The Nature Conservation Council has labelled the Coalition’s plan to scrap the New England Renewable Energy Zone irresponsible, saying the opposition is walking away from a policy it originally created.
CEO Jacqui Mumford said the Renewable Energy Roadmap, which included the New England REZ, was brought into parliament by the Coalition government in 2020, making last week’s announcement a significant reversal.
“To see this backflip from the Coalition is incredibly disappointing and irresponsible,” Mumford said.
“It’s quite a turnaround.”
Mumford said the Coalition’s alternative of a City Renewable Energy Zone model, using industrial rooftop solar and community batteries in Sydney, Newcastle and Wollongong, was not a substitute for the New England project.
“We do need more renewable energy right across the state, including urban areas, absolutely. But walking away from the renewable energy zones puts the state at risk of blackouts and creates instability in the grid, which also drives up prices,” she said.
“It’s not one or the other. We really do need a mix of all of these different sources of energy.”
On the economic argument, Mumford said the REZ was expected to support more than 6,000 construction jobs and 2,000 ongoing positions. She also noted that the coal-fired power stations the REZ would help replace were built in the 1970s and 1980s and already had closure dates on the table.
“We can’t rely on the current system into the future,” she said.
“The current government is getting on with the job of transitioning to cleaner, cheaper energy and the Coalition disrupting that is highly irresponsible.”
