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February 7th, 2022

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Joint signatories on Climate Council Joint Statement issued December 14th, 2021

Summary: I am writing in response to your joint statement on 14 December where you suggest that “renewable energy transmission lines are essential to reducing pollution, protecting climate and preserving nature”. While there is evidence to suggest that we need to tackle climate change by replacing fossil-fuels with renewable energy, there is certainly no evidence to suggest that the default use of overhead transmission lines are the 21st century answer to support this. I ask you to re-issue your statement and call-out the devastating affects overhead transmission lines cause…

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Response to Climate Council Joint Statement issued December 14th, 2021

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am writing in response to your joint statement on 14 December where you suggest that "renewable energy transmission lines are essential to reducing pollution, protecting climate and preserving nature". While there is evidence to suggest that we need to tackle climate change by replacing fossil-fuels with renewable energy, there is certainly no evidence to suggest that the default use of overhead transmission lines are the 21st century answer to support this. I ask you to re-issue your statement and call-out the devastating affects overhead transmission lines cause.

I will be impacted by AusNet's proposed Western Victoria Transmission Network Project (WVTNP) and I wanted to inform you that your suggestion that transmission lines "will help protect our environment, our ecosystems, our species, our regional communities, our precious places, as well as our towns and cities from the threat of climate change", is an unforgivable lie and is far from the reality of the devastation this project will cause to our communities and the environment.

The proposed 190km long overhead transmission line project with up to 80-metre-high towers will carve a 100m wide path of environmental destruction removing everything in its path. To suggest that this is a way to address climate change is incredulous and ignorant to the extensive environmental damage that overhead transmission lines will cause and as a result will negate the green energy generation it will deliver. This is a massive contradiction to "renewable energy" that these very transmissions lines are supposed to be supplying and there are serious questions around the net environmental gains of this project.

AusNet have chosen the easiest and so-called "cheapest option" for the proposed transmission line network opting to use antiquated overhead transmission line technology. The proposed WVTNP overhead transmission network will have a destructive and irreversible effect along the whole route impacting tens of thousands of regional Victorians, hundreds of businesses and the natural environment. Parts of the proposed route run through Victoria's most high-risk bushfire areas as well as prime agricultural land.

Along the proposed 190km corridor, there will be extensive loss of native vegetation, biomass and wildlife habitat including many endangered species' to construct the WVTNP. There will also be substantial environmental impacts as a result of the construction materials used such as concrete, steel etc. Fragmentation of wildlife corridors including established bio links via vegetation clearance will result in further decreases in biodiversity of fauna and flora in affected areas. Decisions made by Government in relation to this project directly conflicts with decades of scientific research demonstrating that vegetation clearance directly contributes to a warming and changing climate. The construction and resultant transmission line and towers will:

1. cause loss of protected native animals and threatened species such as the Swift Parrots through habitat loss and destruction,
2. remove upwards of 155,000 mature native trees removing vital carbon sequestration by exposing the easement to low or non-vegetative areas,
3. have devastating effects on birdlife and bat species in our area that will collide with transmission infrastructure,
4. disturb, alter and destroy habitat conditions for many animals,
5. disorientate and disturb birds and fauna as a result of ongoing noise, vibration and lighting, and
6. destroy native vegetation and ground water dependent ecosystems that may be affected by surface hydrological changes.

Another significant impact to the environment is the heightened fire risk and subsequent risk to lives, homes, bush land and agricultural land that overhead transmission lines pose. This is two-fold with evidence that transmission lines cause bushfires (as confirmed in the WVTNP Bushfire Preliminary EES Information Sheet) and the restrictions transmission lines and towers impose when fighting fires and trying to save lives, homes and the natural environment. This is certainly not congruent with your suggestion that transmission lines reduce pollution, protect climate and preserve nature.

You have stated that building transmission line networks "must involve a greater role for regional communities and First Nations groups". This has certainly not happened with the WVTNP. When trying to speak with government about the project (both state and federal) no one is taking ownership and to get information about the process and the overall energy plan has been tied up in bureaucratic red tape. As far as the planning processes involving regional communities and First Nations groups, this certainly hasn't happened either, with "inferior community consultation" only happening after the RIT-T process and AusNet dismissing communities concern along the 190km proposed route.

