Business & Rural
2 October, 2025
Farmers receive compulsary access letters in next step for VNI West project
TCV’s acceleration of studies for the VNI West project has been labelled "coercive" and intimidating”.
THE FIRST letters to farmers telling them Transmission Company Victoria was to compulsorily access land for controversial renewable energy project assessments are being delivered this afternoon.
TCV’s acceleration of studies for the VNI West project has been labelled "coercive" and "intimidating”.
The NCN Herald has been told farmers in the St Arnaud area have received access notices from TCV with the company also confirming letters are being delivered asking farmers to either voluntarily grant access or face a compulsory order.
St Arnaud district famer Gerald Feeney has called this move "intimidation by the TCV and the (State) Government".
"They are trying to create conflict to back up their latest tactic of claiming those opposing are divisive and possibly violent," he said.
The TCV has confirmed it has been in contact with a small number of landholders about upcoming property access requirements for critical ecology surveys.
They said the letters outlined when surveys needed to occur, and the voluntary and ”compulsory access pathways available to undertake this important work”.
"We are committed to working with landholders, creating flexible pathways for access, and providing the space and time to make those calls to get property-specific advice,” VNI West program director Mick Douge said.
"Spring and summer ecology surveys involve non-invasive activities such as walkovers, photography, species identification and tree measurements. These surveys are essential to preparing the Environment Effects Statement, ensuring each property’s unique features, including sensitive flora and fauna, are properly considered.
"TCV is ready to meet each landholder’s voluntary access requirements – from biosecurity procedures, seasonal considerations to notice periods – as we have done for more than 160 properties across the project region."
Victorian Farmers’ Federation president Brett Hosking this afternoon said “We’ve consistently told TCV they must take a people-first approach and genuinely engage in a meaningful manner.
“Handing landholders a letter saying they will compulsory access their property to do land surveys flanked by a lawyer is completely tone-deaf and will only further add to mounting opposition to this project.
“This isn’t engagement, it’s coercion. It’s time the government went back to the drawing board.”
TCV said they will not be accessing properties under the recently legislated Section 93BD of the Electricity Industry Act 2000 (Vic) that threatens farmers and agricultural landowners with fine up to more than $40,000 if they refuse.
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