'Redundant' consultation and biosecurity risks flagged in NFF submission

The Australian Energy Infrastructure Commissioner's community engagement review, announced in July, is part of the process through which the government hopes to improve consultation for transmission lines and energy infrastructure.

Rural communities have also flagged the lack of consultation regarding renewable energy projects.

The impacts of renewable energy projects were raised in the NFF's Keep Farmers Farming campaign, which launched in October.

In its submission, the NFF said late and poor-quality engagement was causing significant distress to affected communities, and poor practice by energy proponents continued to attract national attention.

Landholders and communities were apprehensive as a result, it said, and this negative perception would make it harder for energy companies to establish meaningful social licence for future projects.

"The NFF continues to hear serious and significantly concerning reports that decisions by energy proponents, particularly in Victoria, NSW and Tasmania, are unduly alienating agricultural landowners due to inadequate, late and inappropriate engagement efforts," it read.

It pointed to the controversial VNI West project, where new Victorian landowners were affected when the preferred route was changed after the route selection consultation window had closed.

"This signalled to local landholders and communities that consultation efforts to date had been misleading, if not entirely redundant," it said.

It noted industry concerns would not be addressed by simply ensuring or increasing engagement. Consultation needed to be sufficiently early in the planning process before proposed routes or project zones were established.

Information needed to be clear, accessible and address the specific concerns of landowners, it said.

Its NFF Energy Policy, published last year, called on the government to facilitate an enforceable code to ensure projects were carried out with proper consultation, compensation, and did not adversely impact existing land use.

The submission also raised concerns about energy proponents arriving at properties unannounced or failing to comply with biosecurity protocols.

It recommended mandatory training for the energy sector to address the specific needs of farm businesses.

The NFF submission also called for a series of independent resources to be developed for stakeholders with accurate information on the rights of involved parties, compensation regimes, and dispute mechanisms.

NFF president David Jochinke said the federal Government needed to regulate how energy companies engaged with landholders and communities to ensure fair treatment.

"Farmers and regional communities aren't against renewable energy projects, they're just sick of being left out of these planning conversations," he said.

"We want to be better consulted so we can find solutions where everyone wins.

"A fairer system that works with landholders is going to be the fastest way to meet Australia's energy targets.

"It's clear the current system of trying to bulldoze through communities is putting everything in the slow lane."

Mr Jochinke said Australia had lost more than 15 per cent of its farmland over the past 30 years.

"Over the next 30 years, we can't afford to lose another 15pc if we're to feed a growing population here and abroad in a changing climate," he said.