Giant wind farm that prompted Joyce’s “poo tickets” comment finalises response to submissions

The Winterbourne wind farm in New South Wales – one of the projects at the centre of attacks by National Party MP Barnaby Joyce – has announced it is finalising a submissions report that is due in the middle of this year.

The wind farm emerged last year as the personal bugbear of Joyce and his wife and former staffer Vikki Campion, after they made a series of objections and bizarre statements about it.

The Submissions Report was originally expected at the end of 2023, but extra requirements has pushed the date back.

The 700 MW Vestas wind farm will build up to 119 turbines, and 45 km of high transmission lines in the Northern Tablelands, near the town of Walcha.  

The Environmental Public Impact Statement was publicly released in 2022, with 498 submissions made in support of the project, and 438 submissions against. Vikki Campion was one of those who objected, claiming it would create “monumental” environmental destruction.

“Anecdotally, landholders who succeeded in another court case fighting incessant industrial noise in Queensland claimed their animals, including dogs, cattle and sheep, exhibited signs of stress, including reduced lambing and calving due to consistent low-grade industrial noise,” she wrote.

“We have yet to determine what the impact on stock in one of the most prolific food and fibre bowls in the nation will be.”

In areas around the country where wind and solar farms are already installed, sheep and cows happily share the land.

Joyce called the Environmental Impact Statement for the project a “packet of poo tickets”. He has since led calls to stop new renewable energy projects, a demand now echoed by his party leader, and helped organise the Rally Against Renewables in Canberra last week.

The Submissions Report is a response to these submissions. The updated report will include a Biodiversity Development Assessment Report, an updated Traffic Impact Assessment, updated cultural heritage assessment, and updated noise, visual and aviation impact assessments.

Winterbourne Wind Farms also has a large Community Benefit Fund (CBF) – one of the largest of it’s kind in Australia according to Vestas.

The company will provide a million dollars to the fund before the construction begins, and then another $750,000 for every year for the life of the project.

“We have agreed with Walcha Council and Uralla Shire Council to document the CBF within a Voluntary Planning Agreement,” they write in an update.

“The funds in the CBF will be split 90% to the Walcha community and 10% to the Uralla Shire community, which matches the relative geographic and infrastructure split of the proposed project.”

The fund will then be used for initiatives, programs, events, services and infrastructure for the community.

Once the Submissions Report and Amendment Report is lodged this year, there will be one more set of reports and recommendations before the construction can begin at the end of 2025.