‘David and Goliath’ battle over waste-to-energy plan in Angus Taylor’s NSW seat generates electoral heat

A controversial plan to harness energy by burning Sydney's rubbish in the NSW southern tablelands is generating an electoral backlash in the seat of Hume, where the energy minister, Angus Taylor, is facing a challenge from the independent candidate Penny Ackery.

In May 2021, Veolia Environmental Services lodged an application to for approval to develop an Advanced Energy Recovery Centre at the Woodlawn Eco-Precinct west of Tarago, approximately 40km south-west of Goulburn.

The site - a former mine - has been used for waste management and landfill by Veolia for the past 20 years.

The $600m waste-to-energy project would burn 380,000 tonnes of rubbish, generating steam and converting it into 39MW of electricity to power 50,000 homes annually, according to a Veolia report.

Residents across the region have voiced their objections to the plan over concerns about toxic emissions and started a petition to state parliament.

For Felicity Reynolds, a Lake Bathurst local who is the mother of a nine-month-old, Harry, and married to a fifth-generation livestock farmer, Simon, the development is too risky - particularly after the incineration of waste was deemed unsafe for metropolitan areas.

"We want to protect our country; we also want to protect the future for our kids," she says.

"Harry is sixth-generation and we'd like him to have the opportunity to stay.

"If he does decide he wants to be a farmer, we'd like to have land that he can farm.

"We are kind of a dumping ground because they need a pollution pass and this is the solution they've come up with, because Sydney is saying no."

Political support for waste-to-energy projects varies. The European Union is winding back its financial support for new projects and plants have become controversial because they threaten plans to reduce emissions.

The NSW Liberal member for Goulburn, Wendy Tuckerman, told state parliament in November 2021 that the chief scientist's report on the health impacts of ultrafine particles emanating from waste-to-energy facilities did not provide her with "any certainty".

"We do not want any waste-to-energy facilities in our electorate," she says.

A spokesperson for Angus Taylor says the federal energy minister met Veolia late last year to raise issues put to him by concerned community members.

"I expect Veolia to engage constructively with the community and resolve those issues that are of real concern. I made that clear on meeting with them and I will continue to. This is a matter for the NSW state planning process," Taylor's statement says.

But the independent candidate Penny Ackery sees an incongruity between government-authorised campaigns about waste recycling and plans to incinerate refuse at Lithgow, Parkes and the Richmond Valley in addition to the southern tablelands.

"Regional people are perhaps - definitely - feeling like they are a dumping ground," she says.

"I think Australia needs to be at the forefront, not finding out down the track that this wasn't a very good idea.

"As a community independent [I believe] the first thing they need to do is to have a really open discussion and tell the people from Tarago exactly what is going to happen. Put the plans on the table," she says.

Goulburn Mulwaree council is opposed to the project on environmental and health grounds, but states in a report that it would "seek additional clauses in the regulations" and "substantial benefits" if the facility was approved.

"Those benefits must be decided by our community and not Sydney-based state government officials," the report states.

"We will be requesting the NSW government include in this regulation a capital infrastructure levy equivalent to 1.5% of the capital cost of the development plus ongoing levy of $20 per tonne of waste burnt in the facility to further enhance business development and employment opportunities in the region."

Richard Kirkman, the chief executive of Veolia, told Guardian Australia that avoiding alternatives to landfill is "a disaster for climate mitigation."

"We're ensuring that we don't leave this legacy of waste in the landfill for generations to deal with," he says.

"It's really important now we get this over the line, and I am personally very motivated to try and convince the locals that it is safe for them and the whole country will benefit.

"We just need to convince them of the science and of the evidence that there aren't problematic air emissions or any impact on their soils," he says.

According to Kirkman, the process would recover around 10,000 tonnes of metal each year, and the incineration ash produced is commonly used in construction for asphalt.

Veolia will release an environmental assessment in coming months, after which the company will conduct community consultation.

Austin McLennan, a third-generation Tarago farmer, runs a mixed-farming enterprise 9km from the Woodlawn precinct.

Years of drought, the wettest seasons on record and the cumulative stressors from the proposed waste facility are affecting farmers' mental health, he says.

According to McLennan, neighbouring farmers are talking about selling their inter-generational properties.

"I don't know one person who isn't against it, and generally speaking people from agriculture and off the land generally vote Liberal and people are getting over it.

According to Reynolds, the community battle against the plant's location "feels a bit like David and Goliath."