The man leading the fishing industry’s pushback against a proposed Western Australian offshore wind farm is a former Nationals adviser who said he had no idea about the Australian Wheat Board’s oil-for-wheat kickbacks while working for it.
Since last year, a movement has emerged across the country hoping to thwart plans for several offshore wind farms. These grassroots anti-wind farm coalitions include anti-renewables campaigners, NIMBYs, environmentalists and representatives of commercial industries like tourism and fishing.
Right-wing politicians have jumped to align themselves with this energetic movement, despite some of the wind farm plans being overseen by their own parties while they were in power.
A Greenpeace investigation, provided to Crikey, has revealed the political past of Darryl Hockey, the now-outgoing CEO of a loudly anti-offshore wind farm group, the Western Australia Fishing Industry Council (WAFIC).
While his recent media appearances have focused on fighting back against what he deems to be “poorly planned offshore wind farms” like the one proposed up the coast of the Bunbury Geographe area, Hockey is best known for his involvement in the Australian Wheat Board’s oil-for-wheat scandal.
Only a few years after Crikey listed that Hockey was an adviser to former National Party MP John Anderson and chief of staff to former SA deputy premier Rob Kerin, “now working with AusAID in Iraq”, it was reported that the AWB government relations manager had repeatedly assured “ministers and senior bureaucrats that it was not paying kickbacks in Iraq”.
This, of course, was not correct. An Australian inquiry later found that the AWB paid around $290 million in kickbacks to Saddam Hussein’s regime.
Hockey said at the time he had no idea about the kickbacks, that he did not advise any minister or public servant about the kickbacks, and believed that everything AWB was doing was approved by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and by the United Nations.
Two decades later, Hockey has led WAFIC as it publicly campaigns against the Bunbury offshore wind farm plan. Despite just a year ago spruiking the “co-existence between offshore renewable energy and commercial fishing”, Hockey told The West Australian that the proposed wind farm would “destroy reefs and fish habitat and restrict access to shipping lanes”.
A spokesperson for WAFIC said that its stance hasn’t changed.
“The WA Fishing Industry Council remains committed to opportunities for co-existence between offshore renewable energy and commercial fishing and is regularly engaged with a number of the wind farm proponents to identify opportunities for co-existence and ensure the wind farm proponents have a detailed understanding of the needs of the fishing industry,” the spokesperson said over email.
They also said that Hockey has stepped down as CEO and a new one is set to start in September. A news article about Hockey’s decision was published the day after Crikey’s inquiries.
Crikey does not suggest that Hockey’s political past has influenced WAFIC’s position. He joins a number of former and current Coalition staff and party members who have been heavily involved with the off-shore wind farm movement.
