Farmers, truckies, motorcyclists and CFA volunteers filled Spring Street with tankers and trucks, bringing years of anger at the Victorian government to the steps of Parliament.

“This is a war, a war without weapons,” one young farmer told the crowd. “We will never, ever let them on our land.”

He was referring to VNI West, a transmission project that would run power lines across farmland. Landholders say the government has stripped away their avenues of appeal, including access to VCAT. He urged farmers to link arms at their gates and hold their ground for “10, 20, 30 years” if that is what it takes.

Colin and Mary Fenton, members of a farming family with more than 100 years of history, sat inside a cage on Spring Street to highlight the prison-like distress the dispute has caused. They said they had already been fined on two separate properties for refusing access for environmental assessments, and they would not pay.

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Another speaker warned that the rushed expansion of transmission infrastructure and renewables was hurting multi-generational farms and threatening food production.

The fire services levy was another major grievance. CFA Volunteers Group Vice President Brad Marson said the government had spent a decade “systematically tearing the CFA down”. Others argued that a rebate covering only a primary residence leaves farms spread across multiple property titles exposed to hefty bills. One volunteer said some landholders were facing bills of up to $80,000 this year, despite operating their own private tankers and helping make up the ranks of volunteer firefighters.

Crime also featured in the speeches, with protesters raising everything from break-ins at CFA brigades to the case of a woman stabbed by someone who was out on bail.

With the Victorian election set for November 28, many in the crowd said traditional party loyalties no longer mattered. A Liberal candidate pledged that regional Victoria would not be forgotten, but One Nation was mentioned repeatedly by those in attendance.