Walcha High Country Guardians

11/08/2026

This is what we’ve been saying for so long.

There are other ways to deliver the energy transition - ways that could cost taxpayers less and cause far less environmental damage - by placing the energy infrastructure closer to where it's needed in the city.

A smarter transition is possible. We just need governments willing to consider it.

10/08/2026

As new information emerges and renewable energy developers withdraw projects in the region, it makes increasing sense to ask our Government why energy infrastructure isn't being built closer to where the power is actually needed.

Doing so would reduce costs, minimise environmental impacts, lessen the burden on regional communities, and avoid the huge, costly builds of unnecessary transmission infrastructure (the biggest of its kind in Australia).

Yesterday, Kellie Sloane MP visited us and reiterated that we don't have to choose between reliable renewable energy and protecting productive farmland and regional communities. Better planning can achieve both.

10/08/2026

This isn't a misunderstanding. This is trespassing. And it's illegal.

Multiple contractor vehicles engaged by EnergyCo - the government agency rolling out these transmission lines - entered private farmland without permission, ignored clearly displayed "No Unauthorised Access" and biosecurity signs, triggering alarms as they mowed down an electrified livestock fence, and entered the residential area of a family property.

Honestly, when is enough, enough?! The same respect for private property, biosecurity, safety and the law should apply whether you're in Sydney or regional NSW.

Farmers shouldn't have to rely on security cameras to discover government contractors have entered their land. An apology after the fact doesn't undo the damage or restore trust. Accountability means ensuring this never happens again.

Check our comments to see the sign they drove past to illegally enter! ⏷

Full article by Daily Telegraph: https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/energy-minister-faces-backlash-after-contractors-drive-through-farmers-property/news-story/7d65daf82122f82101294f5764656a10

09/08/2026

Do the same environmental standards apply when the government is the one causing the impact?

A company near Tamworth has been fined over $72k after pesticide overspray damaged two eucalyptus trees.

Meanwhile, the NSW Government is pushing ahead with a massive transmission corridor through the New England - before the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIS) is even complete.

If two trees matter, surely thousands do too.

Pesticide laws exist for a reason. Environmental harm matters, and there should be consequences when it occurs. But how can we accept a vastly greater potential impact on native vegetation, habitat and threatened species simply because the project is labelled “renewable”?

You can’t demand environmental accountability from everyone else while asking regional communities to accept uncertainty and irreversible impacts from government infrastructure.

07/08/2026

We know our fight has become political. But it shouldn’t have to be.

When others can see there’s a better way to roll out renewables - one that listens to communities, protects productive farmland and respects the people being asked to host this infrastructure - why can’t our current government see it too?

Or are they simply choosing not to listen?

Thank you Sloane MP for sharing a pragmatic POV.

05/08/2026

Walcha’s future is being decided now - and we need our community to show up.

Please join us on Thursday 13 August at 5:30pm at Walcha Bowling Club. Hear what’s ahead, stand alongside the families facing the greatest impacts, and help send a clear message that Walcha stands together.

A strong turnout matters. Please share and bring someone with you.

We have asked EnergyCo and Penny Sharpe MLC to come to the evening and are awaiting their responses.

📍 Walcha Bowling Club
📅 Thursday 13 August
⏰ 5:30pm

Please stand with Walcha

Community Forum
5:30pm Thursday 13 August 2026
Walcha Bowling Club

Hosted by Walcha High Country Guardians and Voice for Walcha

This is one of the most important community meetings we have held.

EnergyCo’s plans for the New England REZ are becoming very real, including major powerlines, enormous construction demands and workers accommodation camps around Walcha. These plans will affect our whole community, but some local landowners and families are facing the impacts directly.

Please come along to hear what Walcha is facing, learn from the experience of communities in the Central-West Orana REZ, and show your support for those most directly affected.

We need a strong turnout to demonstrate that our community stands together in opposing these powerlines and the New England REZ.

Thursday 13 August
5:30 pm
Walcha Bowling Club

Please bring your family, friends and neighbours. Everyone is welcome.

See you Thursday August 13
at the Walcha Bowling Club

05/08/2026

You may have heard us questioning EnergyCo’s $20k sponsorship of the recent NSW Farmers Conference.

Not only is $20,000 a drop in the ocean for an organisation overseeing billions of dollars of public infrastructure - to many of us living with the consequences of the New England REZ, it feels like an insult.

It could be $20,000 or $200,000. It doesn't matter. Social licence isn’t bought with a sponsorship cheque. If EnergyCo genuinely wants to support regional communities, they could have started by listening to them.

Local landholders’ have raised genuine concerns about:
• Access and damage to private property.
• Pushing a transmission corridor through productive farms, sensitive landscapes and areas of cultural significance.
• Fire, biodiversity and agricultural impacts

And when hundreds of people take the time to provide feedback, make sure the concerns at the heart of that feedback actually change the outcome.

Sponsoring a farmers’ conference doesn’t make up for the irreversible impacts farmers are being asked to accept. Just as funding community groups can never replace cultural heritage once it is lost.

These are taxpayer dollars. We should be asking whether they’re being spent fixing the problems communities are raising - or trying to purchase the appearance of community support.

Real social licence isn’t bought. It’s earned.

04/08/2026

We know Australia needs to transition to a sustainable energy system. But when did that mean transition at any cost?

We were promised cheaper energy. Yet Central West Orana is already showing us the reality of massive cost blowouts and environmental damage.

The New England REZ is enormous - longer, more complex and cutting through some of NSW’s most valuable agricultural land, pristine forests, waterways and biodiverse landscapes.

Before pushing ahead, the Government MUST stop, listen, and learn from what is already going wrong in other REZs - before it does irreversible damage.

📹 Footage by Andrew Gee MP

20/07/2026

Twiggy Forrest's decision to walk away from a proposed wind farm in the New England REZ is another sign that it's time for an honest conversation about Australia's energy transition.

We've said it before, our community is not against renewable energy; we support a practical, affordable and sustainable energy future.

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐝𝐚𝐩𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐬.

Australians were told the transition would be better for the environment AND cheaper. Yet we're seeing escalating (and hidden) costs, growing subsidies, and now major commercial players deciding the economics no longer stack up.

If private investors are reassessing these projects, why isn't government doing the same?

We're asking for transparency, honest cost-benefit analysis, and the willingness to review the current plan based on today's facts - not yesterday's assumptions.

We're calling for our government to be economically responsible, environmentally sensible, and respectful of the communities being asked to carry the burden.

19/07/2026

This has never just been about farmers.

It's about the generation that will live with the consequences of the decisions being made today.

Young Australians are speaking up because they care about our environment, their future, and how their taxpayer dollars are being spent.

Their voices matter. The future is watching. It's time our leaders listened. ✊