Wollongong community continues to rally against Illawarra wind farms 08:11

Now, this time yesterday, you would have heard me speaking about energy because the Australian Energy Market Operators quarterly report confirmed that in my eyes, we cannot rely solely on renewables. Renewables right now are unreliable and they're making our power prices more expensive, right? We'll get there eventually, but we're not there yet.

Now, I spoke with Dr Catherine Woodthorpe about this. She's the president of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering. So she's, you know, engineers. It's all about facts and figures. And her organisation released a report pouring cold water, though, on Peter Dutton's nuclear plan. So when I spoke to Dr Woodthorpe, not only did she say the nuclear was essentially a dud prospect for Australia, but she said that it didn't have a social licence.

But the offshore wind farms off the coast of Wollongong did have a social licence. Is there a social licence for offshore wind farms? It depends, but I believe so. So you're positive about the offshore wind farms. Can you float them off the continental shelf? They will be difficult to go off the continental shelf. So as an engineer, you could probably put the pen through that, right?

No. Oh, being off the continental shelf, yes. Yes, it's too difficult to have them. So the one off the coast of the Illawarra, which is proposed for off the continental shelf, we can probably put a pen through it, correct? It's proposed to be just on the edge of the continental shelf, if I recall correctly. And there's a social licence for that? That is yet to be proven. Okay, but you think there is, and there's not for nuclear? No.

There's definitely not for nuclear at the moment. How do you know that? I'm just saying that's a barrier. I'm not the one who's going to go out and find that out. I'm just saying that is a barrier that they will have to overcome if we can't even find out where to put the waste from our medical nuclear facility. I take that on board. It just feels to me that you've got a bit of an angle with this report. That's all.

So is there a social licence for wind farms? We've been throwing it around the office today, you know, just because we report on it here and I'm majorly sceptical about the things, it doesn't mean that there's not. So is there a social licence in the Illawarra or in the Hunter for these offshore wind farms?

Yeah.

Yeah, hi Chris, lovely to talk to you and your listeners. I appreciate you coming on. So these offshore wind farms, and we spoke to Dr Catherine Woodthorpe, she said Peter Dutton's idea of nuclear power, it does not have a social licence, but the offshore wind farm between the north of the Illawarra to as far south as sort of Kiama, that's got one. Do you agree? Yeah.

Not particularly, no. Sorry, Chris. Why do you think... What is this about, then? I know that the renewable advocates want to see this staff built, but what are you picking up in the community?

Oh, it's a varied response, that's for sure. The challenge for me, though, is that Wollongong, Greater Wollongong, if you want to call it that, you know, it's the most beautiful city in New South Wales to live, work and play. We're blessed with stunning natural beauty, pristine beaches, majestic mountains. We've got it all. But offshore wind turbines, they...

For us here, many of the locals, it poses a significant environmental risk to marine life, ecosystems, et cetera. So never mind the viewing sight lines. For the people that I noticed there was the community consultation went out and I think 65% were negative, opposed the offshore wind farms. Correct. You're dubious about them, aren't you?

I am, Chris, and the reason being that I don't think the engagement with

or the reaction from government has been what it could or should be. The challenge is, you know, if you really want to put something in that they suggest is economically viable, then why not put out all the facts and figures? You know, we have a federal member down here in Stephen Jones, who's the Assistant Finance Minister and

You can't even get the financials from him, his department, to say that this is a good thing or it's not a good thing. So where are we at? This is the point, right? And this has been my point the entire time. We first talked about it when a bloke fronted me at the boat show down at Darling Harbour and said, you've got to check this one out at Port Stephens. And now one popped up in the Illawarra and off we went. If you were going to put...

Absolutely correct. Yeah, look, the challenge is that it's not just Wollongong. As you said earlier, it's not just Wollongong.

It goes all the way down to Kiama as far as sightlines are concerned and it goes all the way up to at least Cronulla. So, you know, Sydney's affected. Shellhaven could be affected as well as much as Kiama and Shell Harbour will be. So, you know, the...

The high installation costs, the maintenance costs, the impact on our economy affecting tourism and fishing industries and the like, have they been adequately considered? I'm not so sure. They're claiming thousands of jobs. Do you buy it?

I think it'll be equal, thousands of jobs lost versus thousands of jobs gained. Okay. And to be honest, let's just say it'd be nice to see some facts and figures around this stuff. Hey, John, just before I let you go, Labor's Tanya Brown, she's also running for mayor. She's pro-wind farms, is she?

I wonder why. Yeah, sure. She's with Labor. You've got to follow the Labor ticket. We've got people on ours that are for and others are against, such as I am. But it really does come down to what the cost...

versus benefit is you know the state sustainability long term uh and at the end of the day we've got alternatives at the moment let's work for a better sustainable future and importantly get it right first and make it better and as you said earlier you know there's other options let's wait for those it's the the kid in the lolly shop i want it now i want it now but it doesn't necessarily run right good on you john appreciate you coming on all the best

Thank you, Chris. All the best. That's John Dorrehy. He's a councillor at Wollongong running on the Liberal ticket to be the mayor of Wollongong. And Paul said, Chris, great to hear Joe Cool on the radio. It is Joe Cool. John Dorrehy, famous rugby league player for both Illawarra and Western Suburbs. Hell of a talent. 131873, social licence for offshore wind farms. I just think for something of this magnitude, you can't just say, oh, no, no, no, we're putting it in. No, no, no, no, no.

The community needs to be consulted properly on this. And I mean going to a vote. That is the democratic process. If we're having a vote on nuclear energy, as in Peter Dutton's plan, then surely we have a vote on putting wind turbines double the size of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, hundreds and hundreds of them, off the coast of Wollongong and Newcastle. Surely that is worthy of a vote.