You also state that Hosting transmission lines should add to the strength of farming businesses and that they should be paid well to host these. The substantial detrimental impacts of overhead transmission lines reach far beyond any compensation. If you think about the reasons that people choose to live regionally/rurally such as; being close to nature, getting away from large city infrastructure, visual amenity of the scenery, peace and quiet – all of this will be taken away and property values negatively impacted by overhead transmission lines. This is a direct result of AusNets lack of genuine consultation and willingness to seek better outcomes for all Victorians. We invite you to talk with people directly impacted by the proposed WVTNP route to see if they believe any monetary compensation will cover for everything they will lose by "hosting" these transmission lines on their property. Not everyone directly impacted are farming businesses, but everyone will suffer a drop in property value, massive impacts to visual amenity a loss of the environment many of us are so preciously protecting. There is also the impact to those neighbours adjacent the easements who will see these monstrous eyesores and the affect it will have on their lives and livelihoods. Many affects this will have include decreased property values, visual amenity loss and health implications including mental health issues. These 'neighbours' aren't offered any compensation at all!

I ask you to also consider the mental health impacts that overhead transmission lines have on the people that live next to and near them and ask you if you can put a cost on this? We are seeing the impacts of this daily with ccommunities along the 190km route dealing with serious mental health challenges these proposed overhead transmission lines are causing, creating high levels of stress and mental fatigue. Is one persons mental health worth pursuing this outdated overhead transmission technology, let alone tens of thousands of Victorians?

There are far better options available other than overhead transmission lines that will reduce congestion on the existing transmission network, provide actual net renewable energy, have far less impact on the environment and visual pollution and have the support of communities. Underground via HVDC energy transmission is best practice around the world and Australian scientific studies support this. When comparing to overhead transmission lines, underground energy transmission is more reliable, safer and more efficient and will not be impacted by extreme weather, or increase the risk of catastrophic bushfire and will have dramatically less impact to property values. Important  benefits of undergrounding include reduced maintenance and far less impact to the environment. Again, I ask you to re-issue your statement and call-out the devastating affects overhead transmission lines cause.

There is no question that we need to consider what the future of not only Victoria's but Australia's energy supply will look like. The question is do we want to be considered world leaders in how we achieve this or are we happy to rush ahead and take a much less socially responsible path and continue with out-dated, inferior and destructive overhead electricity technology? Our energy supply system can be designed to minimise the impact on the environment and landscape and take account of human needs, overhead transmission lines aren't the answer.

A GREEN Generation solution requires a GREEN Transmission solution. I urge you to please drive the future thinking required to provide a renewable energy solution that is not out-dated, inferior and destructive but one that all Australians and our natural environment deserve and is in Australia's best strategic national interest. 'Stop AusNets Towers' invites you to speak with them to discuss further how the WVNTP project has impacted them and why overhead transmission lines aren't the answer.

Regards,

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57 signatures

January 30th, 2022

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The Hon. Maryanne Thomas, Minister for Regional Development, Agriculture & Resources
The Hon. Lily D’Ambrosio, Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change

Summary: I am writing to ask you to do what you can to stop activity on the Western Victoria Transmission Network Project (WVTNP) until ALL options including undergrounding are properly considered…..

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Western Victorian Transmission Network Project - Options

Dear Minister,

A GREEN Generation solution requires a GREEN Transmission solution. Using out-dated, inferior and destructive overhead electricity transmission technology is NOT in Australia's strategic national interest, nor cost-effective.

I am writing to ask you to do what you can to stop activity on the Western Victoria Transmission Network Project (WVTNP) until ALL options, including undergrounding, are properly considered.

AusNet, the current proponent, is continuing to demonstrate it has no social licence and is not actively listening to the tens of thousands of Victorians that will be adversely affected by these transmission lines and the up to 80-metre-high towers along the 190km route.  I support the idea of connecting the whole state to renewable energy. However, the overhead transmission option that AusNet is progressing continues the use of dated technology which will bring extra risk and many adverse impacts for all communities dissected by the proposed route.

Reducing risk and impact to communities and the environment by undergrounding energy transmission is best practice around the world, many Australian studies support this. Compared to overhead, underground energy transmission is far less likely to be impacted by extreme weather or physical interruption, hence is more reliable and  requires less maintenance. Undergrounding also avoids increasing the risk of, and risks associated with, fighting catastrophic bushfires and hence is safer. Undergrounding also presents far less impact to property values and the environment.

