Farmers from across the region have converged on Wagga to protest HumeLink as the city hosted a drop-in session for a government review on the state's compulsory land acquisition law.
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About 16 farmers from the Wagga, Cootamundra-Gundagai and Snowy Valleys regions gathered outside the Wagga RSL on Wednesday to protest against Transgrid and call for the project to be placed underground.
The march coincided with the final drop-in session for the NSW government land acquisition review at the RSL.
The review being conducted by the department of planning, housing and infrastructure is looking over the Land Acquisition Act 1991.
HumeLink Action Group and protest organiser Bill Kingwill said the protesters were demanding the project be placed underground.
He expressed hope government representatives would acknowledge farmers were upset and hear their message as a result of the protest.
Mr Kingwill said there were about 100 landowners with properties affected by the present route of the HumeLink project. They have all refused to sign an agreement with Transgrid to let the project go ahead.
He said as soon as a property acquisition notice (PAN) is served against any of those farmers, there would be consequences.
"We're going to commence legal action when they commence legal action," Mr Kingwill said.
Adelong farmer Pippa Quilty said she was "shocked" when she found out her property would be affected by the HumeLink project.
"We hadn't initially been affected by Transgrid, but then as different groups lobbied against it, the project was moved onto our land," Ms Quilty said.
"Initially we wondered how they could do that ... to us.
"We've been here farming the land for such a long time and we really care about it."
Ms Quilty said she is not anti-progress or anti-green energy.
"If something needs to be done, it needs to be done," she said.
"But our biggest problem with this project is that things haven't been done properly."
A Transgrid spokesperson said the company strongly supported the state government's Land Acquisition Review and reforms to deliver better outcomes for landowners.
"We are currently compiling a detailed formal submission for the review," the spokesperson said.
Transgrid said landowners and regional communities were critical to achieving Australia's clean energy transition.
"We acknowledge the challenges landowners face when nation-critical transmission projects are being planned and built to accelerate our transformation to renewable energy," the spokesperson said.
"Transgrid remains steadfastly committed to engaging with communities and landowners impacted by the major transmission projects which are critical to realising the Commonwealth and NSW governments' clean energy vision.
"We understand that landowners expect and deserve meaningful consultation, timely decision making to provide certainty, and compensation commensurate with the impact of accommodating energy infrastructure on their properties."
Transgrid said it had strongly advocated for improvements to landowner compensation.
"We welcomed the introduction of the state government's Strategic Benefit Payment, providing landowners with $200,000 per kilometre of transmission line, amortised over a 20-year period," the spokesperson said.
"We make every attempt to reach settlement with property owners through fair, respectful and transparent negotiations. Compulsory acquisition is only ever used as a last resort."
The HumeLink team is progressing negotiations with landowners and has already achieved in principle agreements with nearly two-thirds of landowners.
"We look forward to continuing to work with all parties to find fair and equitable solutions to enabling the clean energy transition with minimal impact to communities and at the lowest cost to energy consumers," the spokesperson said.