Part-time bureaucrat on $205,000 resolved one wind farm gripe a week

Wind Farm Commissioner Andrew
Dyer receives an income of
$205,000 a year for his part-time
 role and has a staff of three
people to assist him.

A part-time bureaucrat in a role created by former Prime Minister Tony Abbott to appease wind farm critics earned $205,000 a year to resolve one complaint a week – most relating to wind farms that have not yet been built.

The revelations into the controversial wind farm commissioner are contained in a review by the Climate Change Authority. It said the commissioner had “exceeded expectations” and should continue for at least three years, with a bigger budget to also address public concerns about solar projects.

The taxpayer-funded commissioner role was established by Mr Abbott in October 2015 to monitor the wind industry and respond to community complaints about turbine noise and health effects. Mr Abbott called wind farms "visually awful" and noisy, and former treasurer Joe Hockey decried them as "utterly offensive”.

Official estimates put the cost of establishing the office and running it for three years at more than $2 million. The commissioner, Andrew Dyer, collects $205,000 a year for his part-time role and has a staff of three to assist him. He was appointed by former environment minister Greg Hunt.

Read the story from The Age by Nicole Hasham - “Part-time bureaucrat on $205,000 resolved one wind farm gripe a week.”

Wind Farm Commission received just 90 complaints in first year of operation

The federal government's Wind Farm Commission has handled 90 complaints in its first 14 months of operation, with 67 of those deemed "closed" with no further action to be taken.

Nearly half of complaints launched with the
commissioner were about wind farms that
are not yet in operation.

Almost half of the complaints received (42) were for proposed wind farms that are not yet in operation. Thirty-one complaints were closed because the complainant did not progress the matter with the commission.

Andrew Dyer, the Wind Farm Commissioner, receives an income of $205,000 a year for his part-time role and has a staff of three people to assist him in his role to resolve community complaints about the operation of wind farms.

A Senate committee last year was told that the Wind Farm Commission would cost a total of $2.05 million over the lifetime of its three-year operation.

Read Marcus Strom’s story in today’s Melbourne Age - “Wind Farm Commission received just 90 complaints in first year of operation.”