AusNet recently released a summary of its preliminary findings from its investigation into undergrounding the WVTNP. These studies are required by the Environmental Effect Statement (EES) process. While the findings are only preliminary, AusNet has prematurely dismissed the option of undergrounding on the basis of only looking at one option which uses High Voltage Alternating Current (HVAC) and stating this would cost approximately 16 times more than the proposed overhead HVAC option. There are several concerns that AusNet's summary raises:

*The summary contains very little detail on design, and no detail on cost, and has been used to 'suggest' that an underground AusNet HVAC system, although unsubstantiated and without peer review, is prohibitively expensive.

*AusNet's perfunctory assessment presumes the currently identified overhead transmission corridor will be used. This terrain is not considered optimal for underground transmission given its elevation shifts, however, numerous options exists to lay underground cabling along flatter terrain have not been explored.

*AusNet has since admitted that the cost to put its 'HVAC design' underground is not 16 times more expensive which the summary claims. AusNet representatives admitted to representatives from the Local Council's in early December 2021 that it was only "five times more expensive", not 16. However, I am yet to see this be corrected officially anywhere.

*Why has only one undergrounding option been considered, in this case HVAC? Why hasn't underground High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) been considered in similar detail?

*Why is the decision to provide extra transmission capacity to supply reliable and renewable power to Victorians based solely on short-term capital cost? It is far too narrow thinking to base the design of the solution for this massive project solely on construction costs. Why aren't the full social, environmental and economic costs and impacts mentioned above taken into account, over the life of the system?

In contrast to what is proposed for the WVTNP, the following examples argue that undergrounding provides the best outcome for all concerned:

*The Marinus Link from Hazelwood to Tasmania is being designed as an underground HVDC cable for the 90 km in Gippsland - the commercial business case says it is more economically viable, more efficient, and more beneficial to go underground rather than overhead.

*The Star of the South offshore wind farm, off Gippsland, is proposing to transmit HVAC underground from the beach to Hazelwood for over 75 km - “because of the greater benefit they see to the community, landscape and the environment."

*Power for the Victorian Desalination Plant at Wonthaggi, commissioned in 2012 (and currently managed by AusNet) - a new 87 km underground 220 kV HVAC power cable was constructed to supply power to the plant, in the same easement as the transfer pipeline. Underground power was the State Government's preferred power solution for the project as it presented the least impact on landowners, farmers and other people living and working in the area.

Underground options for the WVTNP are feasible. The report by HVDC experts, Amplitude Consultants, into underground HVDC (as opposed to HVAC) alternatives released in June this year, contains detailed concept designs and costings for three feasible and technically superior, underground HVDC options for the WVTNP.

Whilst the upfront capital cost of underground transmission systems typically exceed those of overhead systems, over the life of the system when considering all costs including environmental and social impacts, undergrounding is a vastly superior outcome. Over a notional 40-year life of the system underground transmission presents far less impact and risk than AusNet's overhead option. Crucially, underground transmission does not add extra risk to bushfire prone areas.

The Federal and State Governments (through the Australian Energy Market Operator) own the project, and the State Government can stop it. As an impacted community member and Victorian constituent, I am asking you to ensure this project is transparent and that proper analysis of all the alternatives is undertaken. I ask that you commit to a better, safer, smarter underground solution for the WVTNP.

Undergrounding options are feasible for the WVTNP and I am sure these will win the support of all communities from Sydenham to Bulgana. I ask you to please stop the current project and send it back to the drawing board to deliver the project in a way that minimises the impact on our communities and environment.

Contrary to belief, the EES cannot provide the mechanism to assess the best outcome for the community, it will only assess whether an inferior solution's impacts can be mitigated to a level sufficiently low enough to be acceptable. The impacts these proposed overhead transmission lines will be permanent and cannot be mitigated later. What will you do for the thousands of Victorians that will be impacted by the proposed transmission lines? I urge you to please step forward and help drive the future thinking required to provide the renewable energy transmission solution that Victorians, all Australians, and our natural environment deserve.

Regards,

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80 signatures

January 25th, 2022

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The Hon. Maryanne Thomas, Minister for Regional Development, Agriculture & Resources

Summary: I am writing to ask that you stand by the thousands of people, including me, whose properties, livelihood and choice to take up the Australian dream will be adversely affected by the proposed Western Victoria Transmission Network Project (WVTNP). I am asking that you please do what you can to take AusNet and this project back to the drawing board….

