Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Public consultation for an offshore wind zone 20 kilometres or more off the coast of Newcastle ran from February to April 2023. On 12 July last year the Albanese Labor government officially declared the zone, paving the way for cleaner, cheaper energy into the grid and job security for those in the Hunter Region.

In Newcastle last week, I welcomed the Minister for Climate Change and Energy, who announced the next stage of this orderly process that the Labor government is undertaking. We announced the granting of a feasibility licence to the Novacastrian Offshore Wind Farm, which is a joint project between a Norwegian company, Equinor, and Australia's Oceanex Energy. Environmental and other approval processes will follow, as they should, and there will be lots of time for community groups to be involved in consultations prior to any construction occurring. The opportunities for the community, along with First Nations people, to provide feedback kicks in now. Along with the opinions of our organised labour movement and marine users in our region, this will be very important feedback for the Labor government to consider. We are ensuring that there is a thorough and transparent process for the life of this project, because this is a government that cares deeply about getting this transition right.

The Novacastrian wind project is expected to generate up to two gigawatts of wind energy—enough to power an estimated 1.2 million homes. For those of us in Newcastle, we might call that enough to power two Tomago smelters. You know what? When you come from a region with some heavy industry—

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