Technology
Bullying, harassment, intimidation: Shocking backlash for farming families that welcome renewables
Crye was elected to Oberon Council as part of a ticket called Oberon First, which based its campaign on opposition to plans by a European renewables developer, TagEnergy, to construct 250 turbines on NSW Forestry Corporation land. The company says the closest turbine would be 15 kilometres from Oberon.
But it has sparked fierce resistance. Oberon First – which has two elected councillors – was heavily supported by Oberon Against Wind Towers, a group that has spearheaded local opposition to the project. Electoral disclosure records show the group donated $7800 to Oberon First’s campaign.
In total, Oberon First disclosed $14,550 in donations, a significant sum in that council’s elections. For context, only one other candidate disclosed any funding at all in the September 2024 poll: a $1050 self-funding declaration.
The group has deep pockets. One of its founders, Chris Muldoon, is married to Alexandra Muldoon, a daughter of retired agribusinessman, banker and property investor Garrick Hawkins.
The couple run a privately owned garden near Oberon, and last year paid $8.35 million for a Victorian terrace in the inner-Sydney suburb of Surry Hills. The group has run a particularly aggressive campaign against the project, but Muldoon is unapologetic about its tactics.
“There is angst about the project. Do you think we’re going to sit back while a billion-dollar European wind power company wants to build 250 towers 100 storeys high, and we’re being told we’ve got to suck it up?” Muldoon says.
“I can tell you now, we will keep ratcheting up the volume and the tactics, and we will stay united until these people leave.”
Asked whether the political temperature in Oberon might have contributed to Crye’s actions, Muldoon said: “I think you’re looking a bit deep there.”
“Only Michael will know what Michael was thinking,” he said.
Crye could not be reached for comment.
Back in Walcha, which this masthead visited last week, the divide in town is profound. Several business owners say they do not want to comment at all for fear of provoking a boycott.
More than one says that Voice for Walcha, the community group fighting against wind developments that Timbs belongs to, does not speak for the whole town. One of the locals sees a division between struggling local business owners and some property-rich farmers seeking to protect their land values and the beauty of the region.
“They just want Walcha to stay the way it is. They want to drive into town and get a cup of coffee and keep it looking the way it always has. But one day they won’t be able to because everything has already closed,” they say. “The town is dying.”
Winterbourne’s developers have offered to pay $1 million upfront and $750,000 a year, indexed to the CPI, into a community benefit scheme to be managed by the council for the life of the project. But there is a lot more than that at stake.
About 55 landholders stand to earn about $30,000 for each turbine hosted on their land each year. Some could have up to 10 turbines. The developer has also entered into negotiations with some neighbours who would be in sight of the towers for further payments.
One local who is happy to speak on the record is John Stuart, who claims not to remember his age, and who has been running Walcha’s towing and crane hire outfit for decades. He has a stiff gait, a work-worn face, a firm handshake and a foot in both camps. “I own a farm too,” he says. “I’d let them build a turbine on it. I’d let them build 10.” He thinks Walcha needs the investment.
The physical impact on the town and the region would be dramatic. Each of the 119 odd turbines would stand 149 metres high at their hub and 230 metres at the tips of their blades – 30 metres shorter than Sydney’s new Crown Casino building.
Another opponent, Voice for Walcha member and council member Rachel Greig, notes that construction would see tens of thousands of truck movements along the narrow regional roads. Timbs worries about the environmental impact of clearing ridgelines for the turbines and the threat to eagles posed by the spinning blades.
The New England Renewable Energy Zone, declared by the previous state Coalition government to encourage renewables development and help meet emissions reduction targets, will see projects such as Winterbourne spring up across the district. Vast solar farms have already crept across farmland outside Tamworth.
All this new energy needs to be connected to east coast energy markets via transmission lines which, even in the planning phase, are accelerating community concerns.
Bruce Moore owns a startlingly beautiful cattle and sheep farm that looks out over a valley that hides the headwaters of the Manning River. It has never been connected to the grid, and Moore and his family have spent tens of thousands of dollars over the years building up their own solar, wind and battery system. Even his shearing shed runs on green power. “The wind turbine hammering away in a windy day when I’m shearing makes me smile. I love renewables,” Moore says.
One day just before the October long weekend, Bruce’s son Nick, who lives up the hill with his wife and young baby, took a call saying that EnergyCo – the NSW state government agency in charge of energy infrastructure planning – was considering a new route for transmission lines that would see them march across his property within metres of the old home.
The family, who have lived off grid for years, has been left shattered by the news.
Closer into town, Fletcher’s wife Jack pours tea and puts out a plate of homemade biscuits. Warwick explains how the last drought nearly broke him. He sold off all but one of his cattle – a cow managed to evade the last truck – and most of his sheep. He took on debt.
He sees the Winterbourne wind project as a lifeline for him and his two sons. A steady income would drought-proof the operation. “They are always saying to farmers you’ve got to stop putting your hand out to the government, you’ve got to diversify. Well, that is what I’m trying to do,” he says.
He takes exception to politicians and campaigners who have accused farmers in his position of “taking 30 pieces of silver” from the renewables companies. He has no plans of selling up.
Warwick has voted for the Nationals all his life but can’t see himself doing so again, and certainly not for Barnaby Joyce, should he run again under any political banner. “He has always campaigned for farmers’ rights to do what they want with their land – unless its renewables.”
