‘You’ll get burnt at the stake’: The wind farm issue tearing Illawarra apart
In the once united Illawarra community, the wind farm issue is tearing the town apart, with people opposed to the plan being labelled right wing.
NSW
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For 50 years, former horticulturalist Grant Drinkwater has started the day by going surfing.
Half of those have been spent in the pristine Pacific Ocean surrounding Wollongong where he moved with his wife without knowing a single soul 25 years ago.
Today he shares the untouched bushland, expansive water and bustling town with his children and grandchildren.
His story is like many in the area that has been a magnet to families moving from near and far in search of the quiet country life only an hour away from Sydney.
“When we moved down here, we had no family and the people were so good to my wife and myself,” he said.
“People look after each other, it’s kind of unique in that way. The best thing I ever did was move to the Illawarra.”
But the gallery manager from Stanwell Park said an American brand of politics had crept into their town wrapped up in plans for an offshore wind farm 20km from the coast and those speaking against it are being branded “right wing” — despite the region’s rich history as the Labor heartland.
The project had divided the once close town, with those against the project being called “climate deniers”.
“It’s like being called a witch in Salem, you feel you’ll get burnt at the stake. I feel sad about that too. I don’t want to have a rift with friends and people I have known for years.”
Cunningham was one of the few electorates that voted in favour of the progressive Voice proposal and the seat has left Labor hands just one — to go further left to the Greens in 2002.
Neighbouring Whitlam, held by Financial Services Minister Stephen Jones, has only ever been held by the ALP,
“In my previous role with Qantas, I was a union delegate. I am a swinging voter but I have been more of a Labor voter than anything else,” he said.
“To categorise people on this issue as ‘right wing’ is too simplistic.”
He also accused the Albanese Labor government of failing to genuinely engage with the community that feels passionately about the flow on effect of the project.
“Alison Byrnes got up in parliament saying the groups were promoting fake emails and all this other stuff and people did multiple submissions, whose fault is that?,” he said referring to the Federal MP for Cunningham.
“They put the consultation process in place. I suppose you could put in more than one submission, which I didn’t do, but there was also no authentication.”
Ms Byrne told parliament she had evidence that anti-wind farm activists were manipulating the consultation process.
“They originally had the consultation process open for three months and they didn’t tell a soul. We found out about it in August … we had three weeks to get our submission in,” Mr Drinkwater fired back.
“There was such a blow up they extended it for a month and got 14,000 submissions.”
The results are in and show half of all respondents are against the project while 30 per cent favour it.
But overwhelmingly, 77 per cent had concerns about the environmental impact of offshore wind farms.
Another 66 per cent were unhappy about the wind farms being an eyesore while 68 per cent were worried about the impact on tourism, property prices and the local community.
COMMUNITY PUSHES TO HAVE THEIR SAY
In this tight-knit community sliced thinly between mountains and the water — their quiet life lived on the ocean feels threatened by Australia’s next industrial revolution, the push for net zero.
While elsewhere pushback against renewables can be labelled anti-environment, it’s hard to project that brand onto a community that is fiercely passionate about the natural beauty of its backyard — with whales, native birds and protected flora.
Locals who are fiercely against the project proposed by the Albanese government are furious at the suggestion they are anti-environment or Trumpian and have accused the government of sabotaging genuine community engagement on the issue.
Even the staunchest renewable energy enthusiasts, like Professor Liam Wagner, accept that community sentiment is valid and more must be done to bring people along the journey of renewables.
“The real problem is the proponents aren’t engaging with the local communities enough and really sort of pointing out the mutual benefits of it. People feel ignored,” he told Saturday Xtra.
“I think we really need to engage these communities because they feel they have this new project dumped on them.”
He gives the example of Germany where local communities can band together and make the collective decision to buy small wind turbines and install batteries to power their homes and businesses.
In these communities, the revolution is happening through them and not to them.
Dr Wagner said the government should also provide incentives because the faraway promise of jobs and net zero were not enough for people who have wind turbines taller than the Harbour bridge moving into town.
He suggests incentives like cheaper energy provided to those living in towns hosting major renewable projects so they see the benefits reflected in their family budget.
“Providing incentives to local residents because they feel there is this big thing moving in like receiving cheaper energy from the companies is a great idea. The energy produced locally doesn’t cost much as it doesn’t have to travel much, it’s perfectly reasonable.”
It’s a plan the Coalition aims to adopt in the seven Australia sites it has earmarked for equalling controversial nuclear power plants should they win the next election but they too are facing attacks over a failure to consult with the communities primed for nuclear power.
ELECTION BATTLE LINES DRAWN
Less than a year out of the next federal election, Albanese Albanese and Peter Dutton both agree it will be a referendum on energy.
And the battles will be fought in previously safe seats that are now at the frontline of the race against climate change.
Angry locals say Energy Minister Chris Bowen is automatically starting on the backfoot because the Sydney MP has failed to travel to Wollongong and meet with them.
Although Ms Byrnes has done her part to loyally push the government’s agenda, there is only so much a first-term backbencher can do without reinforcement from those in charge of the region’s fate.
But what has been Mr Bowen’s loss has come as a gain for Coalition deputy leader David Littleproud.
Although the Maranoa MP isn’t most naturally at home in a progressive coastal electorate, Mr Littleproud pounced on the opportunity by visiting Wollongong and vowing to end the wind farm project if elected.
Alex O’Brien is one of the organisers behind the Illawarra’s pushback against the project.
“The big issue for this community has been the lack of respect shown by the Labor Party … to have the deputy leader of the Coalition come to the Illawarra and speak to the people and make a very strong statement is very encouraging,” he said.
“This community after many years of loyal Labor support … is welcoming an alternate voice.”
Fellow local and advocate Amanda De Lore said she had reached out to several Labor politicians who had never attended their events.
“They have never come to any of our public information meetings or come and spoken to us like that personally, to see someone take interest in these very important issues means a lot to us.”
Not all of Me Littleproud’s passionate pitch to voters was accurate, with claims the project will harm the whale migration pathway contradicting information from the department, but politics is a game of optics and where Mr Bowen is sitting in Canberra, Mr Littleproud was on the ground, giving people time and energy.
Mr Bowen’s office said he “frequently visits Wollongong” but anti-turbine groups said they had not met with them.
“Unlike Peter Dutton, who has not been within 60 kilometres of one of his seven proposed nuclear sites, Minister Bowen frequently visits Wollongong to meet with Illawarra locals. He’s also held multiple meetings with community groups in Parliament House,” he said.
One of the groups that is onside with the government’s plans is Surfers for Climate who said the government proved it was listening by moving the renewable energy zone 20km from the shore instead of the original 10km.
“As an ocean user of 35 years, I am way more comfortable knowing a wind turbine is powering our homes than a coal-fired power plant that’s jeopardising our coastal way of life.”
Ms Byrnes said she was “very happy to engage” with the community on the issue and has responded to every person who has contacted her with concerns.
“I know change is hard,” she said.
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