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WVTNP and Impact on Property Values

Dear Minster,

I am writing to ask that you stand by the thousands of people, including me, whose properties, livelihood and choice to take up the Australian dream will be adversely affected by the proposed Western Victoria Transmission Network Project (WVTNP). I am asking that you please do what you can to take AusNet and this project back to the drawing board.

Property values of thousands of community members right along the 190km of proposed transmission lines which will include up to 80-metre-high towers will plummet by up to 40%. Would you want to live next to or near these unsightly industrial transmission lines and massive towers? Homes, properties and livelihoods that will be directly affected by the project will see property values decline for a number of reasons including a significant loss of land use due to the massive (up to 100-meter-wide) easements that will be imposed to accommodate this project.

The adverse impact on property values will extend well beyond those properties directly affected by the proposed alignment. It will also affect thousands more people whose homes will be devalued due to loss of visual amenity, ongoing environmental impacts, health implications and the increased fire risk this project will cause. I call on you to support these people affected and ensure ALL options for renewable energy for ALL Victorians are considered.

Those of us who choose to live in a rural setting accept the risk of bushfires and have plans in place to mitigate these risks. However, the addition of overhead transmission infrastructure which is proven to cause both bush and grass fires as well as significantly hampering the fighting of these fires is an unacceptable increase in risk to the thousands of community members who will be impacted. Could you please explain how you can justify this increased risk and likely loss of lives?

The substantial detrimental impacts of this project on thousands of Victorians reach far beyond any compensation. If you think about the reasons that people choose to live regionally/rurally such as; being close to nature, getting away from large city infrastructure, visual amenity of the scenery, peace and quiet – all of this will be taken away and property values negatively impacted. This is a direct result of AusNets lack of genuine consultation and willingness to seek better outcomes for all Victorians. This can be stopped. I urge you to do what you can to stop this project in its current form and ensure a future of renewable energy with fewer impacts to the community.

There are far better options available to transfer the energy that will provide the required capacity for renewable energy with far less impact on the value of tens of thousands of community members. I ask you again to please stop AusNet's Towers and take this project back to the drawing board.

Underground energy transmission is best practice around the world and Australian scientific studies support this. Underground energy transmission is more reliable, safer and more efficient and will not be impacted by extreme weather, or increase the risk of catastrophic bushfire and will have dramatically less impact to property values. A cost benefit analysis needs to consider far more than the initial capital cost.

No amount of compensation will offset the devaluation, loss of amenity and increased risk, particularly for bushfires this project will cause. The impacts these proposed transmission lines will have will be permanent and cannot be mitigated later. What will you do for the thousands of Victorians that will be impacted by the proposed transmission lines? I urge you to please step forward and help drive the future thinking required to provide a renewable energy solution that not only Victorians, but all Australians and our natural environment deserve.

I call upon you to take a stand with everyone along the 190km of the proposed corridor and stop AusNet's Towers and take this project back to the drawing board to deliver the project in a way that minimises the impact on our communities and environment.

Regards,

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103 signatures

December 22nd, 2021

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The Hon Martin Foley MP, Minister For Health
The Hon. Maryanne Thomas, Minister for Regional Development, Agriculture & Resources

Summary: I am writing to ask what price you would put on the mental health of tens of thousands of Victorians?…

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MENTAL HEALTH & COMMUNITY WELLBEING

Dear Minister,

I am writing to ask what price you would put on the mental health of tens of thousands of Victorians? The proposed high voltage transmission line and terminal station project being undertaken by AusNet's services running through western Victoria, is causing a profound increase in community mental health issues along its 190km route. Is the net outcome of this project worth the ongoing significant mental health impacts this will cause to these Victorians?

The Western Victoria Transmission Network Project (WVTNP) will have a devastating and irreversible effect along the whole route impacting tens of thousands of regional Victorians, hundreds of businesses and the natural environment. Parts of the proposed route run through Victoria's most high-risk bushfire areas as well as prime agricultural land.

I ask you to imagine for a minute that you are a third-generation farmer that is raising your family on the land that you have such wonderful memories growing up on. Imagine that even with all the ups and downs that farming has, you love your "job" and you love being on the land and providing food and agriculture for Australians.  You chose to live this 'quiet' life, away from the city and love the serenity you have created on your property. Now imagine you receive a letter from AusNet advising there will be a high voltage transmission line running directly through your productive livelihood and your piece of the quiet life. I ask you to think what this would do to you and your family's mental health over the many years that this process takes and the ongoing and lasting impacts this will have.

