Hundreds gathered on the slopes of Flagstaff Hill on Sunday to rally against the Illawarra Offshore Wind Zone.
If you could not attend, you can watch the entire rally on the Illawarra Mercury's Facebook page, where we ran a live stream or you can see a short clip above.
Covering the wind farm consultation has been challenging in the recent two weeks as groups on both sides of the debate have become increasingly black and white.
It is not the place of the Illawarra Mercury to hold a view on whether offshore wind should come to our ocean.
As journalists, we work to ensure we are providing as much information as we can to the public so that our readers can make their own decisions.
We do this by talking to groups both for and against the wind farms, asking questions of government, providing official information about how people can get involved in the consultation, and writing stories about those affected.
We even sent our reporter to Denmark to ensure that we were informed enough to interrogate this issue on behalf of our readers. This trip was funded by the Danish Embassy in Canberra.
During the past month, we've written a story a day about the wind farms, not including the many letters from a variety of viewpoints we have published on our letters page.
Despite pressure from groups for and against the wind farms to back a side, the Illawarra Mercury will continue to provide independent and constructive journalism on this issue. We will serve the community by asking questions on their behalf and giving straight answers so our readers can make up their minds.
If you have decided, you can let the government know your thoughts here.
There are just two weeks to go until the consultation period closes. We urge you to do your independent research, read far and wide and then, when you've formed your opinion, engage in the process.
We also ask you to let us know what questions you feel have gone unanswered so far. We still have time to do the grunt work for you to find out those answers.
You can email your questions to news@illawarramercury.com.au
Read more:
- How you view wind farm visualisations is complicated
- Offshore wind the path to green steel: BlueScope
- Illawarra youth movement backs offshore wind zone, others aren't so sure
- Wollongong fisher says industry will be wiped out by wind farms
- The companies vying for the Illawarra offshore wind zone
- First look: Government releases official Illawarra wind farm visuals
- Ocean surveys, animal counts: How Illawarra wind farm developers measure life at sea
- 'Don't trash our ocean': Thousands unite to fight Illawarra offshore wind farms plans
- Illawarra offshore wind farm brings the politics of division
- The Mercury's journey to Denmark to find the facts on offshore wind
