One Nation vows to scrap 'disgraceful' fines for farmers opposing land acquisition

May 06, 2026

 

One Nation has vowed to scrap "disgraceful" fines for farmers who block access to their land and move to immediately repeal legislation allowing the compulsory acquisition of property for the VNI West transmission line.

Member for Northern Victoria Rikkie-Lee Tyrrell, a former dairy farmer, said her party would use the November election to push for a total roll-back of laws she claimed stripped producers of their right to manage their own soil.

Ms Tyrrell said she would do everything she could to support Victorian farmers if re-elected, including "repealing any legislation that negatively impacts on our farmers' ability to grow the food to feed our nation".

She said she was particularly focused on the laws that allowed for the compulsory acquisition of land for the VNI West.

"I will always stand with farmers and continue the fight against compulsory acquisition of land," she said.

"One Nation would immediately repeal this legislation."

She said she would also fight against fines being imposed on farmers who blocked access to their land.

"The power to fine farmers for refusing access to their own land is a disgrace and again One Nation would repeal this legislation," she said.

It follows a fortnight of attempted land access by VNI West staff to perform ecological surveys on affected properties.

The company had given 26 landholders from Stawell to Murrabit a notice of proposed entry to perform the surveys but were unable to access any of them despite the threat of fines of up to $6105.

Ms Tyrrell said One Nation was also opposed to the state government's Emergency Services and Volunteers Fund and the federal government's water buybacks.

She said she would always fight to ensure farmers and irrigators had access to the land and water they needed.

She said One Nation would support critical water projects like weirs and dams, support a better, more efficient Murray-Darling Basin Plan, oppose foreign ownership and trading of water entitlements and support the implementation of transparent and accountable water allocation systems that balanced the needs of producers with long-term resource viability.

She said One Nation would also push to give farmers more of a say on how their land was managed by supporting research, development and adoption of agricultural systems which improved productivity and water efficiency by enhancing soil conservation and biodiversity and working to reduce red, green and black tape, ensuring that farmers had the final say on how their land was managed and developed.

One Nation isn't the only party against the VNI West project, with the state opposition also vowing to pause work on it if elected in November.

Opposition agriculture spokesperson Emma Keeley said the current government had introduced legislative changes that took away the rights of landholders to have their say.

"The Nationals and Liberals already have a number of policies in regards to reversing the compulsory acquisition laws Labor has put in place throughout VNI West," Ms Keeley said.

"We will pause work on the project while a full review of the Victorian Energy Plan is carried out.

"It recognises the cost to build VNI West has gone into the billions of dollars in cost overruns and we haven't even got contracts signed yet.

"There are proposals for alternate routes, that would require fewer easements and cost less money, while providing the upgrades to the existing network that we need."