Stop Labors Towers Newsletter – October 10, 2026
IN THIS ISSUE
YOU HOLD THE POWER
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- The Western Renewables Link: follow the money. examine the decisions. find the truth.
- WVCA makes formal submission to Victoria’s Royal Commission into construction industry corruption
- The Big Build corruption inquiry: why the western renewables link warrants investigation
- The Secret Deals behind the western renewables link are making headlines
- Senior Liberal says victoria is governed by an “organised crime cartel”
- Ripon Erupts: Labor absent, anger over WRL boils over
- Farmers and CFA volunteers protest on steps of Victorian parliament
- The WRL will be stopped. This fight is far from over!
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THE WESTERN RENEWABLES LINK: FOLLOW THE MONEY. EXAMINE THE DECISIONS. FIND THE TRUTH.
WVCA makes formal submission to Victoria’s Royal Commission into Construction Industry Corruption
There comes a point when the questions surrounding a government project become too serious, the money too great and the explanations too inadequate for the public simply to accept assurances that everything is in order.
For the Western Renewables Link, that point has surely arrived.
On 1 October 2026, the Western Victorian Community Alliance (WVCA) lodged a formal submission with the Royal Commission into the Integrity of Major Public and Civil Infrastructure Construction Projects in Victoria, requesting an investigation into the governance, financial arrangements, procurement and potential
improper influences surrounding the Western Renewables Link (WRL).
Our submission raises fundamental questions about how this enormous infrastructure project was conceived, how its scope expanded, who influenced those decisions and, ultimately, who will pay.
The money tells part of the story.
What began as a $479 million transmission proposal in 2019 has evolved into a project associated with capital cost estimates running into the billions. The project’s
Environmental Effects Statement relied upon an approximately $1.53 billion construction estimate, while Brookfield’s subsequent financial reporting described a project costing approximately $4 billion.
These figures may reflect different scopes and accounting treatments. That is precisely why they demand independent examination.
Even more troubling are questions about the confidential commercial arrangements underpinning the project. Our submission identifies a contracted financial model involving long-term, inflation-linked payments, outside the ordinary regulatory arrangements applying to AusNet’s regulated network assets.
What has the Victorian Government committed consumers to pay over the project’s lifetime? Who authorised those commitments? And what independent scrutiny was applied?
Victorians deserve answers.
But the submission goes further.
It examines the Victorian Government’s extraordinary use of ministerial powers in 2023 to alter the regulatory framework and prescribe the expanded 500 kV transmission configuration. We ask whether the ordinary economic safeguards displaced by those decisions were replaced with equally rigorous independent scrutiny.
We also raise a particularly serious question concerning political and industrial influence.
WVCA has received accounts from experienced energy-sector figures suggesting that political considerations and the desire to sustain unionised construction employment following the closure of coal-fired power stations may have influenced the preference for large, capital-intensive transmission projects.
They are matters we believe warrant proper investigation, including scrutiny of the relationships between government, unions, energy-sector decision-makers and construction interests.
Was the Western Renewables Link selected and expanded because independent engineering and economic analysis demonstrated it was the best solution for Victorians? Or did other interests influence decisions that should have been made in the public interest?
Our submission also calls for examination of construction procurement, contractual safeguards, potential conflicts of interest, subcontracting arrangements and the mechanisms available to prevent improper costs being passed on to consumers.
We are not asking the Commission to determine Victoria’s energy policy. Nor are we asking it to assume wrongdoing.
We are asking it to examine the evidence, follow the money, scrutinise the decisions and establish whether the public interest was properly served.
For six years, we have asked legitimate questions about this project. Too often, we have encountered explanations that change, decisions that appear beyond challenge and financial arrangements that remain hidden from public view.
A government entrusted with billions of dollars and decisions affecting generations has a corresponding obligation to transparency, integrity and accountability.
That obligation does not diminish because the project is described as essential. It becomes greater.
Public trust is not something a government can demand. It is something it must earn.
And in the case of the Western Renewables Link, there is much that remains to be explained.
