Dr Anne Webster MP
Shadow Minister for Regional Development, Local Government and Territories
Shadow Minister for Regional Communications
Federal Member for Mallee

MEDIA RELEASE

Thursday 25 September 2025

Shadow Regional Development Minister calls out Labor’s hollow words for regional communities railroaded for ‘renewables’

Shadow Minister for Regional Development, Local Government, Territories and Regional Communications, Dr Anne Webster said the Albanese Labor Government’s response to a ‘REAL Deal’ proposal for local benefits from ‘renewable’ projects was as hollow as the way Labor are hollowing out regional Australia.

“I can’t believe the hide of the Minister to talk about community benefit when Labor at federal and state levels are railroading regional communities, like many of my own in Mallee, hell bent on reaching political targets so they can strut the global climate stage,” Dr Webster said.

“This isn’t regional development, it’s regional exploitation for political gain.”

The Regional Australia Institute is today launching their ‘Regional Energy and Legacy Deal’ aka ‘REAL Deal’ alongside a report, ‘Towards Net Zero: Building a Legacy’.   The proposal suggests ‘social benefit’ payments from energy project developers ought to be required to ensure genuine negotiations to communities.

“I am very sceptical about today’s announcement, which aims to also provide ‘certainty to investors’. Of course Australia wants to eliminate sovereign risk, but there is also a bigger risk to Australian taxpayers in picking winners.  Wind projects are not progressing in Australia for at least two very sound regions,” Dr Webster, the member for Mallee in north-western Victoria, said.

“First of all, local councils like many in my electorate – and I commend them wholeheartedly for it – have spoken up for their communities saying they are not getting a good deal.  It is obscene that farmers and landowners now face fines of up to $12,000 for refusing access for the Victorian government’s transmission line.  That is bad model corporate behaviour by the government, and the Albanese Labor Government are cheering Victorian Labor on.

“Secondly, the market is getting cold feet on onshore wind projects. Some say solar and batteries might gazump interest in wind investment. Hardly any wind projects have been approved this year, leading to Labor’s Chicken Little alarmism last week to scare Australians into accepting a quadrupling of the wind turbine rollout, a tripling of the utility solar rollout and sextupling of the battery rollout.  Where will that rollout happen? In regional communities.  The RAI needs to go back to regional communities and ask them whether any amount of money will be acceptable payoff for blighting their landscapes and turning regions into industrial wastelands of mines, lines and turbines on what will be former prime agricultural land.”

“Labor has not lifted a finger to enable community benefit. Throwing chicken feed to community groups to buy off ‘social licence’ is not acceptable, true social licence or genuine investment in communities. Federal Labor have the levers but back in authoritarian Labor state governments that treat private property rights like tissue paper.

“Labor are railroading communities as the PM and Mr Bowen are hell bent on political targets no expert (outside those under the government thumb) truly believes are achievable.”

Minister McBain used to speak about communities in her Eden-Monaro electorate needing to be ‘genuinely consulted’, acknowledging in August 2022 that community engagement of the transmission lines supporting Snowy 2.0 had not been ideal, saying

‘there is some work to do by many companies in this process to properly consult with communities, to properly remunerate these landowners and to make sure that they are working with community to understand what the best line is going to be and how that will have an impact on our community long term’

However, Minister McBain herself faces a ‘REAL Monaro’ campaign against the Coonerang Wind Farm (near Cooma, NSW) in her own electorate. The group admin posted on 15 February

“The Monaro community doesn’t want the Coonerang Wind Farm either! There is No social licence for this.”

Dr Webster said the Minister needs to lift her game for genuine regional development.

“I confess I did a double take after reading the Minister talking about her Government being

‘committed to ensuring regional communities are empowered to participate in the energy transition and experience its benefits’.  

... that’s condescending nonsense and it’s certainly not what Minister Bowen and the Prime Minister are doing to regional communities.  Labor’s aggressive rollout and railroading regional communities is why farmers in tractors chased the Prime Minister out of Ballarat in late August, and why Labor ministers are getting hostile receptions in regional communities.”

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