If you were in Ballarat yesterday, you may have been wondering why the town’s main streets were flooded with John Deeres, Massey Ferguson tractors, trucks and a whole heap of utes.
With the historical and well-known façade of Ballarat’s Lydiard street as a backdrop, over 70 vehicles were lined up in protest of the proposed installation of overhead powerlines across working farmland in regional and rural Victoria. AusNet’s high-voltage powerlines are planned to extend over 190 kilometres from Bulgana to Melbourne, and will include around 380 towers as tall as the light towers at Melbourne’s beloved MCG.
Yesterday a peaceful rally was held to increase public awareness of the project, and the negative impact that it can have on the broader community. A convoy of farm vehicles spent the morning travelling from the Ballarat Airport into Ballarat’s CBD, where they were met by on-foot supporters and speeches were delivered. After barricading the street for approximately an hour, the vehicles left at 2pm, with many people, including children, lining the streets to wave and show support.
Many of the vehicles were showcasing posters, signs, and flags opposing AusNet’s project. One read “don’t kill our kid’s future”, with another reading “overhead lines – that’s not green”.
Bringing the farmers and machinery into Ballarat’s CBD was a really effective strategy to draw attention, and to remind people of the importance of our farming and rural families. While people in cities and towns can often feel detached from or even forget about the importance of the farm life, being out of sight out of mind, this rally brought farming and rural living front and centre.
Not only is the compulsory acquisition of land for this project an understandable sore spot for those impacted, but there are a range of other concerns that have been raised by those rallying.
Stacey Corney, whose family’s farm is in the vicinity of AusNet’s towers, attended, and says “we have multiple concerns, mainly being the safety and health risks of our family living and working near the high voltage lines. We worry about the potential fire risks, and the environmental risk factors involved, with these lines running dangerously close to state forests and known native habitats.”
Overhead powerlines have been credited as contributing to the Black Saturday bushfires that devastated Victoria, and the areas involved in AusNet’s proposed project is already at increased risk for fires.
“AusNet were proven to be the cause of the Gippsland and Kinglake fires. Why are they still allowed to operate, erecting these dangerous life-threatening things so close to state forests and homes?”, Stacey asks.
The introduction of this project will also render a lot of farming land unworkable. Stacey explains, “it impacts the use of the land, from what crops can be planted around them, to what machinery and irrigation can be used under and around the towers”. Not only does this have an impact on the livelihoods of the farmers, but a reduction in available and useable farmland will have inevitable impacts on the supply chain, which is already under pressure. For those in cities, these supply chain issues can mean further increased prices, and reduced stock. ” Stacey also explained that reduced farm production “means loss of jobs”.
Those directly impacted by the AusNet towers are rallying to have the power transmission lines placed underground instead, or for other alternatives to be analysed. They are also pushing for genuine community consultation, to ensure that the introduction of a renewable energy corridor can be done without influencing the safety, wellbeing and livelihoods of farming families, and to mitigate risks of fire, environmental impact and biodiversity loss. Stacey says, “there’s talks of more transmission lines in the future, so the risk is that this will set a precedent”.
“The potential impact on communities is huge, from the increased risks of bushfires to the knock-on effects to businesses in and around Ballarat and surrounding communities”, Stacey says.
For the children who were in town watching on, today’s rally was a great opportunity to see some awesome machinery right in the middle of town. For many, today’s rally was an important conversation starter about the ongoing fight against AusNet’s towers.
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