Fired-up farmers rumbled into Melbourne to take their fight against two contentious transmission projects to the front steps of Victorian parliament.
Tractors and trucks rolled up for the "stop the towers" protest on Tuesday over the proposed VNI West and Western Renewables Link projects.
Adorned with signs, the heavy machinery drove in circles around the parliamentary precinct tooting their horns as speeches were heard outside the halls of power.
Organiser Glenden Watts, whose farm between Charlton and St Arnaud in central Victoria could fall within the VNI West route, said farmers had a long list of gripes.
But he expressed particular outrage with their treatment from the Victorian government, Australian Energy Market Operator and VicGrid.
"It's the lack of consultation, the lack of engagement, the lack of respect," Mr Watts told AAP.
"They purely just want to bulldoze it through and don't really give a stuff."
VNI West has been billed as a second transmission link between Victoria and NSW that will harness renewable energy zones and increase network reliability as coal-fired power stations are retired.
The Western Renewables Link would also carry renewable energy from Bulgana in Victoria's west to Sydenham in Melbourne's northwest through 190km of overhead transmission lines.
AEMO's preferred route option is to link the projects at Bulgana.
In February, the Victorian government flagged farmers with transmission easements on their land would receive standard payments of $8000 a year for 25 years.
But some remain concerned about construction disruptions, health and biosecurity risks, environmental impacts, the bushfire threat from high-voltage power lines and towers, land devaluation, farming limitations and ceding access to their properties.
"I know it's disruptive," Premier Daniel Andrews told reporters on Tuesday before the protest.
"It's a very meaningful thing to have people come onto your land and say they're going to build a big transmission easement through your farm."
Mr Andrews insisted an environmental assessment process must run its course and farmer's views would be heard through that.
Victorian Farmers Federation president Emma Germano addressed the crowd, accusing the Andrews government of failing to adequately plan for the renewable energy transition.
"Farmers and regional communities have been taken for a ride since these projects were announced and I’m not surprised that frustration led directly to Spring Street," she said.
The peak body has launched a petition calling for an immediate halt to the planning and construction of both projects.
Federal Nationals Leader David Littleproud, who was among several MPs to attend the protest, decried the Albanese government's "reckless" target for 82 per cent of Australia's power to be renewable by 2030.
"We are not against renewables, but Labor is threatening to take away the tools our farmers need to provide Australians with fresh, healthy and affordable food," he said.
