Peter Dutton vows to cancel three offshore wind zones in NSW, and WA if he wins 2025 election

Peter Dutton has vowed to cancel half of Anthony Albanese’s six declared offshore wind zones, sparking a new clash over climate amid sovereign risk warnings.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has vowed to cancel three offshore wind farm projects if he wins office. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Peter Dutton has vowed to cancel half of Anthony Albanese’s six declared offshore wind zones as he attempts to win 21 seats at the coming election to form government, sparking a new clash over climate amid warnings international companies view Australia as a sovereign risk for investment.

Campaigning in the NSW Labor-held marginal seat of Paterson following a blitz of key battleground seats in the state, the Opposition Leader declared he would “rip up” the Hunter offshore wind area proposed by the Albanese government, after already vowing to overturn zones in the Illawarra in NSW and Bunbury in Western Australia.

Mr Dutton will continue campaigning in NSW on Friday, which with Victoria and Western Australia is considered particularly crucial to a Coalition election win, while the Prime Minister will begin a three-day visit to the resources-rich state of WA, starting in Perth where he will announce $21m for five critical minerals projects as part of his Future Made in Australia agenda.

Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen accused Mr Dutton of having no plan for jobs in the Hunter as he talked up the economic benefits of offshore wind farms, while clean energy experts slammed the Coalition for undermining the offshore electricity infrastructure framework it established under Scott Morrison.

“The decision that we’ve taken as a Coalition is to make sure that we rip up these contracts, to make sure that we make it very clear that we will not proceed with the offshore turbines as proposed by the Albanese government,” Mr Dutton told a Port Stephens offshore wind zone community gathering.

“It’s completely unacceptable that we would see a complete disregard for the environment, for industry, for the sector, particularly of fishing, particularly of tourism. It’s not just on the professional fishermen here, or the tourist operators, it’s on small businesses right across the community because we’ll see a complete transition of the way in which people know and that they’ve enjoyed life in this local community up until this point.

“The Prime Minister really needs to come down here and speak to you and to explain and to justify.”

Mr Bowen declared six priority offshore wind zones – Gippsland and Southern Ocean (Victoria), Bass Strait (Tasmania), Bunbury (WA) and Illawarra and Hunter (NSW) – in August 2022, shortly after Labor won government, which are all at differing stages of being investigated.

Coalition sources noted Mr Dutton may not oppose any more than the three zones he’s pledged to rescind and would treat the remaining areas on a case-by-case basis, insisting he was addressing community concerns first and foremost.

Mr Bowen said the Hunter offshore wind zone could generate enough power to keep the lights on in 1.2 million homes, equivalent to two Tomago smelters.

“Peter Dutton has no plan for Hunter jobs and can’t be trusted to look after the energy workers in the region,” Mr Bowen said.

“Offshore wind in the Hunter could support future onshore manufacturing, as it builds on the local industrial expertise and infrastructure. Should the project go ahead, it would employ around 3000 workers during construction and create around 200 to 300 permanent local jobs.

“It would inject development expenditure worth hundreds of millions of dollars into the Hunter region and leverage existing heavy industry.”

Clean energy experts said international offshore wind proponents were now openly saying Australia was too hard a place to invest due to the political climate. Australia had been labelled a sovereign risk for investment.

Clean Energy Council chief executive Kane Thornton said the Australian offshore wind industry required long-term certainty to provide the confidence to develop and invest in these “significant” assets.

“Today’s announcement from the Leader of the Opposition will send shockwaves through offshore wind investors and risks undermining investment confidence in offshore wind and other energy and infrastructure sectors across Australia,” he said.

“As coal exits the energy system over coming years, investment in a suite of renewable energy technologies such as ­offshore wind, will be critical to deliver the lowest-cost energy system for consumers.”

Smart Energy Council chief executive John Grimes said the Coalition was doing everything it could to ensure Australians remained locked into coal and gas, which he said were the “most expensive, filthy and unreliable forms of electricity generation”.

“The notion that Peter Dutton and David Littleproud are opposed to offshore wind because they’re born-again environmentalists would be laughable if it wasn’t so terrifying and damaging,” Mr Grimes said.

“Having failed to land an energy policy for their entire 10 years in government, Peter Dutton’s Coalition is now proposing to do away with a clean energy source that will reliably power millions of Australian homes and businesses.”

After finishing the parliamentary year by pushing through 45 government bills in a week, Mr Albanese said his critical minerals funding would support projects across the country, creating “opportunities” for direct jobs and through the supply chain.

“Peter Dutton and the Coalition voted against WA last week in the parliament when they refused to vote for production tax credits for the WA resources industry,” the Prime Minister said ahead of visiting Perth as he attempts to cement major gains Labor made at the last election.

“A strong resources sector means a healthy economy and good, well-paid local jobs.”