by MICHAEL DE PERCY – IN THE annals of political irony, few names fit the bill quite like NSW Liberal Leader Mark Speakman.
Here we have a man whose very surname evokes the act of articulation, of speaking out boldly in defence of principles and people.
- Environmental mandates sound virtuous but deliver chaos.
- The result is never lower energy prices. Instead, reckless renewables disrupt ecosystems and devalue properties.
- Labor’s green overreach may have already silenced the NSW Liberals for good.
Yet, as the NSW Liberal Party grapples with its latest leadership crisis, Speakman has proven to be anything but vocal.
Blindsided by the resignation of frontbencher Wendy Tuckerman over the Party’s silent support for Labor’s controversial renewable energy laws, Speakman has presided over a fiasco that exposes the deep fissures within the Liberals.
PROTEST
The crisis erupted when Tuckerman, the MP for Goulburn, sensationally quit the opposition frontbench in protest over her Party’s handling of Labor’s rushed electricity bill.
This legislation, aimed at accelerating the transition to renewables, has been slated for its lack of consultation and its blatant disregard for the impacts on rural landowners.
Tuckerman, who has repeatedly voiced concerns about large-scale solar farms, wind turbines and transmission lines encroaching on prime agricultural land, accused the Liberals of failing regional NSW by not opposing the bill more vigorously.
Her resignation wasn’t just a personal stand, it was a clarion call against policies that prioritise ideological net-zero targets over the livelihoods of farmers and the integrity of private property.
It’s patently obvious that renewable energy isn’t the panacea it’s cracked up to be.
As I’ve argued before, the so-called “green transition” comes at an exorbitant cost, not just financially but environmentally and socially.
In regional NSW, these projects have been foisted upon unwilling communities with minimal input.
The result is never lower energy prices. Instead, reckless renewables disrupt ecosystems, devalue properties, and divide towns.
Transmission lines slicing through family farms and vast solar arrays blanketing fertile soil aren’t progress, they’re overreach.
Tuckerman’s electorate knows this all too well, with proposals like battery storage systems and wind farms sparking fierce local opposition over their intrusion on private land and the broader economic fallout for agriculture-dependent regions.
By crossing the floor in spirit and resigning, she has embodied the conservative values the Liberals once championed: individual rights, limited government intervention and a healthy scepticism toward top-down environmental mandates that sound virtuous but deliver chaos.
OFF GUARD
And where was Speakman in all this? The man who should be the voice of opposition has been eerily quiet, caught off guard at a press conference where he admitted to being blindsided.
For a leader named Speakman, this silence is deafening.
Instead of rallying the troops to defend property owners against Labor’s bulldozer approach, he’s allowed the Party to drift into complicity, supporting bills that erode the very freedoms Liberals are meant to protect. This isn’t leadership, it’s abdication.
The result? A Party in disarray, with whispers of a leadership challenge growing louder by the day.
Tuckerman deserves our applause.
In an era where politicians too often bend to the winds of political correctness and green dogma, her courage stands out.
She’s not anti-environment, she’s pro-reality. Tuckerman recognises that true sustainability can’t come at the expense of regional prosperity.
If the Liberals want to reclaim their mantle as defenders of the bush, they should follow her lead and push for sensible alternatives like nuclear energy, which offers reliable power without the sprawling land grabs of renewables.
Nuclear lasts decades longer, with a fraction of the footprint, and could genuinely bridge NSW to a low-emissions future without sacrificing farms or freedoms.
In the meantime, the NSW Liberals are no longer at a crossroads. They’ve sold their soul to the devil.
Unlike the folklore figure, however, they’ve refused to use the devil’s talent and handed it to Labor.
Will they continue under a Speakman who doesn’t speak up, or will they embrace voices like Tuckerman’s to rebuild trust in the regions?
Regrettably, Labor’s green overreach may have already silenced the NSW Liberals for good.PC
Dr Michael de Percy @FlaneurPolitiq is the Spectator Australia’s Canberra Press Gallery Correspondent. If you would like to support his writing, or read more of Michael, please visit his website.
The Liberal party will placate anyone but their own constituents.
Ms. Wendy Tuckerman should approach the Nats, One Nation or both if they haven’t already.
The SFLs aren’t dumb, they’re gutless. How can they call themselves conservatives when Turdball is still a member, as is baldy kean. Kean’s protégé, Griffin, the shadow minister for energy did not inform his party of the new government policy for renewables in NSW. As a result it passed unhindered and Wendy Tuckerman resigned from the shadow cabinet. She represents Golburn which will be grossly affected by the stupid, useless windmills which will be put up.
This is typical. On all the big, woke issues the SFLs cannot be distinguished from the alp liars party. If you are not effectively different from the government how can you expect people to vote for you. The SFLs have been infiltrated by leftoids and grifter greenies. They need a fundamental housekeeping beginning, as I say, with the expulsion of turdball.
Again the Libs just don’t gettit….if you compromise with the devil, you become the devil. The continuous drift to the left of The Liberal (and other) Party/s shows that the further you move away from whatever core values you once held, the further you are away from electoral success. The State and Federal Libs have little hope of capturing the public’s attention, and votes, until they stand on principles, maybe cop a few rotten tomatoes from those who won’t vote for them ANYWAY and forge a principled stand to reduce Government spending and intrusion into our lives. Nigel Farage and Javier Milei have shown that by standing firm, you win votes and start to turn your country around to greater prosperity.