The standard payments will be $8,000 a year for 25 years for those with transmission easements on their land.
Moorabool Central Highlands Power Alliance chair, Emily Muir, called the payments a “sweetener” but claimed they did not go far enough to compensate farmers.About one kilometre of the farm she lives on with her husband is likely to be affected by the Western Renewables Link. Muir said she wasn’t against renewable energy projects but believed power lines and towers on her property would impact farming in various ways, including restricting weed spraying from a helicopter, stopping the movement of certain machinery or stock, and interrupting views.
“I feel like it’s the government trying to get us over the line to agree to a project that we’ve been protesting against for two-and-a-half years,” she said.