Overview

• The proposed amendments to the National Electricity Bill would allow authorised officers to issue on-the-spot fines up to $12,000 and use reasonable force to enter private farmland for transmission surveys and construction.
• Hundreds of farmers brought tractors to Melbourne streets and packed Parliament House steps, vowing to block surveyors and risk jail rather than cede access to their properties.
• VicGrid continues voluntary negotiations offering landholders $8,000 per kilometre annually for 25 years and expects almost all affected owners will sign access agreements.
• Key transmission projects have been delayed, with VNI West pushed back to late 2030 and the Western Renewables Link timeline also extended amid ongoing landowner resistance.
• Opposition parties have denounced the bill as authoritarian and pledged to repeal it if they win the 2026 state election.