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THE BIG BUILD CORRUPTION INQUIRY: WHY THE WESTERN RENEWABLES LINK WARRANTS INVESTIGATION
The Royal Commission’s terms of reference reach beyond roads, railways and the CFMEU. WVCA believes they raise serious questions about the Western Renewables Link and the Victorian Government’s role in its development.
When the Victorian Government established its Royal Commission into construction industry corruption on 20 August 2026, the public discussion centred largely on alleged misconduct involving the CFMEU and Victoria’s major transport infrastructure projects.
But the Commission’s mandate is considerably broader.
Led by former Chief Justice Christopher Kourakis AC, the Royal Commission has been directed to investigate corruption, criminal conduct and serious misconduct associated with major public and civil infrastructure construction projects.
Crucially, its terms of reference define Major Construction Projects as “all major public and civil infrastructure construction projects commissioned by the State of Victoria”, including State entities.
They also expressly require examination of government oversight, procurement practices, contractual arrangements, industrial relations, inflated construction costs and the circumstances that may allow corruption or serious misconduct to occur.
This is where the Western Renewables Link enters the picture.
The WRL is no ordinary private development. It is a 190-kilometre, 500 kV transmission project whose development has been shaped by government intervention, ministerial orders and commercial arrangements involving the State.
AusNet itself publicly identifies VicGrid, a Victorian Government agency, as the body contracting it to develop and deliver the project.
In 2023, the Victorian Government exercised extraordinary statutory powers to prescribe an expanded transmission configuration and alter the application of national electricity regulatory provisions.
Our submission argues that these decisions, together with the State’s commercial commitments and involvement in the project’s delivery, provide substantial grounds for the Commission to examine whether WRL, or particular components of it, meet the definition of a State-commissioned Major Construction Project.
That jurisdictional question must be determined by the Commission.
But the questions do not end there.
The Commission’s terms of reference specifically contemplate examining weaknesses in government oversight, contractual secrecy, procurement, subcontracting, labour-hire arrangements and the inflation or misdirection of construction expenditure.
These are precisely the areas in which WVCA has asked for scrutiny.
Our submission also raises allegations received from experienced energy-sector figures concerning whether political and industrial employment objectives improperly influenced the selection and expansion of major transmission projects. Those allegations remain unproven and require independent testing.
There is an important distinction between legitimate employment policy and improper influence over public infrastructure decisions. The Commission’s mandate recognises that distinction.
The Victorian Government maintains that the WRL is necessary infrastructure and has commissioned an independent review of its costs. But a cost review is not the same as an examination of procurement integrity, political influence, contractual probity or government accountability.
Nor does an escalating construction estimate, by itself, establish corruption.
The fundamental question is whether the decisions behind this multibillion-dollar project were made transparently, independently and in the interests of Victorian consumers, or whether improper influences affected them.
The Royal Commission was established to investigate precisely such concerns where they fall within its jurisdiction.
Its work should not be confined by the familiar boundaries of Melbourne’s Big Build projects if the evidence and its legal mandate justify looking further.
For communities across western Victoria, the request is straightforward.
Establish who commissioned the project. Examine who made the decisions.
Follow the financial commitments. Test the allegations against the evidence.
And if the Western Renewables Link falls within the Commission’s jurisdiction, subject it to the same rigorous scrutiny expected of every other major public infrastructure project.
Public accountability should not stop at the city limits.
Nor should it stop at the first transmission tower.
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THE SECRET DEALS BEHIND THE WESTERN RENEWABLES LINK ARE MAKING HEADLINES
The Herald Sun and The Weekly Times report on WVCA’s Royal Commission submission, bringing questions about billions of dollars, confidential government agreements and possible political influence into the public spotlight.
The questions surrounding the Western Renewables Link are no longer confined to the farms, communities and regional townships along its proposed route.