Alternatively, I ask you to imagine for a minute, your home. The place where you have created memories in, the place you chose to live because of the serenity and the visual amenity it offered so close to national parks and away from urbanisation. The place where you and your family have loved being a part of the local community. Now imagine for a minute that you find out that all this will be destroyed by AusNet's proposed transmission lines and up to 80-metre-high towers. Everything that you have loved and cherished about the part of the world you have chosen to live in such as the serenity and visual amenity particularly the views to national parks and/or rural vistas will be taken away from you without consideration of the impacts to you and your community. Add to this the stress of the increased risk of bushfires these transmission lines and towers pose. I ask you to think what this would do to you and your family's mental health over the many years that this process takes as well as the ongoing and lasting impacts this will have.

This is a David and Goliath battle with AusNet having the backing of experience, specialists, large budgets and a full-time workforce. The people impacted by the proposed route have to keep their livelihoods going, juggle full time jobs and family life all while trying to digest the myriad of information and understand the complexity of the process. How is this process equitable?

AusNet and its associated consultants manage the complexities of large-scale infrastructure projects such as this on a regular basis. For the vast majority of people potentially impacted by this project, they have not dealt with anything like this in their lifetime, and for many we feel AusNet are listening but are not hearing what the community is saying. This is a tiring, stressful process for people not used to this level of bureaucracy and lacks meaningful engagement with AusNet who appear to have no regard for the community's wellbeing.

The mental health of so many local people is being seriously impacted by AusNet's behaviour and the proposed high voltage transmission project.  AusNet's final preferred overhead transmission path announcement is a continued demonstration of their unwillingness to absorb and suitably respond to the many thousands of voices opposed to the project.

Communities along the 190km route are dealing with these serious mental health challenges daily, creating high levels of stress and mental fatigue. Please consider again, what would you do if faced with the threat of losing everything you have worked for as a result of the WVTNP? This situation is at crisis point for so many. I ask you again - what price do you put on the mental health of one Victorian, let alone tens of thousands of Victorians?
Underground energy transmission is best practice around the world and Australian scientific studies support this. Underground energy transmission is more reliable, safer and more efficient and will not be impacted by extreme weather, or increase the risk of catastrophic bushfire.

I urge you to please step forward and help drive the future thinking required to provide a renewable energy solution that not only Victorians, but all Australians and our natural environment deserve and importantly, support mentally well regional and rural communities.

I call upon you to take a stand with everyone along the 190km of the proposed corridor and stop AusNet's Towers and take this project back to the drawing board to deliver the project in a way that minimises the impact on our communities and the environment.

Regards,

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126 signatures

December 13th, 2021

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Lily D’Ambrosio, Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change

Summary: I am writing to ask that you reconsider the proposed route and the construction methodologies (e.g. overhead Vs undergrounding) for the Western Victoria Transmission Network Project (WVTNP) due to the significant environmental impacts this will cause…

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Proposed WVTNP and Environmental Impacts

Dear Minister,

I am writing to ask that you reconsider the proposed route and the construction methodologies (e.g. overhead Vs undergrounding) for the Western Victoria Transmission Network Project (WVTNP) due to the significant environmental impacts this will cause.

AusNet’s website claims the WVTNP will supply power to only around 500,000 homes in Melbourne and that: "The project is critical infrastructure required to unlock the renewable energy potential of western Victoria as a key Renewable Energy Zone and will help to deliver clean and affordable energy to Victorians."

Along the proposed 190km corridor which includes 80-metre-high towers, there will be extensive loss of native vegetation, biomass and wildlife habitat including many endangered species’ to construct the WVTNP. There will also be substantial environmental impacts as a result of the construction materials used such as concrete, steel etc. 
Could you please explain how the "renewable energy" that these new lines are supposed to supply will outweigh the environmental ‘costs’ of this project? Furthermore, could you please explain how these significant environmental impacts are congruent with a renewable energy policy?

Fragmentation of wildlife corridors including established bio links via vegetation clearance will result in further decreases in biodiversity of fauna and flora in affected areas. Decisions made by Government in relation to this project directly conflicts with decades of scientific research demonstrating that vegetation clearance directly contributes to a warming and changing climate.

