A war of words has erupted over the planned Illawarra offshore wind zone, with Federal Member for Gilmore, Fiona Phillips, accusing Liberal party opponent Andrew Constance of back-flipping on renewable energy.
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She said Mr Constance supported renewable energy as Transport Minister, was part of a government that enabled the Illawarra offshore wind zone to be established, and he campaigned for Gilmore in 2022 as part of a party that explicitly supported offshore wind - including prioritising the Illawarra.
"Andrew Constance campaigned for Gilmore at the last election on the Coalition's energy policy, which included offshore wind," Mrs Phillips said.
"What has changed? Why is Andrew Constance now supporting costly, risky nuclear power and opposing offshore wind energy?"
Mrs Phillips said offshore wind was part of the Liberal Party's policy in 2022 when Mr Constance was the party's candidate for Gilmore.
But Mr Constance "has done a complete back-flip and is now opposing offshore wind farms for narrow political purposes, despite his previous support for renewable energy," Mrs Phillips said.
However Mr Constance dismissed the floating offshore windfarm as a "white elephant", he had never supported - "and the Albanese Government can't point to anywhere where I have."
"I see the $10 billion offshore windfarm as uneconomic, which will cripple people further with their power bills," he said.
"Its life span is only 30 years and it is way more expensive than nuclear power."
Instead of "political tit for tat, misinformation and name calling," Mr Constance said he was more focused on the community and how so many were struggling to make ends meet amid the cost of living crisis and soaring power bills.
Problems had been "exacerbated by a failure to take action by the Albanese Government and its local representative," Mr Constance said.
"This is driven by Labor's 100 per cent renewables only policy which has no regard for financial pressure on households.
"We now face gas rationing and we haven't heard a peep out of the MP on that. How is she going to explain this to companies like Manildra?" he asked.
Energy Minister Chris Bowen said there was no danger of gas rationing, and there was "sufficient supply in the market for at least four years".
"Reports that the east coast gas supply is severely limited do not reflect the information provided by the energy and gas market operator, AEMO," he said.
"AEMO has confirmed it has adequate levers to address any issues and increase storage holdings if required, because of new powers given to it by the Albanese Government to properly manage our domestic gas supply," Mr Bowen said.
