Originally published by Peter Jenkins of The Daily Telegraph
12.07.2026
The Minns government is panicking over renewable energy rollouts, but “has another thing coming” if it expects to unleash bulldozers on pristine farmlands in regional NSW, a local government leader says.
Walcha councillor Gary Olrich said the government’s “whatever it takes” stance to ram through twin rows of 500kV high-voltage transmission lines for a New England Renewable Energy Zone (REZ) was “poorly planned”, “dumb” and “lacks logic”.
“They’ve got no bloody idea what they’re doing and no idea what they’re up against,” he said. “It’s a big problem and one they’ve got to try and fix. There’s a lot of resistance here and we’re not going away.”
The announcement last October of an amended transmission line route from the New England region to the Bayswater power station near Muswellbrook – to carry energy generated from the long-planned REZ – has left farmers at war with the government.
They claim the path proposed for the “transmission lines on steroids” will decimate cattle and horse properties, be carved through rugged and sometimes inaccessible land, and has ramifications Sydney householders should also fear.
Centre for Independent Studies director of energy research Aidan Morrison said an inevitable cost blowout for the REZ project – potentially to $20bn – would result in a further rise in NSW electricity bills.
Cattle farmer Aaron Ham said construction of the transmission infrastructure could “impact the amount of beef available to consumers around this state for a period of time” due to production disruptions.
EnergyCo – the NSW government authority responsible for delivering the state’s REZs – also had locals around Walcha and the Upper Hunter fuming over a lack of consultation, Mr Olrich said.
“Do you (Premier) Chris Minns, (Energy Minister) Penny Sharpe and the senior executive of EnergyCo wish to be remembered forever for advancing and facilitating the biggest white elephant infrastructure project in NSW’s history?” he said.
“Some of this country back towards Gundy, you just can’t get down there. During the 2019 bushfires, they couldn’t even get a bulldozer to the bottom to put tracks in to fight the fire.
“And we’re talking here about billions of dollars’ worth of infrastructure. What happens if fires break out, or you get big snowstorms in some of these places? This thing is in the wrong place.
“Some of this country, when you get 1400 metres above sea level, you get heavy fog, rain … so when they go to construct it, they’d only work 50 per cent of the time at best.
“The rest of the time, they’ll be sitting there playing cards. And who will be paying for that?”
Mr Olrich claimed landowners previously on board with the REZ project – before the transmission line route was altered – are now aligned against the new plan.
“The government assumes everyone’s going to come on board and want to host a (wind, solar or battery) project,” he added. “Well, that ain’t going to happen. Not a chance in hell.”
As the state opposition calls for a review of the scope and scale of the New England REZ, Northern Tablelands Nationals MP Brendan Moylan claimed the government was “completely out of touch” with regional NSW.
“The arrogance is staggering,” he said. “Farmers, communities and environmentalists have repeatedly raised concerns about the impact of these transmission lines.
“But the government has chosen to push ahead with complete and utter disregard.”
