On 1 October, EnergyCo quietly revealed a major change to the proposed transmission corridor linking Bayswater to the so-called Central South Hub near Walcha. Without a word to landholders, Walcha Council or the Community Reference Group, the route has been shifted eastward—upending months of prior consultation and blindsiding the very people expected to host this infrastructure.
The announcement came with no clear explanation and appears to be a knee-jerk reaction to pressure from a small community group near Dungowan, which sat under the old alignment. In doing so, EnergyCo has created a whole new set of losers while solving nothing. For an organisation that only weeks ago promised to “do better” on engagement, this represents a stunning backslide. The community deserves honesty, not secrecy, and genuine consultation—not token gestures after decisions are made.
The consequences are serious. The new route cuts across more than one hundred additional properties between Bayswater and Walcha, many of them in areas that had previously been assured they were unaffected. Those north of the Central South Hub remain caught in limbo, still uncertain about the future of their land.
There are fundamental flaws in this new design. It connects to a hub (Central South) that is effectively redundant—there are no projects in the NSW Planning Portal that would even use it. It climbs into high-elevation, snow-prone terrain between Nundle and Niangala, where 15 kilometres of line would sit above 1,315 metres. Locals remember well the power lines that collapsed east of Bendemeer in the last snowstorm. The proposed route also passes through eight kilometres of pine forest and another eight kilometres of steep, heavily timbered country—introducing serious fire and access risks that the previous route avoided altogether.
Unlike the earlier design, which followed 65 kilometres of existing transmission corridor to reduce cost, environmental disturbance and landholder impact, this one offers zero co-location. And despite EnergyCo’s own engineers once insisting that line redundancy was “absolutely necessary”, the new design provides none. It is, by every technical and social measure, a step backwards.
The newly formed Walcha High Country Guardians—a determined group of affected landholders—have already mobilised to challenge this proposal. They are organised, passionate and grounded in the facts. Voice for Walcha stands squarely behind them.
Our organisation’s position is simple:
The Central South Hub is a relic of outdated, unrealistic expressions of interest from a contract-flipping company that has long since disappeared.
With no credible projects to connect, there is no justification for this line through our region.
The only rational alternative is to follow the existing New England Highway corridor, where co-location and efficiency make sense.
Before EnergyCo spends $14 million along each of the 220 km’s, plus $1 billion on a connection hub—more than $4 billion in total—on infrastructure that no generator needs, it must explain its reasoning. Walcha deserves transparency, accountability and respect. Anything less is unacceptable.
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Our carbon footprint hasn’t changed one bit for all the Billions $$ spent , China uses the same as our in 12 days and we r the problem , the ugliness of it all , now LUSH got a billion$$ contract and subs it all out to 4 Chinese companies for the batteries , how did a make up person get a billion$ contract , very suspicious!!!!!!!!