August 2025 Oberon Council Meeting

August 21, 2025
Updated September 18, 2025

Oberon Matters had to leave the meeting early (just as well because it went on for a few more hours) but two important matters were discussed before the departure. You can see everything else that happened by watching the recording when it becomes available.

Recognition of Cr McCarthy's years of service

If someone spends thirty years providing service to the community it definitely needs acknowledgement. The only debate was about how many other Councillors would go to the dinner at the LGNSW conference and who would pay for it. It was eventually settled to everyone's satisfaction.

Oberon Matters joins with the Councillors in thanking Cr McCarthy for his contribution to Oberon over the decades.

Request for landowner's consent

The only matter on the night which looked a bit controversial was a motion that Council should grant consent for wind farm operators to use the section of O'Connell Road that climbs up onto the plateau. Despite this being a state-maintained road, Oberon Council is the nominal landowner. The idea behind opposition to the motion and one supported by the large crowd of residents is that without Council's consent there will be no way to bring wind tower blades in for the two proposed wind farms - Paling Yards and Pines.

Click to see the motion in the agenda

Despite legal opinion that Council had received saying that withholding consent "would be to act improperly and with mala fides" the motion was lost after a back and forth of amendments. While there is much rejoicing in sections of the community who oppose the wind farms the story might not end here.

Comment

It is highly likely that the decision will be challenged by one or both of the companies planning wind farms in the area and this could be a very expensive exercise for the Council.

A few years ago I was sued by a company that had been found by the Federal Court to be operating an illegal pyramid scheme. Their action was based on damage to their business caused by my reporting of the judgment. I was lucky in that the solicitor and barrister working for me were acting pro bono (although I did get a pro forma invoice for $28,000 from one law firm for a small amount of advice). We each bore our own costs but my lawyers were familiar with the other side's law firm and estimated their costs at around $250,000. Going to court doesn't come cheap.

The danger for Council in any legal action over this isn't confined to lawyers' fees. The recording of the meeting will almost certainly be exploited by the companies' lawyers to support the claim that refusal of consent is not about preserving the environment or the amenity of Oberon but a tactic to stop the developments completely, and if the Court accepts this argument and upholds the refusal of consent there could be orders for damages and costs. And that won't be cheap either. Even if the Court overrules the refusal of consent the money going to lawyers would pay to fill a lot of potholes.

Disclaimer: Oberon Matters has no opinion either way on the matter of wind towers near Oberon. This article is for public information only. Please see our position of total neutrality.

You can see the agenda for the meeting here (473 pages)

See the recording of the meeting here

The minutes of the meeting can be seen here