By Jane McNaughton

By Warwick Long

ABC Rural

Topic: State and Territory Government

Thu 6 Aug 2026 at 9:30am

Trent Carter and his wife Kate will not pay the fine and will fight it in court.

In short:

West Victorian farmers got fines for not letting workers onto their land for VNI West transmission line work.

To continue the project, workers need to access private land to see if it's suitable.

What's next?

A sheep farmer says he won't pay the fine and will take it to court.

Farmers in Victoria's west were fined for not letting workers onto their land for transmission line planning.

12 farmers got $814 fines from the Victorian government for not allowing workers on their land.

6 more property owners got formal warnings for not letting workers in.

Trent Carter, a sheep farmer, won't pay the fine and will fight it in court.

He says it's a warning to all property owners in the country.

Carter will get legal help to set a precedent and not be bullied.

12 farmers were fined for not letting authorities onto their land.

Ongoing battle

Farmers have been denying access to their land for transmission planning despite warnings of big fines and clashes with police.

For VNI West to continue, workers need to access private land to assess potential impacts.

The fines say farmers stopped workers from entering their land without a good reason.

A spokesperson for DEECA says workers can issue fines if they're satisfied someone denied access without a good reason.

VicGrid says it worked hard to keep landholders informed and gave them over 30 days' notice before visiting.

Workers decided to issue fines after property access was denied without a good reason.

Anyone who thinks they got a fine by mistake can ask for a review.

VicGrid says it doesn't issue fines and can't decide the outcome of reviews or court cases.

VicGrid says it tried to reach agreements with landholders and offered them benefits.

VicGrid says transmission companies have the power to access land to plan and maintain infrastructure.

But Trent Carter says the process was difficult with poor communication and bad timing.

Workers tried to access the land during busy times like sowing and harvest.

Carter told the government they were in the middle of lambing season and needed minimal disturbance.

During lambing, minimal disturbance is needed to ensure animal welfare.

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