ordered the immediate and independent cost assessment of the Western Renewables Link (WRL) today, after Planning Minister Sonya Kilkenny announced the approval of the project’s environment effects statement (EES) overnight.<\/p>\n

Mr Carroll said in a statement the review aimed to reduce building costs, and there would be no compulsory acquisition of property while it was underway.<\/p>\n

“I respect the public’s money. This project was planned almost 10 years ago and Victorian consumers deserve updated, transparent costings,” Mr Carroll said.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The proposed route for the Western Renewables Link. (Supplied: Jeremy Harper)<\/p>\n

The proposed 190-kilometre transmission line would run between Bulgana, near Ararat in the state’s west, and Sydenham in Melbourne’s north-west, to connect renewable energy projects in western Victoria to the energy grid.<\/p>\n

In the EES, Ms Kilkenny found the project would likely have a significant impact on the environment, namely on “visual amenity” and “landscape values”.<\/p>\n

But, overall, she found the possible community benefit meant it could proceed and environmental damage could be managed.<\/p>\n

The project has caused significant, enduring unrest for many landholders who live in its corridor.<\/p>\n

The premier did not indicate whether Labor was reconsidering its commitment to the project when announcing the cost review.<\/p>\n

More approvals required<\/p>\n

Mr Carroll said in a statement the EES was not a final approval, and the project still required state and Commonwealth agency approvals and the green light from parliament.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Premier<\/p>\n

Ben Carroll has ordered an immediate review into the cost of the WRL. (ABC News)<\/p>\n

However, AusNet, the company responsible for the WRL, can use the assessment as leverage to gain other approvals.<\/p>\n

According to AusNet, those secondary requirements may include a permit to remove protected flora under the Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988, a permit to relocate wildlife under the Wildlife Act 1975 and a permit to work within or over waterways under the Water Act 1989.<\/p>\n

Mr Carroll said in a statement the EES would be completed by the end of the year and its findings would be made public.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Shadow Energy Minister David Davis condemned the government for approving the EES two and a half months before the November election.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

David Davis is critical of the government’s energy rollout. (ABC News: Richard Sydenham)<\/p>\n

“The opposition wrote to the government and said not to grant or provide approvals at this point under the cover of the pre-election period,” Mr Davis said.<\/p>\n

“The government has sat on this document, it seems, since July and now released it late in the piece in the lead-up to the state election.<\/p>\n

“We say the government should not make steps that bind future governments.”<\/p>\n

Mr Carroll told ABC he was unavailable for an interview.<\/p>\n

The future of the WRL is uncertain if Labor loses the November election.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Coalition has promised it would pause and reconsider<\/a> the future of WRL if it was elected.<\/p>\n

One Nation has said it would cancel the project entirely.<\/p>\n

The latest costing for the project is $1.5 billion, more than three times the initial figure given in 2019.<\/p>\n

The project has also suffered timeline blowouts. The latest estimate from AusNet said the project would be completed by 2029.<\/p>\n

Project ‘does not have social licence’<\/p>\n

Ripon’s Labor incumbent Martha Haylett, the state member for the local government areas where the WRL and a second proposed transmission line called VNI West are set to be built, said in a statement she was glad Mr Carroll had listened to her objections.<\/p>\n

\"Crowd<\/p>\n

Farmers rally at the Marnoo recreation reserve in support of One Nation and against VNI West. (ABC News: Tamara Clark)<\/p>\n

“It has been 1365 days since I spoke about our community’s opposition to the Western Renewables Link in my first speech in Parliament,” Ms Haylett said in the statement.<\/p>\n

“I have raised my objections to this project with three successive Premiers \u2026\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I’ve said from day one that this project does not have social licence in our community, and that has not changed.”<\/p>\n

Fifth-generation beef, sheep and potato farmer Gerald Conroy said the EES identified the same issues he and his neighbours in Ballan had been raising for six years.<\/p>\n

He said he disagreed with the government’s stance that environmental impacts could be appropriately managed.<\/p>\n

\"Farmer<\/p>\n

Gerald Conroy farms in the project corridor at Ballan. (ABC News: Coco Veldkamp)<\/p>\n

Mr Conroy said the project had divided his community, and he would no longer vote for Labor.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“[I’m] very disappointed in the government. They think they can mitigate these issues by giving more money to the community,” he said.<\/p>\n

Victorian Farmers Federation (VFF) president Ryan Milgate welcomed the cost review and said the government should reconsider the state’s transmission rollout more broadly.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Ryan Milgate says the government needs to apply greater scrutiny to all energy projects. (ABC News: Sean Warren)<\/p>\n

“Farmers have been saying for years that the WRL needs greater scrutiny. The government has now acknowledged that,” Mr Milgate said.<\/p>\n

He said the same questions needed to be asked of VNI West and other renewable energy projects.<\/p>\n

“What will these projects cost, and are there better alternatives that don’t decimate productive farmland and regional communities?” Mr Milgate said.<\/p>\n

Generous jobs forecast<\/p>\n

An AusNet spokesperson for the WRL said the project was required to support Victoria’s transition from coal-fired power stations.<\/p>\n

They said WRL would help power 1 million homes and would carry more than 3,000 megawatts of electricity through 500 kilovolt lines.<\/p>\n

The WRL spokesperson said it also aimed to deliver lasting benefits to regional communities along the proposed project route.<\/p>\n

“If approved, WRL is estimated to generate around 700 full time construction jobs, with more expected at the height of construction,” the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

“A further 1,100 jobs are forecast to be created as a result of building the transmission line.<\/p>\n

“This includes $15 million in funding made available during the project’s development phase in response to community feedback calling for earlier benefits, including a $4 million Local Grants Fund, which recently received almost 200 applications for locally-led projects.”<\/p>\n

The councils set to host the transmission lines were contacted for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Victoria’s premier has ordered a cost review of a controversial $1.5 billion transmission line project, the same day…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":892890,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[64,63,462275,75,462274,1788,60504,8146,128,161703,255077,34454,33052,462273],"class_list":["post-892889","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cost-review","tag-environment","tag-environmental-effects-statement","tag-labor","tag-one-nation","tag-renewable-energy","tag-science","tag-the-coalition","tag-transmission-line","tag-victorian-farmers-federation","tag-vni-west","tag-western-renewables-link"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/892889","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=892889"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/892889\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/892890"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=892889"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=892889"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=892889"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}