NSW Farmers says farming communities and landscapes cannot continue to be vandalised in the state government’s “sledgehammer” approach to powering the nation.
NSW Farmers’ President Xavier Martin said it is clear the Minns Government is ignoring farm communities and the damage inflicted on them by industrial scale developments.
“NSW Farmers has long been a bridge to help governments to understand and address rural issues, but with the continued silence on what we know are very real impacts on rural landholders, our patience is wearing seriously thin,” Mr Martin said.
“We’ve always been about renewables in the right place, in the right way, and helping landholders understand their rights and options regarding that.
“But when we see our governments endorse unnecessary wildlife destruction and broadscale clearing to construct these projects, or even just house the people working on them, there needs to be answers and accountability.
“What we saw at Merotherie Road last week is just the tip of the iceberg – we’re seeing everything from mass environmental destruction to changes to transmission line corridors without proper consultation, and we simply can’t let this keep happening,” he said.
Two NSW government studies on the true impact of the energy transition were yet to be released, Mr Martin said, and farmers were fed up with the silence from the state government on the true cost of the clean energy transition.
“Vague promises of compensation funds and caring for social license haven’t come to fruition, and our communities have been left to grapple alone with the scars inflicted by this ‘progress at all costs’ approach to powering the nation,” Mr Martin said.
“Despite NSW Farmers’ efforts to engage government to improve outcomes in this energy transition, the Minns Government only seems interested in how to get this done as fast as possible, no matter what.
“The sentiment in the regions is changing and unless there’s a new attitude to engaging with rural communities, more delays and obstructions are only going to occur – and the unnecessary damage and scars are only going to continue,” he said.