The construction and resultant transmission line and towers will:
•	cause loss of protected native animals and threatened species such as the Swift Parrots through habitat loss and destruction,
•	have devastating effects on birdlife and bat species in our area that will collide with transmission infrastructure,
•	disturb and alter habitat conditions for many animals,
•	disorientate and disturb birds and fauna as a result of ongoing noise, vibration and lighting, and
•	destroy native vegetation and ground water dependent ecosystems that may be affected by surface hydrological changes.

As an example the WVTNP is proposed to run alongside the Mount Beckworth Scenic Reserve that is home to a significant amount of native flora and fauna including more than 100 bird species. The transmission infrastructure would have an irreversible detrimental impact to the faunal life in the area due to the disturbance and alteration of habitat conditions through construction as well as long term effects from noise and vibration, not to mention loss of habitat.

There is no doubt that we need renewable energy, however based on the above I do not believe this is the best option to achieve this. AusNet’s proposal of overhead transmission lines is not the 21st century solution Australia is looking for. There are much more environmentally responsible options that could be taken to show we truly are forward thinkers in delivering actual renewable energy including underground options and a different route using existing easements.

I urge you to please step forward and help drive the future thinking required to provide a renewable energy solution that not only Victorians, but all Australians and our natural environment deserve.

I call upon you to take a stand with all the communities along the 190km of the proposed corridor and stop AusNet’s Towers and take this project back to the drawing board.

Regards,

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182 signatures

December 13th, 2021

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The Hon. Lily D’Ambrosio, Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change
The Hon. Jaclyn Symes, Minister for Emergency Services
The Hon. Richard Wynne Minister for Planning and Housing
Daniel Westermann CEO, AEMO
Andrew Dyer, Australian Energy Infrastructure Commissioner

Summary: I am writing to ask that you reconsider the proposed route and the construction methodologies (e.g. overhead Vs undergrounding) for the Western Victoria Transmission Network Project (WVTNP) due to the significant fire risk and subsequent risk to lives, homes, bush land and agricultural land this will pose…

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Proposed WVTNP and Fire Risks

Dear Minister,

I am writing to ask that you reconsider the proposed route and the construction methodologies (e.g. overhead Vs undergrounding) for the Western Victoria Transmission Network Project (WVTNP) due to the significant fire risk and subsequent risk to lives, homes, bush land and agricultural land this will pose.

There are two main issues to consider around fire risk concerning the WVTNP:

1.	high voltage power lines causing fires, and
2.	restrictions that transmission lines and towers cause when fighting fires and trying to save lives and homes.

Along the proposed 190km corridor which includes 80-metre-high towers, there are both Extreme and High to Very-High Risk areas identified in the Victorian Fire Risk Register.  Many are listed in the High to Very-High Fire Risk category, of note the Wombat-Lerderderg National park sits in the top ten highest risk areas in the state. In the planning for the upcoming bush fire season the recently released CFA 2021 summer fire season risk analysis shows many areas along the proposed route fall within the high fire loss category. Under the State Government Climate Change Projections, the region is expected to experience increased summer temperatures, decreased rainfall days, especially in Spring, but with increased rain intensity (storm) events. These factors are likely to increase further the fire risk classification for this region.

Fires can be, and are regularly, caused by high voltage power lines. For example, AusNet Services Group reported to Energy Safe Victoria and the Australian Energy Regulator, that there were 79 'fire-start' incidents in the 6 months between January and June 2016.  Of these, 59 were attributed to: lightning strikes; contacts with birds, animals, or objects, HV fuse failures; and other infrastructure failures. It is noted that the arc distance for a 500kV overhead power line that is hit by lightning is up to 50m from the base of the tower.
Fighting fires under the proposed 500Kv high voltage lines and 80-metre-high towers is high risk and provides many unknown hazards. Throughout the proposed corridor there is difficult to access terrain including areas adjacent the state and national parks which amplifies the risks with fighting fires. Consequently, there is a growing list of CFA firefighting groups along the proposed route that say they will not tackle blazes near these transmission lines. We have seen live examples of this occurring including in Lexton/Avoca in December 2019 when an extra 2,000 acres were lost due to both aerial and land firefighting not being able to fight near transmission lines due to the risks involved.

The proposed route will have significant devastating impacts through some of Victoria's most beautiful tourist destinations and pristine natural bushland, impacting culture and heritage, local tourism, regional businesses, and prime agriculture.

I ask you, what will you say to families when their homes and livelihoods will be lost along this route because these transmission lines caused a fire and because of these lines the CFA could do nothing to fight them? What about the devastating loss of vegetation and habitat and loss of fauna this will also cause? The impacts of such we are only just beginning to understand after 'Black Summer'.

