NSW Farmers says a proposal to send Sydney’s waste to rural and regional communities should be rejected.
The proposed Parkes incinerator would burn up to 700,000 tonnes of Sydney’s red-bin waste each year if approved. NSW Farmers vice-president Rebecca Reardon said it was unacceptable to force any regional community to become a dumping ground for Sydney’s rubbish without its consent.
“When these projects were proposed for Western Sydney, there was a chorus line of Labor MPs very vocal in their opposition,” Reardon said.
“Back in 2020, Chris Bowen, who is now the Minister for Climate Change and Energy, called waste-to-energy incinerators ‘disgusting proposals’ that were ‘not clean energy’.”
“He said ‘it is burning garbage. It is literally a dumpster fire, and I’m not the only one who thinks it’.”
Reardon said residents of Parkes and Tarago, near Goulburn, felt they were being treated as “sacrificial communities” and forced to become Sydney’s dumping ground.
“Why should rural communities be forced to host projects that are considered unacceptable for urban centres, particularly when these same regions produce a lot of the state’s food and fibre?” Reardon said.
“It’s yet another industrial burden on regional areas without any consultation or consideration for what these communities want. These communities are also suffering the consequence of forced large-scale wind, solar, and transmission line infrastructure.
“There’s also significant concerns for public health, and the impact on the food and fibre grown in these communities. These projects should be immediately ruled out without question.”
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