UNSW Institute for Climate Risk & Response Seminar: Natasha Larkin

Abstract: This seminar presents findings from my PhD research on Australia's emerging offshore wind energy sector. I begin by examining the offshore wind legislative framework established by the Morrison government to enable private development of Australia's substantial wind resources. With broad political support, offshore wind has been positioned as a solution to multiple crises: energy security, emissions reduction, and employment in carbon-intensive regional communities.

Under the Albanese government, six legacy regions were selected for offshore wind development, promising thousands of jobs. The second part of the seminar explores how offshore wind has landed in one of these regions, the Illawarra in NSW. Here the proposal to allow offshore wind generation was met with a mixture of support and unprecedented opposition. This local contest reflects a broader national trend where climate conflict has shifted to industrial-scale energy infrastructure projects, hosted mainly in regional Australia.

Drawing from an ethnographic approach, the contestation in the Illawarra also reveals more nuanced tensions. These include competing regional visions, deep cultural ocean attachments, environmental protection concerns, unresolved First Nations rights, and questions about energy ownership and benefits. While public contestation risks impeding Australia's industrial decarbonisation, I argue it also represents vital democratic engagement with ocean stewardship and energy production futures. This engagement offers potential for productive reconfiguration of relationships between nature, capital, state and publics—with implications extending beyond decarbonisation.

Bio: Natasha Larkin is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Sustainable Development Reform investigating energy transitions at the intersection of law, policy and social science. She is currently working on the RACE for 2030 CRC home energy upgrades project. Her PhD (UOW) examined the legal geography of Australia's emerging offshore wind sector. Natasha has contributed to ARC-funded research on coal transitions in regional Australia and the role of ports in energy transitions. She holds a BA and LLB from the University of Western Australia and an MPhil(Ed) from the University of Wollongong. Her professional background includes roles as a lawyer and project manager across private practice, government, and international development.