On 6 October 2026, journalist Peter Hunt brought these concerns to a wider audience through a report published in The Weekly Times and Herald Sun, under the headline:
‘Secret deals’: Farmers demand probe into $4bn WRL
The article examines the Western Victorian Community Alliance’s formal submission to Victoria’s Royal Commission into construction industry corruption, highlighting the extraordinary difference between the $1.53 billion construction estimate used in the project’s environmental assessment and the approximately $4 billion figure disclosed by AusNet’s major shareholder, Brookfield Infrastructure.
At the centre of the report is a question that deserves an answer.
If the higher project cost was publicly disclosed in March 2026, what did the
Victorian Government know, when did it know it, and why was the environmental assessment still relying on the substantially lower figure?
It is a question about much more than accounting.
The report also examines the confidential financial arrangements between the Victorian Government and AusNet, including the absence of the conventional Australian Energy Regulator oversight applying to regulated transmission expenditure.
Of particular significance are comments from Professor Bruce Mountain, Director of the Victorian Energy Policy Centre, who told The Weekly Times that the matters may warrant referral to the Royal Commission. He also questioned the credibility of WRL’s economic assessment and the public disclosure of its true cost.
The article further reports concerns raised by Western Victorian MP Bev McArthur about the secrecy of the project’s commercial payment arrangements.
For its part, the Victorian Government has promised an independent review of WRL’s costs. Energy Minister Jaclyn Symes maintains that additional oversight has been established through the State’s regulatory and contractual powers.
But the distinction is important.
A review of what a project costs is not necessarily an investigation into why particular decisions were made, who influenced them or whether appropriate safeguards were maintained.
As outlined in our two accompanying articles, WVCA’s Royal Commission submission goes beyond rising construction costs. It asks for examination of the project’s origins, its expansion, the Government’s intervention in ordinary regulatory processes, the role of political and industrial interests and the contractual arrangements that will ultimately determine what consumers pay.
None of this establishes that corruption occurred. That is a matter for evidence and independent investigation.
The significance of the newspaper coverage is that questions raised for years by affected communities are now receiving wider public and expert scrutiny.
The people of western Victoria have lived with the consequences of these decisions. They are entitled to know how those decisions were reached.
The Royal Commission has been asked to examine whether WRL falls within its jurisdiction and, if so, whether its development and delivery were affected by corruption, criminal conduct or serious misconduct.
These are serious questions, supported by a substantial submission and deserving of a properly evidenced response.
The public interest demands no less.
Read Peter Hunt’s article, published 6 October 2026:
The Weekly Times: ‘Secret deals’: Farmers demand probe into $4bn WRL
Herald Sun: Western Renewables Link cost blowout and Royal Commission probe
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SENIOR LIBERAL SAYS VICTORIA IS GOVERNED BY AN “ORGANISED CRIME CARTEL”
The language coming from one of Australia’s most senior federal Liberals about the governance of Victoria has become extraordinary.
Federal Shadow Treasurer and Victorian MP Tim Wilson has repeatedly described the Victorian Labor Government in recent national television interviews as an “organised crime cartel” registered as a political party.
On ABC News Breakfast on 29 September, Wilson said:
“Victoria is governed by an organised crime cartel. It’s just registered as a political party and currently sitting in Spring Street.”
When the presenter noted that Labor would strongly disagree, Wilson responded:
“Thank you, but they should stop handing money to organised crime.” Tim Wilson MP
This was no accidental turn of phrase. Wilson made substantially the same accusation on News24 five days earlier, repeated it again on 4 October and, remarkably, repeated it yet again on 9 October. Tim Wilson MP
His comments arise from the wider controversy surrounding the CFMEU, organised crime allegations and the enormous cost of Victoria’s major construction program. Geoffrey Watson SC’s Rotting from the Top investigation estimated that corruption and inflated costs associated with the construction sector may have cost Victorian taxpayers around $15 billion. That estimate remains contested and has not been established as a judicial finding. ABC News
For Western Victorians, however, the timing is impossible to ignore.
Wilson’s allegations about Victorian Labor are his own. But when a federal Shadow Treasurer is prepared, repeatedly and outside Parliament, to describe the government responsible for Victoria’s massive infrastructure program in such extraordinary terms, the case for following the evidence wherever it leads becomes harder to dismiss.
