Originally published by Peter Jenkins of The Daily Telegraph.
10.06.2026
Imagine you wake up tomorrow to discover the government has decided to run a massive industrial corridor straight through your home. But it’s not just your home, it’s also your business, your livelihood, your legacy. You don’t get to say no. The line has been drawn on a map from an office desk, and no amount of feedback truly changes the outcome. For most people, that sounds unthinkable. But that’s exactly what’s happening to hundreds of farming families and businesses in the New England and Upper Hunter regions of NSW, because of the government’s renewable energy rollout. Yet this isn’t just a regional issue. Every Australian has a stake because every household pays the power bill, every taxpayer funds the transition and every family relies on affordable food. The New England renewable energy zone and transmission line corridor will cause irreversible environmental damage, increase electricity costs, threaten food security and permanently change our landscapes. These concerns remain unanswered, even after the recent parliamentary debate. When more than 22,000 petitioners cannot secure meaningful engagement from the premier, we are entitled to ask whether community consultation is genuine or merely a ‘tick the box’ exercise. We are not opposed to renewable energy. We’re opposed to rushed, poorly planned projects that destroy businesses, valuable environmental assets and regional communities. It’s time for Premier Minns – and all Australians – to re-think our energy policies before it’s too late.
Aidan Morrison, Director of Energy Research at the Centre for Independent Studies, is in the farmers’ corner and told The Telegraph an inevitable budget blowout for the project would trigger a further jump in NSW electricity bills.
“The cost of this transmission corridor is officially estimated by the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) at $6 billion,” he said, noting it was a figure with a 50 per cent plus-or-minus caveat.
“Officially a finger in the air,” he added.
“I’d be very surprised if they get any change from $20 billion to build a project of this size … and it will single-handedly poison NSW’s prospects of having cost-competitive electricity into the future.
“I don’t think it makes any sense.”
He points to the Central West Orana REZ project, currently under construction and due for completion in 2028, where cost projections of $650 million in 2020 have now ballooned to $5.5 billion.
“I think it’s crystal clear this is not economically viable,” Mr Morrison said of the New England REZ.
“To push on is being completely obstinate, head in the sand, and ignoring the reality that there’s no (generation) projects that are likely to proceed up there.
“If they do, those projects will have to be backed by government subsidies, and that’s when policy becomes truly bad, where you start trying to backfill to cover up previous poor decisions.
“If they commit $20 billion of consumers’ money on a white elephant but then go on to spend I don’t know what on subsidies to build the projects (that will generate the energy for transmission), that situation is just absurd.”
Under published timelines, an Environmental Impact Statement for the project is likely to be lodged and go on public exhibition later this year. A submissions report is set to follow in 2027, with planning approvals potentially before the end of next year.
On the land, the concerns are palpable.
Aaron and Tabitha Ham run 1100 cows at Niangala and, with transmission lines slated to cross their land, the couple fear they will need to shed 300 of the breeding herd.
“We don’t know how long we’d be interrupted during construction, and large sections of the farms out here are going to be put out of action,” Mr Ham said.
“This area produces more than 20 per cent of the state’s beef, so how’s that going to work when construction of these lines starts?
“There would have to be a chance it’ll impact the amount of beef available to consumers around this state for a period of time. We export our beef as well.
“It just isn’t the right place for this project and the topography is going to be a real issue,” Mr Ham said.
“We’ve had (Energy Minister) Penny Sharpe up here. We showed her how awful it is.
“Some of the locals explained when there were bushfires, they weren’t even able to take bulldozers down to create clearings as the ground is that unsafe, that steep, that dangerous.
“How do they expect to create access tracks and get machinery down there to put these transmission lines up? Like it’s going to cost an absolute fortune. Yes, I’m going to lose money because of it, but we’re also genuinely concerned for the taxpayers of NSW.
“That’s from a food production perspective but also what it’s going to mean to energy charges.
“There’s a cost-of-living crisis out there and this won’t be helping.”
Ms Sharpe downplayed the impact of the project.
“The New England REZ is essential to replace energy generation that will be lost as coal-fired power stations retire,” she said. “Work on the New England REZ continues to minimise the impact on landowners.”
EnergyCo is the NSW Government authority responsible for delivering the state’s REZs and has been slammed by locals around Walcha and the Upper Hunter for failing to consult on the “new” transmission line route.
An initial course that carried transmission lines further to the west and northwest of the path now proposed between Bayswater and Walcha was amended last October.
Impacted landholders – around 150 will be directly affected – say they were blindsided and only told of the change the day before it was announced.
They were also shocked by the scale of the REZ.
A spokesman for Energy Co told this masthead the “proposed location” of the transmission corridor was revised to allow for “cheaper … safer and more efficient construction” through “more favourable terrain”.
More than 300 people from local community groups, including the Walcha High Country Guardians led by Anna Young, travelled long distances to Sydney last month to hear a parliamentary debate on the New England REZ project.
It was called after 22,000 people signed an e-petition opposing the plans.
Bankstown MP Jihad Dib spoke on behalf of the government, but the Labor benches were predominantly empty.
“I don’t think this government realises how much pain is caused by disrespect like that,” Mr Greig said. “But they’ve only hardened our resolve.”
Angry farmers at war with the Minns government over a renewable energy mega-project are warning the battle threatens to spill over and impact Sydney household budgets.
In cattle country around the Upper Hunter and New England region, locals are fuming over plans to run “transmission lines on steroids” through some of NSW’s most productive agricultural land.
More than 300km of 80m-tall transmission towers are proposed for a New England Renewable Energy Zone where wind, solar and battery installations would have generated energy sent via the lines to an existing power station and out across the state.
Critics argue the New England REZ is fatally flawed, a potential “white elephant”, and will lead to increased electricity charges if it does proceed.
They claim wind farm investment is failing to materialise and the transmission line route selected will face significant construction hurdles trying to carve a course through rugged and untouched terrain.
“They’re laying this line from Bayswater (near Muswellbrook) and it will rise around 1200m through some very inaccessible, isolated and high rainfall country before it gets to New England,” Walcha cattle farmer Cameron Greig told The Daily Telegraph.
“Some of those factors are construction showstoppers … steep with greasy, basal clay soils where you just don’t move machinery unless it’s dry. And you’re talking about some areas that get more than 120 wet days a year.”
Anna Young and husband Peter, parents to two young children, run 4000 sheep and 1400 steers at Niangala, on the Great Dividing Range, around 50km outside Walcha.
“The towers would be roughly the height of the Sydney Opera House, spaced every 400m, and to build them you clear a corridor of land up to 200m wide … it’s a disaster waiting to happen,” Ms Young said.
“It will industrialise vast tracts of our beautiful landscape, adversely affect farm production, severely impact the ability to achieve production goals or even to survive tough times.”