Underground energy transmission is best practice around the world and Australian scientific studies support this. Underground energy transmission is more reliable, safe and efficient and will not be impacted by extreme weather, or increase the risk of catastrophic bushfire.

I urge you to please step forward and help drive the future thinking required to provide a renewable energy solution that not only Victorians, but all Australians and our natural environment deserve.

Do you want to be responsible for another devastating bushfire like we have seen over the last few years with 'Black Saturday' and 'Black Summer' by neglecting the evidence and best practice surrounding these powerlines and fire impacts? I call upon you to take a stand with all the communities along the 190km of the proposed corridor and stop AusNet's Towers and take this project back to the drawing board.

Regards,

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148 signatures

November 11th, 2021

Daniel Andrews, Premier of Victoria
Richard Wynne, Minister for Planning
Lily D’Ambrosio, Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change

Summary: AusNet have finally put a price on our lives and livelihoods. The proposed compensation package for those impacted by the Western Victoria Transmission Network Project is an insult. The compensation plan does nothing to address the many thousands who sit adjacent the proposed transmission corridor who stand to lose significant amenity and will face heightened risk. No amount of money will protect us from the threat of bushfire, save our farms from devastation or stop the loss of precious landscapes. You need to intervene and direct AusNet to send the WVTNP back to the drawing board…

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Our livelihoods are not for sale

Premier Andrews and Ministers D’Ambrosio and Wynne

AusNet have finally put a price on our lives and livelihoods. The proposed compensation package for those impacted by the Western Victoria Transmission Network Project is an insult.

You need to intervene and stop this project before it destroys Western Victorian communities.

AusNet is stubbornly forging ahead with a project that will see bushfire risk skyrocket, farms that have been in families for generations wiped out and Victoria's $250 million potato industry decimated – along with the 1,250 jobs it supports.

AusNet's wants to buy our community's silence for $200,000 per landholder that hosts the 85m-high transmission tower. It's loose change for a $10 billion multinational and it doesn't cover a fraction of the millions of dollars of loss landowners will face – many for generations.

The compensation plan does nothing to address the many thousands who sit adjacent the proposed transmission corridor who stand to lose significant amenity and will face heightened risk.

No amount of money will protect us from the threat of bushfire, save our farms from devastation or stop the loss of precious landscapes. 
You need to intervene and direct AusNet to send the WVTNP back to the drawing board.

Our community, our safety and our livelihoods are not for sale.

Yours sincerely

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159 signatures

June 28th, 2021

Richard Wynne, Minister for Planning
Lily D’Ambrosio, Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change
Mary-Anne Thomas, Minister for Agriculture
Tim Smith MP, Shadow Minister for Planning
Cc: Andrew Dyer, Energy Infrastructure Commissioner

Summary: I’m writing to urge you to protect Victorian farmers from the devastating impacts of AusNet’s proposed Western Victoria Transmission Network project…

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Save our farms, Stop AusNet's Towers

Dear Ministers
 
I'm writing to urge you to protect Victorian farmers from the devastating impacts of AusNet's proposed Western Victoria Transmission Network project.
 
As you would be aware, potato manufacturer McCain has told the State Government that the WVTNP "directly threatens the loss of the McCain's potato production facility in Ballarat, over $250M in economic impact and more than 1100 jobs. (Herald Sun, 14 May).
 
Mt Prospect potato farmer, Joe Aganetti-Fraser, told the Herald Sun that: "We won't be able to supply McCain with our full contracts. We won't be able to farm or produce the tonnage needed."
 
Farming is the lifeblood of regional and rural Victorian communities, including many along the proposed WVTNP alignment.
 
It is inconceivable that the State Government would recklessly risk the future of an agricultural industry that contributes hundreds of millions of dollars to the state's economy and supports more than a thousand jobs in country Victoria. It is even more concerning that it would do so when there are available alternatives that are less intrusive, more efficient and safer.
 
AusNet's cheap and nasty transmission lines will destroy a valuable part of Victoria's foodbowl, unless you act.
 
You need to take steps to protect Victorian farmers and ensure our state's agricultural industry and food security.
 
