‘Not on my watch’: how windfarms became a key issue in NSW local elections

Part of what’s driving Mark Watson’s pitch for mayor is his opposition to a project he says is the talk of the town and the “biggest issue” in his coastal home’s history.

The former One Nation candidate for the state government is now running as an independent for mayor of Port Stephens. The coastal town just north of Newcastle overlooks the middle of the 1,800-square kilometre offshore windfarm zone off the Hunter, where the Albanese government plans a renewable energy hub to be operating by 2030.

The town is one of a number in NSW where a culture war has been simmering over large-scale renewable energy projects. Those against have largely organised via rallies, information sessions and a constellation of Facebook groups. It now forms the platform for many council and mayoral hopefuls.

All three candidates for mayor in Port Stephens oppose the offshore windfarm zone – even the Labor candidate and incumbent deputy mayor, Leah Anderson, whose website says she opposes it “until there are independent environmental studies provided which could convince me otherwise”.

‘Angst and fear’ gaining traction

Justin Page of the Hunter Jobs Alliance, a community and union group, says the issue has garnered a level of angst and traction in Port Stephens that hasn’t been matched in the neighbouring local government areas. This has seen it feature far more in council campaigns.

“That opposition group set up early and created the angst and fear without any basis that its going to wreck the marine ecosystem,” Page says.

“It’s unfortunately a pretty well-led campaign and the public just don’t know or understand, which is why it’s gaining traction.”

Running on Watson’s ticket – which, alongside opposing the offshore windfarm zone, wants to improve rates, roads and rubbish – is Troy Radford, president of the Newcastle and Port Stephens Game Fish Club.

Both Watson and Radford have been among the most vocal against the offshore windfarm zone, and have been key organisers of a number of rallies opposing the project. At one such event in the town last October, Barnaby Joyce compared the push for renewables to a “cult”.

Last year, Radford authorised a roadside billboard with an image of a beached whale with turbines in the background under the words “Stop Port Stephens Offshore Wind Farms” – despite the claim wind turbines kills whales not being backed by credible scientific evidence.

Watson, who decided to run as an independent rather than for One Nation to be a better “voice for the community”, sees the project as one that will change the fabric of a community which was not properly consulted. He says it will impact game and commercial fishing, tourism, small businesses and the environment.

“We are not anti-renewables, or anti-windfarms; we are anti the Hunter offshore windfarm,” he says. “It’s not the right project for the area.”

How much say do communities have?

Councils have no approval power over the offshore windfarm zones or the large-scale wind and solar projects deemed of state significance. For some politicians, the battle is about negotiating the best possible outcome for their community – whatever constituents’ views on the projects themselves.

“We can’t stop it,” says Sam Coupland, mayor of Armidale, a four-hour drive north of Port Stephens. “But we can shape it.”

Coupland is the chair of a small group of mayors whose local government areas are located in the inland renewable energy zones. He says the group’s purpose is not to support or oppose the developments, but to share information and lobby for the best outcomes for communities that will house the projects.

Coupland says the state has failed to provide certainty in its wind and solar projects by not yet finalising the energy policy framework, which provides guidance for communities on the impacts, as well as benefit sharing guidelines for councils.

“The [guidelines] needed to be in place before they went down this path so that uncertainty didn’t exist,” he says.

“When you have uncertainty, there’s room there for bad actors to play, or misinformation to come to the fore.”

A culture war much like that in Port Stephens has also been building over the offshore windfarm zone in the Illawarra region, south of Sydney.

In a number of posts in the region’s anti-windfarm groups, opponents expressed outrage that the state Liberal party’s recent failure to nominate candidates would mean “no opportunity for residents to vote for a candidate that would be opposed to the windfarms”.

One person wrote: “This is a disaster for our offshore fight.”

Responsible Future, a community group dedicated to opposing an offshore windfarm in the Illawarra, recently shared on its website a number of candidates running across Shellharbour, Kiama and Wollongong councils who oppose the proposal.

“As you may be aware, an administrative error by the NSW Liberal party has resulted in the omission of 16 candidates from the Wollongong and Shoalhaven council elections. Many of these opposed the Illawarra offshore wind proposal,” their website says.

“This situation makes it even more crucial to consider supporting independent candidates in the upcoming local elections who stand against this project and are committed to fighting for our community at the local council level.”

It lists three candidates for Wollongong council, five for Shellharbour, and three for Kiama who oppose the windfarm. One of the candidates listed for Kiama council is Mark Cains, who is the president of the Kiama Liberal branch but running as an independent.

“Many in the Liberal movement agree with me that party politics and councils don’t make happy bedfellows,” Cains told Guardian Australia, explaining his independent candidacy.

In November last year, Cains helped organise a Liberal party event for the public, attended by Guardian Australia, where speakers expressed fierce opposition to the project. Some of the speakers were from Coalition Against Offshore Wind, one of the region’s most vocal groups opposing the project.

Cains says the offshore windfarm zone hasn’t been “front and centre” of his policy platform or his desire to run for council, but that it is an issue for the community, which is wondering if it’s the “best idea for us” and a “solution for climate change”.

Responding to a recent social media post about the project, and his view on it as a prospective councillor, Cains says: “They won’t be installed on my watch.”

But he says there’s very little the council, which sits in the marginal seat of Gilmore, can do directly to interrupt the project. What it can do, he says, is send a message: “We expect better – better consultation from government.”

‘I feel the council has lost its way’

Away from the coast, and back north among rich farmland atop the Great Dividing Range, is Walcha. Its community of about 1,300 people have been facing off with one another over the development of the Winterbourne windfarm.

A number of the candidates running for Walcha council have been vocal or are publicly affiliated with groups that support or oppose the project. But for some, it’s a bigger symptom of how communities are listened to when it comes to renewable energy projects.

Two of the candidates are father and daughter Warwick Fletcher and Holly Fletcher. Holly says her dad and brothers will host nine windfarms across their properties – each turbine can generate thousands in income for landholders a year.

Holly says she would declare her perceived pecuniary interest, which may preclude her from being involved in decisions regarding renewables if elected, but that supporting the transition was not what pushed her to run. Her real concern, she says, is about the council becoming entangled in “issues beyond its scope”.

“I’m not sure if its a symptom of the windfarms or renewable energy projects, but I feel like the council has lost its way a bit,” she says.

Rachel Greig is also running. She is a member of Voices For Walcha which shares information about renewable energy projects in the region, and hosted Barnaby Joyce at a meeting opposing the Winterbourne windfarm.

Greig says she’s running due to a number of concerns, including aged care facilities. She’s also concerned about the environmental impacts of the Winterbourne windfarm, and the community being “kept in the dark” over the renewable energy projects.

“I want to make sure the community’s concerns are being listened to,” she says.