General News
3 June, 2026
Nationals vow to fight VNI West
THE Nationals took to the road in Western Victoria last week in Maryborough and St Arnaud, vowing they would fight to stop the Victoria to NSW Interconnector West and additionally scrap the push for ‘Net Zero’, claiming the goal would have a “disastrous impact” on regional Victoria.
Speaking after the Farmers’ Forum in St Arnaud with a crowd of about 200, The Nationals leader, Matt Canavan, said farmers and the local community had made clear their opposition.
“Labor is destroying prime agricultural land with projects like VNI West, while unbelievably, at the same time, also giving foreign renewable energy investors a 50 per cent capital gains discount until 2030,” he said.
“We need an energy system that delivers affordable and reliable power, not billion-dollar transmission projects that benefit multinational renewable developers while regional Australians pay the price.”
Mallee MP, Anne Webster, also spoke at the events and said the rollout of the projects was “reckless” and she had “been speaking up for Mallee farmers for years in The Nationals Party Room, in the Coalition Party Room, and in the media”.
“I drafted the Prime Agricultural Land Protection Bill – which Matt Canavan kindly tabled in the Senate, and Alison Penfold MP in the House – which declares that The Nationals in Government will not back federal funding for projects that trash our prime ag land,” she said.
“It is crucial our leaders hear from farmers about the personal impact ... I will not support the VNI West.”
The Nationals deputy leader, Darren Chester, said the Coalition would cease any new financing, refinancing, concessional loans or debt for VNI West and related works.
“Labor’s net zero spending now equals at least $80 billion, which doesn’t even include the massively expensive Capacity Investment Scheme,” he said.
The Nationals said the VNI-West and WRL transmission lines were running billions of dollars over budget, and like the Suburban Rail Loop and Snowy 2.0 projects, were a poor use of taxpayer money, with broken promises on capital gains tax, negative gearing, and trusts further underlining what they called “wrecking our economy”.
Kanya farmer, Marcia McIntyre, said farmers felt relieved at the announcements.
“(The) renewables rollout threatens to destroy swathes of our food-producing land, driving up the cost of food and damaging our food security for generations,” she said.
“Worse still, this completely unnecessary multi-billion dollar project has already caused extreme emotional stress across farming families and entire communities.”