Andrew Willcox (Dawson, Liberal National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Manufacturing and Sovereign Capability) Share this | Hansard source

In Dawson, the quiet of Crystal Brook and Kelsey Creek is under siege from the threat of a wind farm that would steal a sunrise, drown out the dawn bird chorus and loom over homes and farmlands. The Mt Challenger Wind Farm is not a minor project. It is an industrial-scale intrusion placed within minutes of family homes, farms and one of our region's most treasured recreational landscapes, the Peter Faust Dam. Residents were blindsided. A handful of landholders were approached in private. Turbine locations are vague. There is no genuine consultation.

In response, more than 120 residents have now united, through the Whitsunday Wind Farm Action Group, to defend their homes, their health and their livelihoods. Their concerns are not hypothetical and they are not political. They are real health concerns—sleepless nights, persistent headaches and other known documented effects of ultrasound. Some of these turbines will be less than two kilometres from homes. There'll be increased heavy traffic movement on narrow rural roads. And this is not to mention the heightened threat to our delicate ecosystem, which is home to eagles, brolgas and the Proserpine rock-wallaby. Above all, there is the destruction of peace that generations have enjoyed. These are proud rural Australians—people who have already invested in solar, batteries and sustainable practices. They support clean energy. What they do not support is a project forced upon them without respect, without honesty and without proper scrutiny.

Crystal Brook and Kelsey Creek are not suitable locations for wind turbines. They are farming communities. They are residential communities. They should not be the dumping ground for poor planning and poor policy shortcuts. Yet, while these communities fight to protect their homes and farmlands, Australia is being asked to tolerate something extraordinary—an energy minister bestowing the virtues of energy and climate across the globe while power bills here have surged nearly 40 per cent. Australians do not need a part-time energy minister. They need a government focused on lowering bills, stabilising the grid and protecting regional communities, not pushing reckless projects onto them.

This government's priorities are backwards. Rural communities are paying the price for policies written for people who will never live next to a wind turbine. They'll never lie awake at night worrying about the noise, the flicker or the health impacts. These communities are entitled to transparency and proper planning. They deserve to be heard, and I will ensure that they are heard. Energy projects must go where they make sense, not be dumped in the backyards of hardworking Australians.

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