Half of windfarm complaints about turbines yet to be built: commissioner

Approximately half of all complaints made to Australia’s windfarm commissioner relate to turbines that have not yet been built, the man tasked with the job has said.

Andrew Dyer was appointed as the country’s first windfarm commissioner in October and started in the role the following month. Since November he has received complaints relating to 12 wind farms, affecting 42 residents.

Dyer told Senate estimates on Monday that 50% of complaints – of which he did not have a specific number – related to seven yet-to-be built facilities.

The complaints raised with Dyer ranged from concerns with noise and perceived health impacts of the turbines, to economic loss resulting from the farms being built in a resident’s locality, the commissioner said.

“I have had a situation where a resident has had an existing condition and is worried [the new construction] will exacerbate that condition,” he said.

A website for the wind commissioner, housed on the environment department’s page, facilitates complaints and has been live for less than three weeks.

The $205,000 a year position, which senators described as “part-time”, has a two-fold benefit, Dyer said.

It “provides a vehicle for people’s complaints to be heard”, he said, while also letting the commissioner stand back and observe the trajectory of the industry as a whole.

The environment minister, Greg Hunt, created the position of windfarm commissioner in June last year in exchange for crossbench support on the government’s renewable energy legislation.

Several crossbenchers took part in a Senate inquiry into the perceived health effects of turbines.