Federal Coalition vows to scrap controversial offshore wind farm on NSW south coast
A controversial offshore wind farm development along the NSW south coast will be scrapped by the federal Coalition if it wins the next election, amid local outrage over the project.
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A controversial offshore wind farm development along the NSW south coast will be scrapped by the federal Coalition if it wins the next election.
The massive wind farm off the Illawarra coastline, which will host 300 industrial wind turbines 260 metres tall, was quietly given the green light by Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen, The Telegraph revealed on Saturday.
Amid local outrage at the proposal, Nationals leader David Littleproud revealed to The Daily Telegraph on Monday the Coalition will abandon plans to build the wind farm should Labor be voted out in the 2025 Federal election.
On Tuesday, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton also visited Nowra business Hanlon Windows and reaffirmed “if the Coalition wins, this project will not proceed”.
“I want to make sure that we don’t continue to pay the highest electricity prices in the world which we do under Mr Albanese,” he said.
A wind turbine farm in the Baltic Sea. An offshore wind farm green lit for the Illawarra will be scrapped if the Coalition wins government. Picture: Fred Tanneau
Mr Dutton described Energy Minister Chris Bowen as a “disastrous minister”.
“He’s putting in place policies which are forcing up electricity prices,” he said.
Liberal candidate for Gilmore Andrew Constance, on Tuesday, also said “no one has actually talked about the price stabilities and the flow on effect.”
“This is a 10 billion dollar project 20kms out to sea with tens of thousands of tons of concrete and steel,” he said.
Mr Littleproud visiting the Illawarra on Monday to talk with angry locals about the proposal.
“For the people of the Illawarra, this next election is their only opportunity to stop this project,” Mr Littleproud told The Daily Telegraph.
“If Stephen Jones is re-elected and Anthony Albanese is re-elected then this will be constructed – it will buy them another three years.”
The Nationals leader said Labor’s concession to build the turbines 20km of the coastline as opposed to the originally planned 10km would not stop them from being visible.
He also said as environmental impact statements had not been conducted for the proposed farm, there was a risk to the marine environment.
“You’re talking about contested sites around migratory whales … there are migratory birds that run through this area as well,” he said.
“You can see this onshore with wind turbines that are killing birds.”
“By moving the zone to 20 kilometres away, that achieves that outcome. On most days you won’t see the wind turbines,” he said.
“We have taken into account environmental concerns and shipping issues to ensure a balanced proposal.”
Opposition leader Peter Dutton said on Sunday the Albanese government had botched the community consultation.
“There was no proper community consultation which made the local residents really angry,” he said.
“I think Chris Bowen again has botched this …. He’s got scant regard for the local communities.”
Public consultation was planned to close in October last year but Mr Bowen extended it for an additional month in response to public uproar.
Yet angry locals and community activists say government bureaucrats left questions unanswered and didn’t listen to the community.
Spokesman for the Illawarra branch of local action group Responsible Future, Alex O’Brien said the community felt ‘betrayed’.
“Within weeks of Bowen announcing the proposed zone in August last year there was some rapid fire community sessions,” he said.
“The panel was ill-prepared and did not know how to answer the questions from the community.
“Running the sessions in such a short space of time did not give the community time to understand the complexity of the project.”
The Albanese government will have a fight ahead of them at the next election with Responsible Future vowing to run local candidates against the sitting Labor MPs in the area.
Liberal Gilmore candidate Andrew Constance who plans to unseat Labor’s Fiona Phillips at the next election said he will be campaigning heavily against the project.
“There’s other ports up and down the coast where they’re doing feasibility studies for other projects,” he said.
“All communities along the south coast have reason to be concerned.”
Ms Phillips faced a wave of criticism after she announced the creation of the $10 billion offshore floating wind zone in the Illawarra on Facebook.
“An offshore wind zone has today been declared off the Illawarra, securing regional jobs and providing energy security for homes and businesses,” Ms Phillips announced on Saturday.
“The zone has been reduced by a third and is 30km from its southern point at Kiama.
“It has the potential to generate an estimated 2.9 GW of electricity, enough to power 1.8 million homes.
“It will bring new employment opportunities, creating an estimated 1740 new jobs during construction and 870 ongoing jobs.”
Ms Phillip’s post was met with outrage when shared on the local Shoalhaven Incident Updates Facebook group.
“Classic case of destroying the environment to save the environment. Surely there are better options than this unaffordable madness,” one commenter wrote.
Another commenter said: “This is ludicrous, I will do everything to oppose this.”
A third wrote: “I heard the other week that it costs 2.5 times more per wind turbine to build on water than on land! And we are all paying for this!”
However, there were some supporters of the wind farm.
“All the haters talking about the impacts on the ocean have no idea … same people probably get p**sed on cruises!”
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