Renewable rollout prioritised speed over 'social licence', inquiry finds

Renewable energy zones found to have prioritised speed over communities in scathing report Thu 30 Jul 2026 at 4:02pm In short: A NSW parliamentary inquiry has found the state's energy body prioritised the rapid rollout of renewable energy zones to the detriment of regional communities. It has made 16 recommendations including stronger accountability measures and better community consultation. What's next? The NSW government has until October of this year to formally respond to the report's findings. The NSW government has been accused of leaving regional NSW behind in a scathing parliamentary report into renewable energy zones (REZ), with a lack of coherent planning and a failure to listen to impacted communities resulting in "predictable and avoidable harm". A NSW parliamentary inquiry was charged with investigating the impact of the scheme on impacted communities in 2024, and has since visited each of the five zones before issuing its final report. The report has made 16 recommendations to the NSW government. This included a review of all five REZs and the impacts on each regional community. The inquiry asked that Energy Corporation of NSW, also known as EnergyCo, be subject to formal performance and accountability requirements. Local councils in each REZ should receive recurrent funding to help with resourcing and a statutory Community Advocate be established to represent landholders. Inquiry chair and Shooters, Fishers and Farmers MLC Mark Banasiak said the inquiry found the NSW government "railroaded" impacted communities with the scheme's rollout. "It was quite clear that they had no social licence, the social licence had collapsed because they had failed to bring the community along" Mr Banasiak told the ABC. "Communities just felt what they were saying was just falling on deaf ears." Mr Banasiak says the report's findings lead him to believe the apparent lack of community consultation was a deliberate choice by the government to ensure the project went ahead smoothly. "They knew getting community trust was going to be a challenge, so they just didn't bother." Nobody is Listening For fourth-generation beef farmer Allison McPhee, the realities of the states' shift towards renewable energy are impossible to ignore. The transmission line set to snake through NSW from Walcha in the north-west to Bayswater in Sydney will run right through her property on the outskirts of Scone in the Upper Hunter. She says the impacts on her farm will be profound. "We will have to re-evaluate the whole way we do things. We would have to reduce our herd because we can't carry as many cattle, which reduces your profitability." The report acknowledged the relationship between Energy Corporation of NSW and impacted communities has been "significantly eroded", failing in it's duty to give those directly affected an avenue to "meaningfully influence outcomes". It recommends Energy Co be subject to formal performance and accountability requirements, including greater public reporting. "This is failing because the policy is bad, not because the people are non-compliant," Ms McPhee says. "Nobody is listening to the local knowledge." For grazier Anna Young, whose property near Walcha is at the extreme end of the transmission line, there is caution about what comes next. Despite being supportive of the report's findings and recommendations, she is less optimistic about how the government will respond. "My faith in this report leading to change is pretty low," she says. She says the assessment of the relationship between Energy Co and landowners, which the report found was lacking in "meaningful engagement", has given her some hope. "I think it's really validating for all communities that have been dealing with Energy Co for years and trying to shout from the rooftops about all the problems, but there doesn't seem to be any accountability." In its response to the report's findings, the NSW government says the evidence highlights the challenges associated with the "transformation of [NSW's] energy system". The government says "substantial work" such as financial support for local government, additional compensation and community benefits to impacted areas have taken place in the time since the inquiry tabled its first report in August of last year.