Peter Dutton vows to scrap Port Stephens offshore wind zone   
The Opposition Leader has pledged to cancel a controversial scheme as the Coalition looks to wrestle a prized NSW seat from Labor.


News.com.au
December 5, 2024

Peter Dutton says he would scrap a planned controversial offshore wind farm off the coast of NSW’s Hunter Region.

The Opposition Leader made the remarks at Shoal Bay alongside Liberal candidate for Paterson Laurence Antcliff, who the Coalition is hoping will wrestle the seat from Labor MP Meryl Swanson.

The electorate has been Labor’s since 2016, and the government holds it on a 3.3 per cent margin.

Mr Dutton pledged to “rip up” contracts for the Port Stephens Offshore Wind Zone in NSW’s Hunter Region.   

“We’ve got to act in our country’s best interests and it’s in our country’s best interests and this community’s best interests if this project doesn’t proceed,” he said.

The project, which spans 1854sq km, has received some community opposition and is under a feasibility licensing process, which was awarded to Novocastrian Wind in mid-2023.

Peter Dutton said he would scrap the proposed offshore wind farm if the Coalition was returned to government.

Asked if we would cancel other offshore wind projects, Mr Dutton said he would make decisions on a case-by-case basis and criticised Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for his “ideological pursuit” of renewables.

“We’ll look at the individual community and the net impact, whether it’s positive or negative, into our energy system, and what the Coalition is about is delivering lower-cost electricity and gas to consumers and small businesses,” he said.

Coalition energy spokesman Ted O’Brien reiterated that the Coalition would release its costings for its nuclear policy to build seven reactors across Australia in the “weeks ahead” and before the end of the year.


“That will show the economics of once you have a grid that includes not just renewables with gas but also zero-emissions nuclear energy,” he said.

Mr O’Brien said there needed to be a “balanced” mix of energy, including gas, renewables and nuclear, as ageing coal plants were set to retire by 2038.

“That means renewables and gas, and as coal retires, it should be replaced with zero-emissions nuclear energy,” he said.

The Coalition’s energy spokesman Ted O'Brien confirmed that costings for the nuclear project would be released by the end of this year.

Ahead of the Coalition’s highly anticipated release of its costings, Jim Chalmers seized on the lack of information and detail in the large-scale election policy, which the government said would be too costly, take too long to implement and drive up power bills.

“If he wants to talk about energy, he needs to come clean on the cost of this nuclear madness,” the Treasurer said.

“Let’s see all of the costings, let’s see all of the details, and when we do, people will understand that nuclear energy is the most expensive form of new energy.

“It will push up people’s energy bills. It won’t come in for 20 years and even in the best-case scenario will only provide 4 per cent of the power that Australia needs.”

He also said Mr Dutton’s call to scrap the Port Stephens project could threaten thousands of jobs.   

“Peter Dutton, in the usual destructive and risky way, wants to put those thousands of jobs and all of that renewable energy at risk,” he said.

Looks like Gina has given Dutton his orders