Hundreds of people packed the public gallery of NSW Parliament on Thursday afternoon for a debate on a petition calling for the cancellation of the planned New England Renewable Energy Zone transmission line.
The debate, which ran for more than 30 minutes, came one day after the NSW Coalition announced it would give the petitioners what they wanted, and cancel the 500 kilovolt transmission line connecting the REZ to Bayswater Power Station in the Hunter if elected. The petition, which collected 22,272 signatures, had been tabled by Member for Northern Tablelands Brendan Moylan on behalf of signatories from the Upper Hunter and the Northern Tablelands calling on the government to reject the transmission corridor.
Moylan top and tails the debate and still off on the details
In presenting the petition to the house, Mr Moylan acknowledged the gallery and the signatories before delivering a pointed address to the government, repeating many of the unsubstantiated claims made the previous day in the announcement of the policy to terminate the transmission line.
“This petition is not merely a collection of signatures,” Mr Moylan said.
“It is the collective voice of farming families, of rural communities, and hardworking Australians who have said loudly and clearly that enough is enough.”
Mr Moylan described the transmission corridor as cutting through more than 100 privately owned farms across some of the best agricultural land in NSW, traversing airstrips, wool sheds, holding paddocks, and stockyards, and threatening habitat for koalas and quolls. He claimed the proposed route was one the government had previously considered and rejected as unviable.
“If this route was wrong in 2024, what miracle has occurred that suddenly makes it right today,” he said.
“The answer is simple: no miracle has occurred. The only thing that has changed is the desperation of a Labor government that has no respect for regional New South Wales.”
“Energy Co has failed to secure social licence, it has failed to earn trust, it has failed to bring the communities with it. Instead of partnership, it has delivered division. Instead of consultation, it has delivered hostility and conflict.”
“Why are you continuing to spend billions and billions of dollars of money building a transmission line through these people’s homes, through their farms, through their wool sheds, when there is not one single project to connect the hub,” Mr Moylan said.
In his closing address, Mr Moylan argued there was no generation capacity to justify the transmission line, listing more than a dozen wind farm projects in the Walcha area that he claimed had not proceeded: Dungowan, Topdale, Brackendale South, Tia, Brackendale North, the Walcha Renewable Energy Hub, Ruby Hills South, Woolbrook, Ruby Hills North, Kangaroo Hills, Salisbury East, and Salisbury West.
All of those projects were part of Walcha Energy, a prospecting renewable energy developer that proposed almost a dozen wind farms and energy projects very early in the REZ development process before selling off the more viable projects such as Winterbourne to other developers.
Walcha Energy was acquired by Origin Energy in 2024, who have been contacted by New England Times to factcheck this list. Of those we have been able to ascertain so far:
- There was no Dungowan Wind Farm or Dungowan and Topdale refer to the same project, which was linked to the Dungowan Pumped Hydro Energy project which is now owned by EDF and is still progressing;
- the Walcha renewable energy hub was an overarching name for the Walcha Energy Projects which included all Winterbourne, Dungowan, and the other projects listed by Moylan and was not a separate project;
- the Ruby Hills project is now called Skye Ridge Wind Farm and is continuing under Origin; and,
- the Salisbury windfarms are now called Hillview Energy Hub and progressing under a company called TagEnergy.
Layzell cites cost blowouts of other projects
Member for Upper Hunter Dave Layzell told the gallery the New England transmission project was heading toward becoming one of the most disastrous pieces of infrastructure in the country’s history. He cited cost blowouts across comparable renewable energy projects nationally, including an 850 per cent overrun on the Central-West Orana project, a 385 per cent blowout on Hume Link, and a 2,100 per cent blowout on Snowy Hydro, but not of the New England project.
“We need some common sense to be put into this energy debate,” Mr Layzell said.
“We need to be able to pull up the reins before this country goes over a cliff, because that’s where we’re heading.”
Mr Layzell told petitioners in the gallery that NSW would face a choice at the March election.
“You get the Premier, as he declared in question time, he’s not changing course — or the Coalition is going to have a good way forward,” he said.
Earlier in Question Time there were multiple comments made about the New England REZ, with the Premier heavily citing New England Times exclusive report that local councils were not consulted in the decision by the National Party to effectively scrap the New England REZ, and the comments from three mayors that they wanted the economic activity.
NSW Nationals leader Gurmesh Singh, the Member for Coffs Harbour, was also bothered by the Question Time discussion, referring to it repeatedly, and directly responding to the Premier’s question of ‘who did you talk to’, while pointing to the gallery.
“We talked to the energy companies, we talked to energy experts, but we talked to you, because we represent you in this place, not the other way around,” he said.
Member for Tamworth Kevin Anderson and Member for Bathurst Paul Toole also spoke in support of the petition and defence of the coalition policy.
Government’s sole response
The only government contribution came from Minister Jihad Dib, who spoke on behalf of Energy Minister Penny Sharpe, who sits in the upper house.
Minister Dib said he recognised the impact on communities and thanked petitioners for making the trip to Sydney.
“I certainly completely understand and recognise the impact that is happening on your community,” Minister Dib said.
He then turned to the origins of the policy, noting the New England REZ was established under the former Coalition government in 2020.
“Those renewable energy zones, every single one of them, including the New England Renewable Energy Zone, was one that happened there,” Minister Dib said.
He said the REZ was expected to deliver $24 billion in private investment and economic activity for local communities, and that the government’s plan was a continuation of the bipartisan framework its predecessors had put in place.
“What I won’t stand for is to listen to those who were instrumental in making this happen pretend they had nothing to do with it,” Minister Dib said.
“That’s hypocrisy.”
Petitioners have their say
Earlier that morning, Walcha High Country Guardians leader Anna Young had appeared on Sydney radio station 2GB, thanking city residents who had signed the petition and urging them to join petitioners walking from Martin Place to Parliament House that afternoon.
“This whole transmission project is just so flawed, you know, environmentally, economically, it just does not stack up, and it doesn’t stack up in terms of social licence either,” Ms Young said.
Ms Young, who had also appeared on the Ben Fordham and Karl Stefanovic Shows in previous months raising awareness and asking for broad community support for the petition, said the turnout of city signatories showed how broadly the issue had resonated.
“We are so thankful to everyone that’s paying attention, and I think it just shows how many people genuinely care,” she said.
Fellow Walcha advocate Mark Grady said the community’s position had not shifted since the route was changed to run through their area.
“We think the whole thing should be scrapped, because there’s no point in putting it onto our neighbour’s place,” Mr Grady said.
“The whole thing is a bad idea. It’s bad for this state. It’s bad for the energy users in New South Wales.”
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