Yours sincerely

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221 signatures

April 9th, 2021

The Hon Richard Wynne MP, Minister for Planning
The Hon Lily D’Ambrosio MP, Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change
Marlene Kairouz MP, Member for Kororoit (ALP)
Steve McGhie MP, Member for Melton (ALP)
Juliana Addison MP, Member for Wendouree (ALP)
Michaela Settle MP, Member for Buninyong (ALP)
Louise Staley MP, Member for Ripon (LIB)
Michael Obrien, Liberal Opposition Leader
Andrew Dyer, Australian Energy Infrastructure Commissioner

Summary: I am writing to you about the Western Victorian Transmission Network Project (WVTNP) being undertaken by AusNet and my concerns of their disingenuous community consultation. I strongly oppose AEMO’s contract for AusNet to install towers and the Terminal Station through Western Victoria. My views and concerns are shared by my immediate and extended family, neighbours and landowners. Overhead towers are environmentally and socially unacceptable. Our stance is based on evidence, such as recent tower failures at Cressy, outcomes of the 2009 Bushfires Royal Commission, local advice from the CFA, and coalesced feedback from affected parties…

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AusNet's Disingenuous Community Consultation

Dear Sir or Madam,

I am writing to you about the Western Victorian Transmission Network Project (WVTNP) being undertaken by AusNet and my concerns of their disingenuous community consultation.

I strongly oppose AEMO's contract for AusNet to install towers and the Terminal Station through Western Victoria. My views and concerns are shared by my immediate and extended family, neighbours and landowners. Overhead towers and the Terminal Station are environmentally and socially unacceptable. Our stance is based on evidence, such as recent tower failures at Cressy, outcomes of the 2009 Bushfires Royal Commission, local advice from the CFA, and coalesced feedback from affected parties.

The community and I have made and continue to make the above objections clear to AusNet and the Australian Energy Market Operator. AEMO are markedly unresponsive and absent. It appears AEMO is leaving all community consultation to AusNet. The ever-escalating problem for all affected is that AusNet are proving at best under resourced or incompetent, at worst deceptive.  Affected communities in Western Victoria have attempted to engage AusNet constructively via established feedback pathways. Taking in all engagement with AusNet to date, their message repeatedly boils down to 'the contractual scope we have with AEMO is to install AC transmission towers and the Terminal Station'. It is clear AusNet has either no interest or no mechanism to affect real change to genuinely address concerns.

To elaborate, the following information represents some of the feedback raised by affected communities, demonstrating AusNet's inability to conduct effective, credible consultation:

1. AusNet either does not comprehend the impacts on the community, or they do not care.
2. AusNet are more focused on espousing project benefits than sincerely addressing impacts.
3. Feedback and concerns raised with AusNet have mostly been ignored or placated.
4. AusNet continues to communicate deceitful assertions about transmission towers and the Terminal Station, minimising the risks that the towers and the Terminal Station present in relation to fire hazards (started by electrical failure), fire management, and impacts on the environment.
5. Face-to-face "Drop In" sessions held from 2:00 - 7:00 PM weekdays, are unsuitable for most who work or commute during these times and therefore only represent a partial demographic. 
6. Some community members able to attend were turned away due to lack of staff.
7. This poor consultation has led to widespread anxiety and stress within the community.

The WVTNP 'community consultation', to date, has been a mere formality. It is very apparent that community concerns, no matter how genuine, credible, or grave, can only hope to affect superficial, if any, change on the current WVTNP scope.

For clarification, the only mechanism for AusNet to action tangible change is to activate an 'exit clause'. The current consultation process simply allows AusNet to tick a box. The process as it stands is disingenuous and insulting, pushing the community and their objections aside.

I therefore seek your assistance for a step change in the consultation process, to allow AusNet to appropriately resource and address the many and varied concerns or to replace AusNet's role in community consultation with a more component, responsive and empowered body who act on the many and varied concerns raised by the thousands of residents and landowners directly and indirectly affected by the WVTNP.

If your review of the situation regrettably finds that genuine consultation is not achievable, I ask that you do everything within your power to enact the WVTNP exit clause. From there, we envisage the pathway forward would be to utilise all feedback gathered to date, from all affected communities, to inform a considered scope that weighs community, economic, social, and environmental concerns.

If appropriate action is not taken by decision makers, AusNet will be permitted to install a suboptimal solution, with a relatively short life span, that risks the safety and livelihood of thousands of people and the environment. Affected communities will be left with an overly negative legacy, with generational implications.

A response from your office to advise what action you intend to take in response to my letter would be much appreciated.

Yours sincerely,

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