Farmers are being blamed by some for getting in the road of efforts to avert the worst of climate change.
Today I will try and explain how wrong these people are.
Some in authority clearly have no understanding of how country folk view their land.
This misreading of country life reaches high into officialdom, I suspect our corporate and political leaders haven't even tried to nut it out.
They see the problem as a simple one.
The nation needs to hook up its wind and solar farms to the national electricity grid so we end reliance on polluting coal-fired power stations.
Governments, state and federal, pledged to voters they would quickly take the nation down the path to net zero emissions without really thinking it over.
Most of the power users are in the cities.
All of the renewable power is generated in the country.
Today there are several power transmission projects which have been stalled by protests led by landowners who want to be heard.
Power companies are throwing up their hands and asking for someone, anyone, to do something and do it quickly.
Don't these country people understand time is fast running out?
The power companies need to connect these renewable projects to the grid and need new transmission lines to do it.
These lines would be carried by towers 60 metres-80 metres in height crossing across the landscape. We'll come back to this but remember that height, about the same as an MCG light tower.
Again the country has to do the heavy lifting, city folk just flick a switch.
Our politicians, bureaucrats and planners have been busy drawing lines on maps without understanding what that map represents.
It has sound, smells and taste - it has life, a very different version to the city.
Country people love the land, remember that.
A house owner in the suburbs might stand back and admire the front lawn they just mowed on the weekend, spread some that emotion over a landscape.
Farmers love their land with a passion that planners must try to understand.
They work dawn to dusk to make a living from it.
For some, generations of family members have poured their sweat, blood and tears into that soil.
Some years the seasons are good, some are bad - farmers have no choice but to roll with the punches.
But they don't blame the soil.
Perhaps we can herd all these pollies and planners onto a bus and take them out bush for a wellness session.
Have them sit cross-legged on a hill top quietly for a time to absorb nature.
Perhaps then they might understand why some people can't stomach the thought of their land, their family's land, having huge towers marching up and down the hills.
Some have no problem with it.
Remember the early days of the wind farms when the turbines would make the ears of the cows bleed, or so it was feared.
There are still some who can't stomach them but I suspect the majority of folk, especially those making a tidy sum from hosting them on their land, are resigned to them, some even like them.
There will be some as well who will welcome the cash the powerlines will bring to smooth out the peaks and troughs of the seasons.
Those rightfully protesting over the powerlines need to respect those people.
Not everyone shares their views, or their anger.
The power companies never explained properly why the powerlines couldn't be placed underground.
Fear of bushfires is in the DNA of country people.
Unfortunately it is probably too late now, that horse has bolted, the distrust is dug in too deep.
What a pity.
When the planners were drawing the lines and factoring in the building costs, they drew a line through undergrounding without first asking the people it would impact the most.
Were there any country people in the room? Are there any today?
Chris McLennan
ACM national rural property writer based in Bacchus Marsh, Victoria. Career journalist. Multi award winner.
ACM national rural property writer based in Bacchus Marsh, Victoria. Career journalist. Multi award winner.
