News
17 May, 2026
Glimmer of hope: ‘We are treating this incredibly seriously’
The Select Committee on Proposed Energy from Waste Facilities ended its visit to Goulburn offering a glimmer of hope for residents of Tarago and the wider region.
The Select Committee on Proposed Energy from Waste Facilities ended its visit to Goulburn offering a glimmer of hope for residents of Tarago and the wider region.
“We are treating this incredibly seriously and will give it the attention and respect it deserves,” committee chair and Nationals MLC Nichole Overall said on Friday.
The committee now faces the unenviable task of wading through 1400 submissions as well as the feedback provided by hundreds of speakers at public forums and those people asked to provide evidence at public hearings.
As previously reported by The Southern Wire, Veolia is proposing to construct an ‘Advanced Energy Recovery Centre’ – basically a massive waste incinerator – at its Woodlawn Precinct in Tarago.
By incinerating waste from Sydney and effectively turning it to ash, Veolia is hoping to extend the life of its current landfill in Tarago without having to expand it.
Two trainloads of general waste are currently being transferred from Sydney to Tarago daily – but that will increase to at least three trainloads if the incinerator goes ahead.
Local residents told the committee ‘enough is enough’.
The Select Committee’s Goulburn visit included a Woodlawn site visit on Thursday, a public forum on Thursday afternoon and a public hearing on Friday.
More than 20 people spoke at Thursday’s public forum and conveyed a very simple message: ‘we don’t want it here’.
They raised concerns about the potential impact of the incinerator on human health, air and water quality, livestock and produce.
One speaker at Thursday’s forum said describing the project as an ‘Advanced Energy Recovery Centre’ (as opposed to a waste incinerator) was like ‘putting lipstick on a pig’.
“It’s still a pig,” he said.
More than 20 speakers were given two minutes to address the committee – all of them speaking against the proposal.
The NSW Waste and Sustainable Material Strategy 2041 – released in 2021 – identified the need for at least four ‘Energy from Waste’ facilities in NSW by 2041.
Under the Energy from Waste Infrastructure Plan, the Southern Goulburn Mulwaree Precinct (Woodlawn) is one of only four designated precincts across NSW where Energy from Waste facilities will actually be allowed.
The other precincts are located in Parkes, Lithgow/Wallerawang and the Richmond Valley.
The Select Committee was established on August 6 last year to inquire into – and report on – proposed Energy from Waste facilities.
It received more than 1400 submissions before the October 31 closing date and has advised that due to the high volume, there will be a delay in processing, reviewing and publishing submissions online.
Speakers at Thursday’s forum accused the NSW Government of “lazy policy” and of attempting to shift a Sydney problem out of sight by making the Goulburn area a “dumping ground” for metropolitan waste.
Others said Veolia had a long history of non-compliance and licence breaches and simply couldn’t be trusted.
Most agreed that more should be done to encourage re-use and recycling before the NSW Government starts handing over Sydney’s waste to a private company for profit – to the detriment of the wider Goulburn region.
The sentiment on Friday was exactly the same with Member for Goulburn Wendy Tuckerman, regional mayors, industry and community representatives all voicing concerns over the proposal.
Many of them said Veolia simply couldn’t be trusted given compliance problems at its existing Woodlawn facility – particularly in relation to odour.
Others said the NSW Environment Protection Authority had failed in its role and Woodlawn residents were now suffering the consequences.
Mrs Tuckerman said the project lacked social licence.
She said Veolia’s performance with the Woodlawn landfill had “shaped the lived experience” of residents and they shouldn’t be asked to accept additional unknown risk and “long-term uncertainty”.
· Keep reading The Southern Wire for more reports on Friday’s hearing and for up-to-date reports on the waste incinerator proposal and the Standing Committee’s deliberations as they progress.
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