One of the most violent, shocking and damning demonstrations of what is being done to Australia’s natural environment in the name of renewables is published – complete with videos – in The Weekend Australian, Feb 28/29, 2026. It is a ‘must see’ story, titled “Killing fields: The general public has no idea of the enormity of what’s going on out there”, writes Greg Roberts.
“Queensland is ground zero for what is shaping up as a new environmental battlefield as concerns mount about sites developed for the renewables push.”
Former Queensland government principal botanist Jeanette Kemp estimated in 2024 that 29,000ha of native vegetation would be cleared for wind farms in Queensland, with another 85,000ha degraded by weed invasion, erosion and other impacts. Kemp says those figures are higher today as the project volume accelerates: “Laws like the state Vegetation Management Act are not being applied in ways they should be. The proponents get the go-ahead rapidly with everything fast-tracked. The last bits of undisturbed habitat are often in areas where projects are going ahead.”
Northwest of Rockhampton in central Queensland, Squadron Energy, owned by iron ore magnate Andrew Forrest, is developing the Clarke Creek Wind Farm with the placement of 100 turbines completed and another 88 planned.
The project’s biodiversity management plan indicates the loss of up to 1513ha of koala habitat. Its environmental impact statement raised eyebrows with the observation that koalas injured during clearing might be finished off with a “hard, sharp blow to the base of the back of the skull with a blunt metal or heavy wooden bar”. Yet the company pledged “no animal or threatened species is harmed as a result of project activity”. How this is guaranteed is unclear.
A recent video filmed by a drone shows a hilltop ridge at Lotus Creek being flattened by explosives for a turbine pad. Another video shows extensive areas of hilltop native vegetation being blown up by Ratch Australia’s 53-turbine Mount Emerald wind farm, in one of the few remaining areas the threatened northern quoll survives.
And there’s much more … it’s carnage out there.