Wind turbines’ blowback in Labor heartland seats

Chris Bowen is attempting to head off a voter revolt in Labor heartland seats over plans to rollout offshore wind turbines and massive transmission lines.

An artist’s rendering shows Westinghouse’s planned AP300 small modular nuclear power reactor.

Chris Bowen is attempting to head off a voter revolt in Labor heartland seats over plans to rollout offshore wind turbines and massive transmission lines, holding a closed-door meeting with leaders in the NSW Hunter ­region to keep his ambitious ­renewables target on track.

As Mr Bowen launched a fear campaign over the Coalition’s ­nuclear ambitions, senior ALP figures are concerned a widespread community backlash against wind farm zones could negatively impact key Labor seats, including Paterson, Shortland and Gilmore.

Mr Bowen on Tuesday will meet with handpicked Port Stephens community leaders amid rising local anger over the government’s decision to ram through its 5GW Hunter offshore wind zone.

The government’s approach to consultation in the Hunter region has sparked a fierce backlash from an alliance of fishermen, tourism and whale-watching operators, environmentalists and residents who oppose offshore turbines.

Labor sources said there was concern within the party about losing support in the region, with “working-class people united against” the proposal for offshore wind turbines stretching over 1800sq/km between Swansea and Port Stephens.

An offshore wind project. Picture: Macquarie Group

The opposition is based on the impact of giant, floating wind turbines on the scenery, marine life and birdlife, water currents, its flow-on impact on tourism, and concerns it would curtail shipping trade into the Port of Newcastle.

“There is this constant perception you are going to be able to see them and it will ruin the pristine coastline,” the Labor source said.

The NSW Labor figure told The Australian the same arguments the party used against developing offshore gas in the region through the PEP-11 project was being used against the government over the wind farms.

“They are using our own stuff against us because we sowed this idea that you have to protect what you can see,” the source said. Newcastle and Port Stephens Game Fish Club president Troy Radford – who is leading the community pushback against the wind zone – said Mr Bowen had told them he wanted the wind turbines in the water by 2028-30 and that up to three licences would be granted. Applications are due to close in November.

Mr Radford, who has heavily criticised the consultation process and is hosting a public rally on ­October 7, said he was concerned about the project’s impact on tourism, fishing, whale-watching and birdlife.

Rhys Westbury, who runs the Stop Wind Farm off Port Stephens Facebook Page, said impacted communities were seeking to broaden the offshore wind turbine protest movement under a “No Coastal Wind Farms Collective” banner.

The government, which last year announced the nation’s first offshore wind zone off Gippsland in Victoria, in August launched public consultation over plans to create another offshore wind zone on the NSW south coast.

The South Australian Labor government last month joined concerned rock lobster fishers in formally opposing a proposed Southern Ocean offshore wind zone stretching from Warrnambool in Victoria to Port MacDonnell on the state’s southeast Limestone Coast region.

Ahead of his closed-door meeting in the NSW Hunter on Tuesday, a spokeswoman for Mr Bowen said: “The Albanese government is committed to genuine consultation with all communities and local groups regarding the Hunter offshore wind zone.

“Having reviewed the 1916 submissions, the minister declared a final area which was around a third smaller than the original zone. Before a project can commence, proponents must seek and receive approval for feasibility licences and comply with strict environmental regulations. The government will only be licensing projects that work well with existing industry and the environment, and deliver meaningful, long-lasting community benefits.”

Mr Bowen in July reduced the size of the Hunter-Central Coast wind zone from its initial 8GW proposal after community anger, with Labor sources saying the decision was designed to prevent blowback in the electorates of ­Dobell and Robertson.

In an attempt to shift the conversation away from contentious renewables projects, Mr Bowen on Sunday released costings from his department claiming a shift to nuclear energy would cost $387bn. Opposition Leader Peter Dutton on Monday rejected the costing and declared there was no “credible path to get to net zero by 2050 without the use of latest technology nuclear”.

“It’s zero emissions, it firms up renewables,” Mr Dutton said.

“Chris Bowen did numbers before the election that he promised Australians on 97 occasions that he would bring power prices down by $275. Has anyone’s power bill gone down by $275 under Chris Bowen? No.

“Chris Bowen has got his head in the sand when it comes to ­nuclear power, and what he’s worried about is the internal dynamic within the Labor Party, he’s not worried about the national ­interest.”

A senior Labor source said Mr Bowen’s modelling was a “shocking misrepresentation” of the ­Coalition’s policy idea.

 

“They are clearly not suggesting that taxpayers will fund and build 71 SMRs. They will target those existing coal sites like Liddell, Bayswater and Eraring and use the existing infrastructure and connections to lock in the baseload power that’s going to be needed,” the source said.

The Labor insider also said it was likely “no coincidence” that Mr Bowen had reduced the capacity of the original Hunter-Central Coast offshore wind zone from 8GW to 5GW.

“He pushed it away from the Central Coast, where there are two marginal seats.”

Labor electorates in NSW coalmining, steelmaking and tourism regions are crucial for Anthony Albanese to hold at the 2025 election, with the Coalition making a big push in the Hunter and Central Coast regions.

The fate of the seats could depend on whether voters decide they are more opposed to large-scale renewable projects or the development of nuclear.

Polling obtained by The Australian reveals that 56 per cent of Australians agree that the federal government should seriously consider the use of SMRs to generate energy. Of the Labor voters polled, 51 per cent agreed, 34 per cent were neutral and 15 per cent disagreed. The Insightfully polling of 2400 voters, commissioned by the Minerals Council of Australia in May found that only 24 per cent of Australians knew about SMRs, which have a footprint roughly the same as a cricket oval and can power a million homes. However, the polling shows that 40 per cent of Australians would support the development of an SMR near their town or city, with only 25 per cent ­opposed.

The top reasons for supporting SMRs were that nuclear is emissions free, nuclear is safely used in other Western nations and that all low-emissions technologies should be accessed to help the ­nation decarbonise.

Mr Bowen on Monday denied that his attack on nuclear was linked to the Coalition gaining traction on nuclear and a shift in public sentiment. But he conceded there needed to be better consultation with regional comminutes on the rollout of large-scale renewable projects.

“Communities deserve proper engagement. It hasn’t been done well enough in the past,” Mr Bowen told the ABC.

Opposition climate change and energy spokesman Ted O’Brien – who will hold a public forum with Port Stephens residents on Tuesday – said “local residents are in disbelief that the government has ignored their concerns”. “Labor announced a review of its community engagement process in July in an admission that public consultations were flawed, but steamrolled ahead anyhow,” he said.