That is precisely what WVCA is asking the Royal Commission to do.
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RIPON ERUPTS: LABOR ABSENT, ANGER OVER WRL BOILS OVER
RENEWABLES, ROADS AND EMERGENCY SERVICES LEVY FRONT-OF-MIND AT RIPON ELECTION FORUM
The message from regional Victoria is growing louder: Labor must go, and so must the Western Renewables Link.
We were there at Sunday’s candidates’ forum in Newlyn, and the anger in the room was unmistakable.
Close to 300 people attended, and from our observation, opposition to the Western Renewables Link dominated close to 90% of the discussion. This was not a handful of disgruntled landholders. It was a community demanding answers, accountability and an end to a project it has fought for years.
And where was Labor? Nowhere to be seen. Sitting Labor MP Martha Haylett did not attend, citing an urgent family matter (not sure of thsi was code for crime family). Whatever the circumstances, Labor’s absence left the community without its government representative to answer the very serious questions being raised.
The ABC reported on the heated exchanges, but being in that room revealed something even more significant: the depth of public anger towards the Labor Government and its determination to press ahead with WRL.
People are tired of being ignored. Tired of decisions imposed upon their communities.
Tired of a government that appears unwilling to listen.
Ripon delivered a warning. The anger is real, the opposition is growing, and the political consequences could be profound.
The message could not be clearer:
HOLD THE LINE. LABOR MUST GO. WRL MUST GO.
On 28 November, Victorians have an opportunity to make their voices heard.
Read the ABC’s coverage: Renewables, roads and emergency services levy front-of-mind at Ripon election forum
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HUNDREDS OF FARMERS AND CFA VOLUNTEERS PROTEST ON STEPS OF VICTORIAN PARLIAMENT
CFA volunteers were turned away at the Governor’s door as hundreds of farmers and rural landholders descended on Victoria’s parliament on Friday.
October 9, 2026 – 2:36PM The Weekly Times
Hundreds of frustrated farmers, rural landholders and CFA volunteers descended on the steps of parliament on Friday morning, in protest of government policies they say they’ve “had a gutful of”.
The protest, a joint venture between Across Victoria Alliance, CFA Volunteers Group and Farmers Fightback, saw about 12 speakers tell the crowd to “shut the door” on a range of issues including the state of Victoria’s roads, CFA support, data centres and land use tensions.
Jessie Bridgman from Rubicon said she was there to support her own community against the proposed large-scale energy development by Samsung, as well as other communities across Victoria facing similar issues.
Newlyn North’s Kieran Prendergast, who arrived on horseback, said: “All the new taxes (Labor have) introduced, the power lines they’re putting in willy nilly, the solar farms, the way they’re walking roughshod across country people. We just want to show we’re very disappointed with them, and that we won’t be voting for them.”
Jim Riordan, managing director of agribusiness Riordan group, said: “I’d never thought in my wildest dreams I’d drive a truck to the steps of parliament to complain about the state of Victorian roads.”
“We cart a lot of grain, we’re trying to get export commodities out through the terminals, trying to get grain to feedmills and dairies and we’re just wrecking our trucks by doing it because the state of the roads are so bad,” he said.
“It doesn’t matter what side of politics it is, we need to make sure the taxes we are paying are going in and they’re being spent in the places they’re supposed to be.”
Greg Roberts, whose farm is on the proposed VNI West transmission line near Wycheproof, said he was “here today to support all the Victorians who believe we need a change in government and a new direction entirely for the state”.
Robyn and Greg Roberts of Wycheproof have the VNI West transmission line designated to go right through their property. Picture: Conor Fowler
About 50 CFA trucks were parked up out the front of parliament, with about six livestock transport trucks as well.
CFA Volunteers Group also attempted to drop off a letter to Victorian Governor Margaret Gardner AC, who serves as the Patron of the CFA, but were denied.
“When we arrived there was no one there, and some very nice officers from Victoria Police told us no one would be coming to receive our letter,” ” CFA Volunteers Group vice-president Brad Marson said.
