Member for Mallee Dr Anne Webster was shoulder-to-shoulder with farmers in Ballarat on Friday as protestors from Mallee and across regional Victoria gave a frosty reception to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Premier Jacinta Allan at the Bush Summit.

Joining farmers and Victorian Senator Bridget McKenzie in tractors protesting at the event, Dr Webster said there was a stark contrast between, on one hand, the Prime Minister gaslighting Australians with his claims about energy policy while the Leader of the Opposition showed empathy with farmers.

“The morning after Victorian Labor rammed through draconian powers imposing fines of up to $8,000 for farmers refusing to allow TCV on their farms to build VNI West, the Prime Minister had the nerve to tell the Summit farmers deserve respect,” Dr Webster said.

“Nothing is more disrespectful than taking away property rights without any consultation.  I am so proud to stand with our farmers in Ballarat, Melbourne, Canberra – wherever we need to be – because they are doing a superb job at great cost making their voices heard.  I look forward to sharing Mallee’s Biggest Survey results soon that show the farmers absolutely represent the views of Mallee voters.

“Farmers were justified heckling Premier Jacinta Allan for her government’s aggressive railroading of their farms and communities to push on with VNI West with heavy-handed statutory powers.

“The Prime Minister also gaslit the audience claiming his government had never regulated coal out of the energy market in Australia, and that the ‘market’ was electing to move away from coal.

“Coal-fired energy generation continues to underpin our energy grid despite Labor demonising coal every chance it gets.  

The Prime Minister said in 2020:

"I don't think there's a place for coal-fired power plants in Australia, full stop."

The National Energy Market dashboard shows that over the last 12 months black and brown coal has contributed 61 per cent of Australia’s energy.

Leader of the Opposition Sussan Ley later told the summit:

“If a farmer doesn’t want a high powered transmission line to happen across their farmland it should not happen.”

Dr Webster said Ms Ley’s comments were very encouraging for Mallee farmers.

“I welcome the very clear statement from the Leader of the Opposition supporting, in effect, a farmer right of veto.  I continue to fight for farmers’ property rights in Canberra - and wherever I need to be - to ensure Mallee voices are heard loud and clear,” Dr Webster said.

“The passage of the Victorian Government bill on Thursday night is by no means the end of this sorry saga in sham community consultation on VNI West.”

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