Libby Mettam hits back at Labor’s Patrick Gorman about offshore wind farm zone, supports community petition

State Liberal leader Libby Mettam is not backing down on her criticisms of the offshore wind farm zone consultation process as she supports a petition opposing the project. Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister Patrick Gorman this week responded to Ms Mettam’s concerns about a lack of transparency with the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water’s community information sessions about the zone, which she said had raised far more questions than answers. Following Ms Mettam’s criticisms, Mr Gorman said the Federal Government wanted to hear from the community, and encouraged people — including Ms Mettam — to keep the debate “fact-based”. Ms Mettam hit back on Wednesday, stating the community deserved to have the facts about the zone. “The overwhelming feedback I have received from community members is these so-called information sessions did not provide the information that community members were seeking,” she said. “There is very real concern about Labor’s plan to build these wind turbines — hundreds, if not thousands, of them — along one of the most iconic coastlines in the world.” Ms Mettam is backing a petition led by Yallingup resident Andrew Wynne calling on Premier Roger Cook and Environment Minister Reece Whitby to oppose offshore wind farms in the region. The Vasse MLA said the State Government has been “missing in action” on the issue. “We’ve seen strong advocacy from my State Liberal colleagues, (Federal members) Andrew Hastie and Nola Marino, but also the incoming Liberal candidate for Forrest Ben Small who has a petition on this matter,” she said. “I’m doing what I can at the State level, which is to call on Roger Cook and Reece Whitby to stand up for the South West community and make it very clear that there is overwhelming opposition to this outrageous plan.” The petition opened on Monday and had already received more than 460 signatures on Thursday morning. To sign, visit parliament.wa.gov.au/Parliament/LAePetitions.nsf/petitions/24-0004.