“We were going there to ask her to voice our concerns on why 80 recommendations of the bushfire inquiry hadn’t been implemented.”
Rupanyup farmer Andrew Weidemann led a chant of “What do we want? Labor out! When do we want it? Now!”, but many attendees said they wanted to see all sides of politics deliver better policies.
“We definitely want to see more backbone from the other parties,” Mr Prendergast said.
CFA Irrewillipe’s Josh Parsons said: “We want to see more from the other parties I think. Personally we need a change in government. Whether it means two other parties working together, we need a change.”
There were a few whoops when Marnoo farmer Ben Duxson said One Nation was “leading the charge” against current government policies, while the biggest cheer was reserved for a line that the government vs rural landholder battle was a “war without weapons”.
Nationals leader Danny O’Brien and Western Victoria Liberal MP Bev McArthur were in attendance, as well as the leadership of the Victorian Farmers Federation.
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THE WRL WILL BE STOPPED. THIS FIGHT IS FAR FROM OVER!
The people of western Victoria have not surrendered, and the future of the Western Renewables Link is far from settled.
At Parliament House on Friday, Jim Phasey delivered a powerful declaration: The towers are not inevitable. The fight is not over. And we will not stop until the WRL is stopped.
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Parliament House Victoria – Fri 9 Oct 26 – Jim Phasey of Myriong’s Speech
If you remember only one thing from today, remember this:
On November 28, a vote for Labor is a vote for the WRL and 80-metre steel towers. Guaranteed.
My name is Jim Phasey. I come from Myrniong.
For six long years, I have stood shoulder to shoulder with 10,000 members of the Western Victorian Community Alliance.
We ran the numbers. We consulted the top engineers. We proved that modern undergrounding, HVDC, and sensible routes and alternatives exist.
Yet today, we stand on the steps of this Parliament because the Andrews, Allan, and Carroll Labor Governments chose to ignore every single fact, every single expert, and every single community.
They tell us the Western Renewables Link is approved.
They tell us our objections have been swept aside.
They tell us the contracts are inked.
They tell us the debate is over.
I am here to tell you: it is NOT over!
Do not let them gaslight you into believing the WRL is inevitable. Transmission experts know it is reckless. Labor’s opponents have committed to stop it. This is not a done deal—unless we roll over and let it be one.
They want to ram 190 kilometres of steel lines down our throats through Melton, Eureka and Ripon electorates. And to add insult to injury, they expect Victorians to foot a four-billion-dollar bill for the privilege!
They call it “progress.” We know it is destruction and increased risk.
We have endured six years of corporate bullying, bureaucratic arrogance, and backroom stitch-ups between this government, AEMO, and AusNet. They rushed planning approvals. They hid their secret funding deals. They treated regional Victoria with utter contempt.
That is why this week, we officially requested the Big Build Corruption Royal Commission investigate the procurement, the secret contracts, and the true hidden costs of this project. If there is misconduct, if there is corruption—we demand the truth, and we demand accountability!
Now, hear me very clearly on how we win this:
I do not care if your grandfather voted Labor.
I do not care if you have voted Labor your entire adult life.
I do not care if you support an Independent, a Green, or a minor party.
To save our land, and to kill the WRL, you must put those politics aside.
In Melton, in Ripon, and in Eureka, the only language Spring Street understands is an electoral wipeout.
Vote 1 for whoever represents your community. In Eureka, I will be voting 1 for Emma Muir—who stood up and called the very first community meeting against the WRL back in June 2020.
Vote for who you want at the top—but put Labor dead last at the bottom!
Not second last. Not down the middle. DEAD LAST.
We will not just halt the bulldozers. We will elect a Parliament that refers this monstrosity to the Royal Commission, tears up the secret deals, actions the recommendations and holds Lily D’Ambrosio, AEMO, and AusNet to account!
This November, the power does not belong Labor. It does not belong to AusNet.
On November 28, the power belongs to us.
Kill the towers. Protect our land. Put Labor last!
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