Grass roots opponents of offshore wind farms have hit out at the Western Australian state government over their support of Canberra's efforts to see wind turbines installed off the Bunbury coastline.

Martine Shepherd, a leader of the Save Our Beloved Geographe Bay campaign group, said the way the development is being handled "stinks of utter corruption and hypocrisy by state and federal government."

The accusation follows the state government's recent ban on commercial demersal fishing in the West Coast bioregion from Kalbarri to Augusta. WA Labor said they implemented the ban to protect species including the dhufish which they say are at risk.

"How can Premier Cook state we have to ‘save iconic species' on the ‘verge of extinction'  yet not one of these fish declared is listed as vulnerable or ‘at risk' on the [federal government's] EPBC Species database?

"Known protected species are not being protected by these state or federal government bodies, but undeclared species without a protection listing are being used to justifying the destruction of our vital fisheries," she said.

"We were not surprised by the demersal fishing ban - we were expecting this move from state Govt, she said, referring to comments made by Meghan Lapp, the secretary of the US Center for Sustainable Fisheries made at rally in Fremantle in November.

She said Lapp referenced that in the American market, US authorities had moved to cancel fisheries before offshore wind turbine projects got underway.

"These foreign corporations getting a bargain basement deal…but destroying a multi-generational demersal fishing industry that creates hundreds of millions for our local economy, is unjustified in every aspect and is based entirely on politics, not science and what's best for WA," she added.

Local lobbying

The campaign group has now taken a novel approach in their efforts to thwart development by lobbying local government councillors.

At the Shire of Harvey's council AGM on Tuesday evening, members of the campaign group moved a motion for the Shire to call for the state government to support a moratorium on the proposed wind farms based on the government's apparent concerns over the dhufish in the region.

When proposing the motion, Susanne Taylor-Rees from the campaign group questioned how the state government could be taking steps to protect the fish in the region while the federal government is supporting the establishment of wind farms in the same area.

"We request the Honourable Roger Cook, Honourable Jackie Jarvis, and the Honourable Reece Whitby support an immediate moratorium on all proposed offshore wind infrastructure in Geograph Bay, in support of the state government's January 1st 2026 demersal band, which lists endemic dhufish at severe risk," she read at the meeting.

With the motion having received support at the meeting, the Shire will now consider and vote on the proposal at their next full council meeting on 24 February.

When approached a spokesperson for the Western Australian government emphasised that the state government's action to save demersal fish for future generations is not related to the Commonwealth Government's declaration of an offshore wind area off the coast of Bunbury.