Crye was elected to Oberon Council as part of a ticket called Oberon First, which based its campaign on opposition to plans by a European renewables developer, TagEnergy, to construct 250 turbines on NSW Forestry Corporation land. The company says the closest turbine would be 15 kilometres from Oberon.
But it has sparked fierce resistance. Oberon First – which has two elected councillors – was heavily supported by Oberon Against Wind Towers, a group that has spearheaded local opposition to the project. Electoral disclosure records show the group donated $7800 to Oberon First’s campaign.
In total, Oberon First disclosed $14,550 in donations, a significant sum in that council’s elections. For context, only one other candidate disclosed any funding at all in the September 2024 poll: a $1050 self-funding declaration.
The group has deep pockets. One of its founders, Chris Muldoon, is married to Alexandra Muldoon, a daughter of retired agribusinessman, banker and property investor Garrick Hawkins.
The couple run a privately owned garden near Oberon, and last year paid $8.35 million for a Victorian terrace in the inner-Sydney suburb of Surry Hills. The group has run a particularly aggressive campaign against the project, but Muldoon is unapologetic about its tactics.
“There is angst about the project. Do you think we’re going to sit back while a billion-dollar European wind power company wants to build 250 towers 100 storeys high, and we’re being told we’ve got to suck it up?” Muldoon says.
“I can tell you now, we will keep ratcheting up the volume and the tactics, and we will stay united until these people leave.”
Asked whether the political temperature in Oberon might have contributed to Crye’s actions, Muldoon said: “I think you’re looking a bit deep there.”
“Only Michael will know what Michael was thinking,” he said.
Crye could not be reached for comment.
Back in Walcha, which this masthead visited last week, the divide in town is profound. Several business owners say they do not want to comment at all for fear of provoking a boycott.
More than one says that Voice for Walcha, the community group fighting against wind developments that Timbs belongs to, does not speak for the whole town. One of the locals sees a division between struggling local business owners and some property-rich farmers seeking to protect their land values and the beauty of the region.
“They just want Walcha to stay the way it is. They want to drive into town and get a cup of coffee and keep it looking the way it always has. But one day they won’t be able to because everything has already closed,” they say. “The town is dying.”
Winterbourne’s developers have offered to pay $1 million upfront and $750,000 a year, indexed to the CPI, into a community benefit scheme to be managed by the council for the life of the project. But there is a lot more than that at stake.
About 55 landholders stand to earn about $30,000 for each turbine hosted on their land each year. Some could have up to 10 turbines. The developer has also entered into negotiations with some neighbours who would be in sight of the towers for further payments.
One local who is happy to speak on the record is John Stuart, who claims not to remember his age, and who has been running Walcha’s towing and crane hire outfit for decades. He has a stiff gait, a work-worn face, a firm handshake and a foot in both camps. “I own a farm too,” he says. “I’d let them build a turbine on it. I’d let them build 10.” He thinks Walcha needs the investment.
The physical impact on the town and the region would be dramatic. Each of the 119 odd turbines would stand 149 metres high at their hub and 230 metres at the tips of their blades – 30 metres shorter than Sydney’s new Crown Casino building.
Another opponent, Voice for Walcha member and council member Rachel Greig, notes that construction would see tens of thousands of truck movements along the narrow regional roads. Timbs worries about the environmental impact of clearing ridgelines for the turbines and the threat to eagles posed by the spinning blades.
The New England Renewable Energy Zone, declared by the previous state Coalition government to encourage renewables development and help meet emissions reduction targets, will see projects such as Winterbourne spring up across the district. Vast solar farms have already crept across farmland outside Tamworth.
All this new energy needs to be connected to east coast energy markets via transmission lines which, even in the planning phase, are accelerating community concerns.
Bruce Moore owns a startlingly beautiful cattle and sheep farm that looks out over a valley that hides the headwaters of the Manning River. It has never been connected to the grid, and Moore and his family have spent tens of thousands of dollars over the years building up their own solar, wind and battery system. Even his shearing shed runs on green power. “The wind turbine hammering away in a windy day when I’m shearing makes me smile. I love renewables,” Moore says.
One day just before the October long weekend, Bruce’s son Nick, who lives up the hill with his wife and young baby, took a call saying that EnergyCo – the NSW state government agency in charge of energy infrastructure planning – was considering a new route for transmission lines that would see them march across his property within metres of the old home.
The family, who have lived off grid for years, has been left shattered by the news.
Closer into town, Fletcher’s wife Jack pours tea and puts out a plate of homemade biscuits. Warwick explains how the last drought nearly broke him. He sold off all but one of his cattle – a cow managed to evade the last truck – and most of his sheep. He took on debt.
He sees the Winterbourne wind project as a lifeline for him and his two sons. A steady income would drought-proof the operation. “They are always saying to farmers you’ve got to stop putting your hand out to the government, you’ve got to diversify. Well, that is what I’m trying to do,” he says.
He takes exception to politicians and campaigners who have accused farmers in his position of “taking 30 pieces of silver” from the renewables companies. He has no plans of selling up.
Warwick has voted for the Nationals all his life but can’t see himself doing so again, and certainly not for Barnaby Joyce, should he run again under any political banner. “He has always campaigned for farmers’ rights to do what they want with their land – unless its renewables.”
