General News
8 July, 2026
Farmers caught in the middle from above and below
FARMERS may potentially be reduced to being spectators on their own land as government departments figure out how to reconcile the details of renewable energy projects with the already-announced intentions of mining companies.
In Warracknabeal last month, about 60 people attended a Wimmera Mallee Environmental and Agricultural Protection Association general meeting to discuss a range of subjects in association with mainly energy projects – including the recent declaration of the Western Renewable Energy Zone by the State Government, and the announcement of the Warracknabeal Energy Zone, a 26,000-hectare project of 219 wind turbines.
The Western REZ has two sections, with the north-western part covering about 350,000 hectares, with a boundary that starts about 10 kilometres north-east of Dimboola, reaches about 15km north-east of Rainbow, then continues across past Hopetoun to Watchupga, then south and south-west to Minyip.
WMEAP president Ross Johns said he had invited Victorian planning minister Sonya Kilkenny to the meeting, which included a request to address a perceived lack of community consultation, but the request was not even acknowledged, something he called “very disappointing”.
Moreover, Mr Johns said a key issue was achieving clarity on how the government would address the inconsistencies that were already emerging, with both miners and energy companies claiming similar levels of priority.
“The interesting thing is the miners claim that they're a government priority project, and the wind developers claim that they're a government priority project, and what we've got is two government priority projects on the same piece of land,” he said.
“This just shows extreme inconsistencies in government policy.”
Mr Johns said it absolutely had to be rectified, as it only added to the disquiet of farmers and rural communities.
Wimmera Mallee News highlighted the potential conflict in February, with Ballarat-based World Minerals and Resources claiming that the dual land-use approval was flawed and that there weren’t even plans for buffer zones.
With overlap between mining and renewables projects potentially affecting access and placing cumulative demands on regional infrastructure, the future of coexistence, with farming communities caught in the middle, was raising significant questions, according to Mr Johns.
“Government's not answering any of the questions,” he said.
Sonya Kilkenny’s office was contacted for comment.