Australia's coastline could soon play a key role in transforming the national energy grid, with multiple bids to install hundreds of offshore wind turbines around the country. But it's facing strong opposition from some - sparking fierce debates about environmental impacts, and claims of peddling misinformation.
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00:00 It's a Thursday morning in early summer.
00:06 I've never found anywhere quite as beautiful as this.
00:10 Having dolphins, whales, turtles.
00:14 Dolphins and whales are Frank Future's life's work.
00:19 And a huge drawcard for tourists to his home in Port Stephens.
00:23 We kicked off whale watching in '95 and that filled the gap in the winter because this
00:29 place died in the winter.
00:31 But there's a new industry moving to town.
00:34 I'm very concerned about anything that affects our natural environment and that's got me
00:42 involved in this turbine issue.
00:44 The Hunter region, just north of Sydney, is set to become one of Australia's first offshore
00:49 wind zones.
00:50 Hundreds of floating turbines would be installed from Noora Head in the south to Port Stephens
00:55 in the north.
00:56 The closest would be about 20km from shore.
01:00 This area alone could generate 5.2 gigawatts of power, almost double the closest coal-fired
01:06 power station near Newcastle.
01:08 And it's one of a number of projects around the country, with advanced proposals in Gippsland,
01:14 the Illawarra and Southern Ocean, and others being looked at off southern and central Queensland
01:19 and WA's south-west.
01:20 Australia should be one of the leading countries in offshore wind around the world.
01:24 We have 34,000km of coastline.
01:27 Most of our population lives along the coastlines.
01:30 And the Hunter is already a picture of contrast.
01:34 Pristine beaches bring in tourists from across the country, while Newcastle hosts the busiest
01:39 coal port on the globe.
01:41 People in Newcastle are used to industry.
01:43 You come just an hour up the road and up here our main industry is tourism.
01:49 And it's eco-based tourism, marine tourism.
01:52 Vocal community opposition has taken the industry and the federal government by surprise.
01:57 Concerns vary from visual impacts to what the turbines might mean for whales migrating
02:03 down the coast.
02:04 If we don't take a more custodial attitude towards our natural environment, it doesn't
02:11 speak for itself.
02:12 You know, we've got to stand up for it.
02:15 The industry's backers are frustrated, with what they label as misinformation about the
02:19 threat to whales, and how it's managed to rapidly spread.
02:23 We're going through the normal process of having a number of things put on the table,
02:27 a lot of the reality coming out.
02:29 During the consultation period, we were let down by our own department in some ways, and
02:36 I feel that quite strongly.
02:37 It's easy to understand why some are sceptical about wind turbines offshore.
02:41 Many are attached to the coastline and protective of it.
02:44 But Australia is falling behind in meeting its renewable energy targets.
02:48 And there's a real urgency in getting more power into the grid.
02:51 With thousands of kilometres of coastline, the potential and possibility of offshore
02:56 wind is hard to ignore.
02:58 There's a lot of people that are concerned, but we've got to keep the lights on too.
03:06 And I don't think it matters where this project goes, there's going to be some opposition.
03:10 Others are wondering what a whole new industry might mean for jobs, and local manufacturing
03:15 in particular.
03:16 We want to be part of it.
03:17 The trouble is it's such a big project, there's going to be so much metal used in this project
03:21 that finding contractors and suppliers and companies that can undertake such projects
03:27 are going to be difficult.
03:30 If and when coal starts to fade from this region, a massive new project, and the work
03:35 that comes with it, could be timely.
03:37 We know that they are really well paid jobs, akin to potentially offshore oil and those
03:43 sorts of jobs.
03:44 It will be a long-term employer of not only modern jobs, but jobs where we've got existing
03:49 skill sets, whether it be in coal mining, power generation or the like, that can transition
03:54 into these roles.
03:55 Change coming on the wind.
03:57 Tom Lowry, ABC News, Port Stephens.
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