The subterranean wind farm fight bursts into ugly parliament stoush

The Age
March 10, 2025

Accusations of censorship and misinformation are flying around parliament as senators duel over offshore wind farms, foreshadowing high stakes battles in the upcoming federal election on an issue that both parties think will play in their favour in marginal seats in NSW, Victoria and WA.

Offshore wind became an election flash point for Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, when he was heckled by anti-wind farm protesters at a press conference in Wollongong in February.   

In Canberra, Nationals Senator Ross Cadell drew a furious response when he accused his fellow members of the Senate Environment Committee of “grave disregard” for concerned community members, after they decided to “mothball” a hearing of the offshore wind inquiry with just 24 hours notice last week.

Getting the business model right is one of the biggest hurdles to developing a viable offshore wind sector in Australia.


“They have travelled from across the country to be heard inside the halls of democracy, only to be told on Wednesday their voice wasn’t important enough to hold an inquiry,” Cadell said.

The chairwoman of the powerful committee, Labor Senator Karen Grogan, rejected all of Cadell’s claims and accused him of “deliberate misinformation” that amounted to “nothing more than a self-serving political stunt”.

The deputy chairwoman of the committee, Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said Cadell’s claims may constitute contempt of the Senate, an offence which applies to Senators who issue “any false or misleading report” of a committee.

Nationals senator Ross Cadell and Labor senator Karen Grogan.


Hanson-Young and Grogan stressed no hearing dates had been set and no witnesses were yet invited to attend.

“For any senators to suggest otherwise is mischief-making at best and contempt of senate process at worst,” she said.



Related Article
A wind farm project has been halted due to the prospect of Opposition leader Peter Dutton, who has pledged to ban projects around the country, forming government.
Energy
In the doldrums: Dutton’s anti-offshore wind agenda halts project
Cadell, also a member of the environment committee, told this masthead it was “false” to suggest he had misrepresented the committee. He said that in February the committee had set a hearing date for Thursday March 6.

He said the secretariat of the committee circulated an email to members proposing to cancel the meeting, Cadell said, but he objected and a meeting was not convened to vote on the matter, as is required to alter proceedings.

The political clash over the hearings is symptomatic of the local debate in several marginal seats ahead of the federal election, due by May.

Local opposition groups are active on social media and campaigning against wind farms, which the government hopes can be built offshore from the NSW electorate of Paterson in the Hunter region, as well as Whitlam in the Illawarra - while relatively safe on an 8 per cent margin to Labor it abuts the ultra-marginal seat of Gilmore, also held by the government but a key target of the opposition.

Local groups are also campaigning against offshore wind development in the marginal Western Australia seat of Canning, based around Bunbury south of Perth, and in the Victorian electorate of Whannon, held by Liberal MP Dan Tehan who under threat from an independent challenger Alex Dyson - both of whom have stated their reservations about the industry.

Alex O’Brien of the anti-wind farm group Responsible Future Illawarra travelled to Canberra to address media last week (week ending Saturday March 8).

“If Labor was truly listening, they would have heard our community’s opposition loud and clear,” he said.

A major offshore farm project in the Illawarra was halted last week by its developer over fears a Peter Dutton-led government would ban development.

Ben Abbott, of No Offshore Turbines for Port Stephens, said there was growing anger in the community leading into the election.

Related Article
Livestock and renewable energy can co-exist on farms.
Renewables
‘A void filled with misinformation’: The communication struggle in Australia’s renewables rollout
“Our local representatives have done nothing to ensure our voices are heard.”

However, several senior Labor sources speaking anonymously said the party did not believe offshore wind would play a major role in the election.

The Coalition has pledged to slow the renewables rollout and use more coal and gas until it can complete construction of seven nuclear plants across the country.   

The Clean Energy Council survey found that 50 per cent of respondents support gas, 35 per cent nuclear and 33 per cent coal.

Offshore wind farms, which can harness stronger and more reliable winds than onshore turbines, are one of the world’s fastest-growing renewable energy sectors.   :

The Albanese government has forecast a local jobs boom when tens of billions of dollars will be invested in six offshore wind zones it has created.   

whiteknight wrote on Mar 10^th, 2025 at 5:00pm:


No use for ocean ecology eh? Floating wind farms hundreds of km's of tethering cables. Fixed offshore windfarms driving monopiles into the ocean bed. Noise harassment of marine species. What is the permitted "take" on whales? Strange isn't, they are protected and yet the wind farm operators are allowed a "take". Anybody else it is a fine for just approaching near them.

Renewables are the Left's failure to come up with anything better than Coal or Nuclear. They're playing the poor man's game and the world needs better than that.

Quote:


It's been done before. What is so hard to figure out?