SYDNEY, Thursday 5 March 2026 — The WA Government has released their Community Benefit Guidelines outlining the expectations on renewable energy companies paying their fair share to local communities hosting wind turbines and solar panels.
Big gas corporations like Chevron and Woodside recently announced annual profits in the billions, while the WA Government is expected to receive only $365 million in total royalties for the 2025-'26 financial year.
That amounts to only 0.7 per cent of WA’s revenue with further declines expected. Most oil and gas operations are currently not required to pay any royalties at all to WA.
Geoff Bice, WA Campaign Lead at Greenpeace Australia Pacific said: “This is a helpful starting point to set clear parameters for an emerging industry. While Greenpeace argued for some stronger measures, we are hopeful that added requirements can be built in over time.
“It is important to get the balance right. We want to see renewable energy projects welcomed by communities because they see the benefits, understand the process, and are getting a fair deal.
“At the same time, we don’t want to be creating too much of a cost burden on a newly establishing industry that needs to rapidly expand to reduce WA’s growing emissions.
“The missing piece for Western Australia is that it is the oil and gas industry that has driven the pollution problem and should be paying for the clean up of our energy systems.
“In reality, the oil and gas industry is paying rapidly diminishing amounts in royalties back to WA, while continuing to rack up massive profits. Western Australians are getting ripped off.
“Cost requirements like royalties and benefit sharing regimes are meant to be ratched up to disincentive harmful things like smoking, alcohol, and pollution, and to pay for the costs they inflict on society. Meanwhile the oil and gas industry are WA’s single biggest polluters by a country mile and are paying bugger-all back to WA.”
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Contact details:
Lucy Keller on 0491 135 308 or [email protected]
