Local thoughts on offshore renewables zone

The Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) is calling on the community to have a say on a 1461sq/km zone off the Illawarra coast proposed for future offshore renewable energy projects.

In September, six community drop-in information sessions were held. The DCCEEW promoted these sessions via letterboxing, local newspapers, radio stations, social media and media releases. A spokesperson said about 400 people attended the session at Bulli Senior Citizens Centre on September 18, adding, “Community feedback has highlighted support for job opportunities, investment in local manufacturing in the region and the need for more affordable energy as well as questions around the visibility of turbines from the coast and coexistence with marine life and future infrastructure development.”

Here’s what some Bulli attendees said. Please note, comments have been abridged for publication.

Damien Toogood, Scarborough

I’m all for it. I know it’s going to happen. I think it’s now just a matter of, is it 10 kilometres or 30 kilometres? Now it’s just business … just money and horse trading now … It’s a 30-year thing, you know – I’ll probably be dead in 30, but our son won’t be, and our children won’t be, and I don’t want him to burn in the hellscape of climate change …10 kilometres is too close … Jobs are fantastic, but just if they can balance beauty and jobs and climate, let’s just see what we can get.

Jennifer Dee, Thirroul

I do think that giving up our coastline for the benefit of perhaps a foreign investor or a private company is not a good deal. I think I would be more in favour if I knew it was going to benefit the Illawarra as a whole, and I don’t think there’s any evidence that that’s the case. … I don’t think it should be 10 [kilometres], I think it should be a long way out … the closer it is from the turbines to the land it’s cheaper for them to get the energy to the shore. So, again, I think that it’s all about money.

Chiara Nakashian, Woonona

Currently, I am just trying to get the facts. There’s a lot of misinformation going around – I think on both sides – and, at the moment, [I] really just want to get a clear understanding of what the environmental impact will be on this really fragile ecosystem. The Australian government released a report that’s 40-something-pages long, where they outline 13 known negative impacts that these wind farms can have on our fragile ecosystem out here.

So we want to make sure that there’s full transparency as to what this can mean in the future. I want to make it clear that I’m all for renewable energy sources and I just think that there are ways to do this where there’s transparency and where we’re not hurting the environment that we’re trying to protect in the long run.

Karen Mathiesen, Thirroul

I think it’s hard to make a decision because the consultation’s been run so poorly. You can’t ask questions, you can’t get responses, you can’t hear anything in there. [I am] probably against at this stage.

Martin Cubby, Corrimal

I’m so excited that we’ve got an opportunity in the Illawarra to be part of the really necessary transition to clean energy. It’s a huge opportunity for this town, for jobs, for the future of our kids and for real action on climate change … It’s vital that it happens now, and I hope this is done properly, but it’s done quickly. I’m glad we’re being talked about in Illawarra, and I can’t wait to get on board and let’s build it and let’s get on with the job.

Nick Tsaccounis, Woonona

I just think the environmental damage isn’t worth what’s going to happen. Do we have to destroy the environment to save it? 10 kilometres is very close off the coastline … The consultation period – only 65 days. Half the people I’ve spoken to don’t even know about it as well, so it seems like this is just getting rushed through, and we need a proper say for something that’s going to be with us for probably the rest of our lives. So it needs to have a lot more consultation.

And, personally, I don’t want to look at the things either. I live near the coast and it’s going to destroy the visual amenity and my personal well-being as a person living at the coast.

So, no, I’m definitely not for it at all.

Have your say by October 16. Go to consult.dcceew.gov.au/oei-illawarra