July 21, 2023

The Regional Victoria Power Alliance (RVPA) has launched the STOP LABOR'S TOWERS campaign

For over three years communities in Western Victoria have been voicing their opposition to the proposed dangerous and ill-conceived high voltage transmission projects.

RVPA is an alliance of landowners, residents, farmers and communities concerned about the environmental, social and economic impact of the proposed projects, the WRL (formerly the Western Victorian Network Transmission Project) and now the VNI-West interconnector between Victoria and NSW.

STOP LABOR’S TOWERS targets the owner and decision maker of these projects, the State Government. The State Government of Victoria must be held to account for the poor planning and execution of these projects.

Our communities support renewable energy and understand the importance of an energy grid that delivers renewable energy to where it is needed. However, the delivery of renewable energy must not come at the cost of food security destroying valuable and irreplaceable agricultural land, cause catastrophic damage to the environment nor put lives at risk from severely increased bushfire risk.

The proposed transmission project will carve a 100m wide path of environmental destruction over fertile agricultural land destroying highly productive food bowls and decimating important environmental areas.

RVPA spokeswoman Emma Muir said, “We have a Federal and a State government hell bent on a renewable target without knowing the detail, egged on by largely foreign investors who are rubbing their hands at the golden goose of long-term government guaranteed returns from wind and solar farms. At the heart of this is AEMO’s plan for renewable zones everywhere, linked by a spaghetti of tens of thousands of kilometres of new transmission lines, also largely backed by foreign investors for long term government backed returns.” 

“Neither government nor AEMO nor investors have given one serious thought as to what this actually means for our country, vast swathes of transmission, solar and wind industrialising much of our prime agricultural land that is a world leading exporter of food and fibre.  Compounded by significant new environmental impacts and risks that are avoidable.” 

“There has been no process to stand back and assess what, how and where makes sense in our fully considered long term national interest, it’s all one virtuous argument of ‘renewables are needed to save the planet’.”

“Australians are smarter than that, we can do better. We need to stop this mess now and come up with a holistic new renewables transition planning process that has long term national interest at its core, including equally at the table our environment and our agriculture, unlike now where only profit seeking power companies get to make all the bad decisions.”

“If the State Government gets its way, this project will devastate our communities. Bushfire risk will skyrocket, high-value agricultural land that feeds Victoria will be destroyed and land values will plummet.”

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Media Contact: Emma Muir, MCHPA Chair, 0412 685 404, info@stoplaborstowers.com.au
More Information: www.stoplaborstowers.com.au