References

• Managing entry to farms Executive Summary 1. The VFF seeks to ensure that the public understand farms are workplaces. Entry to farms needs to be controlled to ensure compliance with the requirements of government safety and biosecurity laws. Agreements should be in writing and include biosecurity plans. 2. The VFF seeks changes to all laws and policies that grant permission to ensure to protectthe rights of farmers and compliance with farm management plans. We seek requirements that all entry to farms (land access) will be subject to landholder consent including consultation and notice, compensation for loss and rehabilitation of affected land, and be supported by rigorous compliance and review mechanisms. 3. The VFF supports the right of all farm landowners to veto any proposed farm entry / land access arrangement where they reasonably believe the proposed land access activities would adversely affect food and fibre production, pose a safety or biosecurity risk or reduce their financial return from the farm land. 4. The VFF believesthat the Land Access and Compensation Act should be amended to ensure that any access to or use of farmland consider all impacts on farm business operation, not just the impact on land value or production in the corridor used but the total impact of the access or use has on the farm business and landholders. 5. The VFF seeks assurances that farm entry / land access agreements and easements will be specific to a project. Any changes to the project or requirements for use of the area by another party will be subjectto a separate agreement. Entry to farm (Land Access) Agreements 6. The VFF believes all farm entry / land access arrangements must be covered by a formal land access agreement between the landowner and the farm entry / land access proponent. All agreements should operate on a commercial contractual basis. All reasonable costs of the landholder should be met by the proponent including induction and supervision costs. 7. Where farm entry / land access is granted farmers should be able to determine conditions relating to that farm entry / land access. 8. Any easement placed on the land will be specific to that proposal and cannot be amended or used by other parties without landholder consent including compensation. 9. There must be no long-term adverse on site or off-site impacts from farm entry / land access. Compensation for impactshould be calculated on the whole farm operation not any specific corridor. 10. Baseline information and agricultural impact assessments must be collected/prepared prior to the development of any proposal requiring entry or access to farms. 11. Land access agreementsshould require that the proponentis liable and responsible for all matters arising under all relevant public safety and workplace laws including that the party seeking farm entry / land access will be responsible for compliance with all public safety and workplace law stemming from their occupation, including public liability insurance. Biosecurity 12. The VFF believes a biosecurity clause or statement must be included in every farm entry / land access agreement. This must require an annual report on biosecurity compliance. During the period of land access activity occurring, a weekly report should be provided to the landholder including personnel in attendance, locations accessed, materials or chemicals utilised and any other information required under the farm’s biosecurity plan. 13. Proponents should be aware of industry biosecurity standards prior to seeking entry / access so as to be able to discuss specific requirements with the landholder. 14. A minimum of 48 hours’ notice is required prior to farm entry / land access under the biosecurity plan. Consultation 15. The VFF believes farm entry / land access proponents should supply the landholder with complete information that sets out the relevant party’s rights under an agreement, and any other relevant information about the land access proposal. 16. Proponents shall pay for any advice required to understand the impact of the proposal on the farm business and any formal agreements. 17. Landholders must agree to the brief and to consultants hired to undertake impact assessment, technical studies, monitoring and compliance systems and rehabilitation plans. Landholder consent to these documents must be sought. Compensation 18. The VFF supports the rights of farm landowners to compensation arising from any loss associated with a farm entry / land access arrangement. Compensation formulas should ensure landowners receive appropriate compensation for loss of income, decrease in property value, increased costs of production, supervision and any other associated costs. 19. The VFF believes farm landowners should be compensated for all reasonable associated costs involving the landowner seeking information and advice, including technical, financial and legal advice, involving any proposed farm entry / land access agreement. 20. The VFF believes compensation payments should include a solatium of at least 20% to compensate for intangible impacts. 21. In the case of long term farm entry / land access agreements, the VFF supports an annual compensation paymentto the farm landowner thatreflects any impacts on asset value, operations, income, maintenance impacts, legal ortechnical costs. 22. The VFF believes additional compensation should be provided where farm entry / land access is required in response to a fault requiring unplanned or emergency access or where farm entry / land access is required to manage impacts from an emergency event such as fire, flood or storm. 23. Where farm entry / access is for infrastructure or works which increase the capital improved value of the land the farmer will be compensated for any increases in rates and charges stemming from farm entry / access arrangements. Rehabilitation 24. Legislation will require full decommissioning and remediation of impacts. Landholder consent to the rehabilitation plan will be a requirement of any farm entry / land access agreement. 25. Remediation plans should be for the whole farm to ensure all impacts are remediated. 26. The VFF believes that any breaches of a farm entry / land access agreement must be rehabilitated immediately with compensation paid for any loss to the landholder. This includes removal of any easement. 27. The VFF support farmers having the right to approve the post construction and post decommissioning ‘rehabilitation plan’ for the land as a result of any development requiring farm entry / land access. 28. In the case of any onsite or offsite impact on land, air, or water the onus should be on the company with farm entry / land accessto prove their activities are not causing the impacts. 29. Statutes should ensure that the landholder is not liable in relation to construction, operationor decommissioning of projects. Review 30. The VFF believesindependent monitoring to ensure compliance with farm entry / land access conditions must be undertaken, atthe expense of the land access proponent. Compliance 31. The VFF supports the establishment of an independent tribunal or ombudsman for hearing landholder complaints and appeals regarding farm entry / land access issues. This policy should be read in conjunction with: VFF Renewable Energy Policy Statement VFF Right to Farm Policy Statement
• Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Policy Renewable energy and energy efficiency principles 1. The VFF supports a smooth transition for Australia’s energy market towards renewable energy without loss of reliability and with minimal impact on price for consumers. 2. The VFF recognises that Australia’s energy generation mix needs to change as existing infrastructure assets reach the end of their useful lives and to meet emissions reduction targets. Government policy must not favour specific technologies, but rather enable the technologies to compete on their merits. 3. The VFF supports research into development and adoption of new generation technologies including both centralised and decentralised generation, and support and promotion of improvements in on-farm energy efficiency and self-sufficiency in generation and storage capacity. 4. The VFF supports efficient investment in generation, transmission, distribution and storage capacity to avoid over investment or ‘gold plating’ of the energy network. This includes support for the transition to appropriate transmission, distribution and storage assets and facilitating investment in targeted and necessary interconnectors. 5. The VFF opposes the early decommissioning of existing power plants where the continued supply of dispatchable power cannot be guaranteed. VFF supports investment in new on-demand generation capacity in Victoria to offset the loss of baseload generation facilities in the Latrobe Valley. On-farm renewable energy and energy efficiency projects 6. The VFF supports policies that aim to promote improvements in on-farm energy efficiency, selfsufficiency in renewable energy generation and storage capacity. 7. The VFF supports targeted policies and programs that seek to support farmers’ knowledge and decision making in developing on-farm energy efficiency and renewable energy projects. 8. The VFF believes government must reduce integration barriers to enable farm businesses to invest in larger on-farm renewable energy developments and take advantage of feed-in tariffs, thereby also helping to decentralise energy distribution networks. 9. The VFF supports the provision of low cost finance to farmers for on-farm energy efficiency and renewable energy projects through the Clean Energy Finance Corporation and other sources. 10. The VFF opposes policies such as the Large-scale Renewable Energy Target discriminating against small-scale renewable energy developments. Government should promote small-scale developments that have less impact on agricultural land compared to large-scale developments because farm businesses have control over their scale, location and construction. 11. The VFF supports the regulation of renewable energy installers and contractors to prevent unscrupulous behaviour that targets and disadvantages farm businesses. Renewable energy developments and agricultural land. 12. The VFF encourages the construction of large-scale renewable energy and associated developments on non-agricultural land. Where large-scale renewable energy and associated developments must be located on agricultural land, the VFF believes developers must be required to mitigate the development’s impact on the agricultural use of the land. The VFF will oppose renewable energy and associated developments that risk the ongoing and long-term productive use of agricultural land. 13. The VFF opposes renewable energy and associated developments being located on irrigable farmland where a water use licence is attached to that land or where agricultural production is displaced on high quality soils. 14. The VFF encourages the undergrounding of transmission and distribution powerlines to ensure minimal disruption to agricultural land use and regional communities, and to help eliminate fire risks. 15. The VFF calls for the establishment of a statewide strategic plan for renewable energy developments that considers all issues concerning impacts to agricultural production and regional communities. Formulation of a strategic plan must include consultation with the VFF and impacted regional communities. 16. The VFF supports rigorous planning policies that restrict large-scale renewable energy developments on agricultural land by requiring a permit. Permit requirements should be less restrictive for large-scale developments where agricultural production continues to be the predominant use of the land. More restrictive permit requirements should be in place for proposed developments where agriculture is not the predominant use of the land. A permit should not be required for on-farm small-scale developments where the energy generated is to be predominantly used in the farm business. 17. The VFF supports local governments to have the ability and power to protect agricultural land through the planning scheme where it is considered that renewable energy developments pose a threat to the ongoing and long-term agricultural productivity in a region. 18. The VFF supports local content policies aimed at supporting local industry in the construction of renewable energy developments. Such policies must be targeted towards supporting economic development and job creation within the region where renewable energy developments are taking place, not just at a national or state level. 19. The VFF believes that when establishing statutory processes governing renewable energy developments, government must consider all issues concerning their eventual impacts on land use and rehabilitation including decommissioning. Developers, not landowners should be held responsible for all decommissioning and remedial works. This includes placing requirements on developers to recycle or reuse any materials at the end of the development’s life cycle. Where the developer is unable to meet these obligations, the government must be responsible for costs associated with carrying out all decommissioning and remedial works. Wind energy developments 20. The VFF supports farmers having the choice to enter into arrangements with companies to locate wind energy generation facilities on their properties where projects have been approved in accordance with government policy and planning guidelines. However, wind energy developments must not result in a loss of agricultural productivity or disruption to affected landowners. 21. The VFF supports the right of farmers and local communities having their views considered in the planning assessment and approval process for wind energy developments by:  Requiring an Environmental Effects Statement (EES) process for wind energy generation projects greater than 30 megawatts.  Providing neighbouring farmers the opportunity to review and make submissions to the approval or EES process. - Requiring decision makers to seek the agreement of neighbouring farmers, taking into account the potential impacts that a wind energy development could have on agricultural production and rural communities.