{"id":369763,"date":"2026-03-04T20:31:42","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T10:31:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=369763"},"modified":"2026-03-05T18:11:57","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T08:11:57","slug":"voices-raised-against-renewables","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2026\/03\/04\/voices-raised-against-renewables\/","title":{"rendered":"Voices Raised Against Renewables"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Anti-renewables campaigner Jim Willmott … “who wants the South Burnett to turn into an industrial wasteland?”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

March 4, 2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

“Your concerns are our concerns” … that’s how South Burnett Mayor Kathy Duff summed up a sometimes fiery meeting held in Kumbia last week to discuss various renewable industry projects in the South Burnett.<\/p>\n

Residents affected by projects – or projected projects – in the Wambo, Coopers Gap, Ellesmere, Ironpot, Chahpingah, Alice Creek and Kingaroy areas filled the supper room in the Kumbia Memorial Hall to overflowing.<\/p>\n

Many residents expressed concerns about the demand for water that projects were already drawing from aquifers, saying bores were increasing in salinity and aquifers were not being replenished.<\/p>\n

(Water is being used by contractors for dust suppression during construction.)<\/p>\n

And former councillor and local landholder Scott Henschen queried whether the water quality in watercourses and Boondooma Dam was being monitored.<\/p>\n

SBRC General Manager Infrastructure Aaron Meehan urged landholders to stay engaged with the Department of Natural Resources in regards to water table issues.<\/strong><\/p>\n

There were also concerns raised over noise, biosecurity risks and traffic hazards with the number of construction vehicles coming into the area, as well as wear-and-tear on roads.<\/p>\n

Residents were also concerned about turbine fires, “lithium explosions”, and asbestos being detected in interstate projects.<\/p>\n

Others raised end-of-life issues, ie. would landholders be left responsible for the demolition and removal of turbine towers, disposal of the blades and removal of the concrete pads?<\/p>\n

Tarong West project manager Toby Coates attempted to allay the last of these fears, saying the responsibility for the removal of all above-ground infrastructure was usually built into contracts, and this responsibility was passed on if the project changed hands.<\/p>\n

He said Tarong West suppliers would also be required to ensure their components were free of asbestos.<\/p>\n

Mayor Duff, who organised the meeting, said she shared residents’ frustrations about how renewables projects had been rolled out in the South Burnett.<\/strong><\/p>\n

She emphasised the South Burnett Regional Council had rejected approval for the construction of the Kingaroy Solar Farm but had lost when the developer challenged it in the Planning Court.<\/p>\n

Often by the time Council found out about projects, agreements had already been signed between developers and individual landholders, she said.<\/p>\n

And the assessment about whether wind farms, solar farms or battery energy storage systems went ahead had been taken out of the hands of councils by the State Government.<\/p>\n

Mayor Duff expressed support for mandated minimum 3km setbacks around windfarm sites as well as bonds to cover future decommissioning.<\/p>\n

Well-known anti-renewables campaigners, Property Rights Australia vice-president Jim Willmott (who unsuccessfully stood for the Senate at the last Federal Election as a Libertarian Party candidate) and Kilkivan Action Group’s Katy McCallum (who unsuccessfully stood for One Nation in the Federal seat of Gympie) were vocal during the meeting.<\/strong><\/p>\n

They urged the State Government to “call in” the Tarong West project, which recently gained its final environmental approvals.<\/p>\n

Mr Willmott said he believed there were projects that “we don’t event know about” at Johnstown and Goomeri.<\/p>\n

“Who wants the South Burnett to turn into an industrial wasteland?” he said.<\/p>\n

Ms McCallum said renewable projects were “a death to rural Australia and our towns”.<\/p>\n

“Once these communities are destroyed, they’re not going to come back,” she said.<\/p>\n

SBRC CEO Mark Pitt said Council would be employing a dedicated staff member within weeks as a single-point of contact in regards to planning issues, including renewable projects.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mayor Duff said she would consider organising a similar meeting in Blackbutt to hear residents’ concerns about the Taromeo solar farm project.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Katy McCallum … “”once these communities are destroyed, they’re not going to come back”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
SBRC General Manager Infrastructure Aaron Meehan, CEO Mark Pitt and Mayor Kathy Duff … Mayor Duff chaired the meeting which was attended by all councillors<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Deputy Mayor Ros Heit with RES’s Andrew Stokes and Tarong West project manager Toby Coates<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
There was standing room only for the public meeting in the Kumbia Memorial Hall supper room<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Your concerns are our concerns” … that’s how South Burnett Mayor Kathy Duff summed up a sometimes fiery meeting held in Kumbia last week to discuss various renewable industry projects in the South Burnett.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":369764,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5,22,16,3,36],"tags":[1131,73,1134],"yoast_head":"\nVoices Raised Against Renewables - southburnett.com.au<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\""Your concerns are our concerns" ... that's how South Burnett Mayor Kathy Duff summed up a sometimes fiery meeting held in Kumbia last week to discuss various renewable industry projects in the South Burnett.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2026\/03\/04\/voices-raised-against-renewables\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Voices Raised Against Renewables - 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