Ross Cadell (NSW, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

We heard Senator Canavan's question today about the renewables rollout across Australia and the effect it's having on people from the top to the bottom and from the left to the right—right across this nation—and their inability to have a voice. We heard it in the chamber. They went close to getting kicked out, because that is the level of frustration they have at not being heard in this place. They are stuck on the footpath out the front—hundreds of them; thousands of them—trying to get heard here about the distress, about the fear and about the horror this plan is causing on the ground.

We heard an answer that said these are the rules under which we left it. If we have a street built in a neighbourhood, you don't put an entirely different policy at one end of it and make them get to the other end. The situation has changed, and the rules haven't kept up with the things you've got there. We've got entire communities fighting with each other over people that take a wind farm, take a tower or do all sorts of things because the rules aren't right. This isn't about a 2050 target; this is about a race do it in 2030 or 2035 to look good—nothing more than that. It needs to stop now. It needs to pause now so it can be done right, if it has to happen at all. The people aren't talking about more money. They would rather have no money and no transmission lines; no money and no wind turbines on their property.

These people want to sit here and talk about how we can have better consultation—some consultation. Senator Canavan said 92 per cent were dissatisfied—that was in the government's own research. But can we get an inquiry in here to help those people? No. Eight times those opposite and those in that corner have sat here and said, 'We don't deserve to give these people a voice. We don't need to hear the challenges when 92 per cent of Australians affected don't think it's good enough.' We sit here and say, 'We'll consult.'

Let's talk about consulting. Glen Kelly, a farmer in Queensland, was someone referenced in Senator Canavan's question about the Kalapa wind farm. He was in the gallery today. In estimates in October last year, Minister Watt committed to meeting with these Central Queensland landholders about their concerns with the wind farm, and it has not happened. He promised to meet with them in this place. Glen reached out to his office last week and said, 'I'm going to be down here.' He did not hear anything back. I'd be glad to hear if there was any response. If I'm wrong, I'm wrong, but no response is what we're told.

They've come all the way from Central Queensland. A Queensland senator who said they would meet them in estimates—I have the Hansard with me if it's required—had time yesterday to meet with Farmers for Climate Action. 'If you're one of the eight per cent, I'll meet you. If you're one of the eight per cent, I'll hear you. If you're one of the eight per cent, I'll give you a voice. But, if you're the majority, if you're in the 92 per cent, if you're concerned, if you're part of the people that actually want to keep farming their land, if you're concerned about the process going forward, don't come to me,' he says. 'I don't want to hear about it. I just want to pretend I care about it. Come onboard.' This is the problem with this government in all these things. They talk about wanting to be transparent and clear. If my car windscreen was as transparent and clear as this government, I would crash all the time because you can't see through the mess that it is. The fix is in. If you're going to criticise this process, you cannot have a voice. If you're going to ask for a better deal, you can't have a say. If you want to have an inquiry and listen—we can't get a vote.

I go back to those days, to the heart of the Greens over here when they were up there and to their father Bob Brown and his disgrace about the wind turbines, these turbine farms, that were put all across the land. He knows where it's at because he hasn't turned his back on the reasons he exists. He is about the environment, and these things are not about the environment; they are about destroying the environment. They are about destroying our farmland. Victoria says that, if they don't do offshore, 77 per cent of prime agricultural land will have to become windfarms. It will have to come under transmission lines. It'll have to become solar farms. That's 77 per cent of that land. How will we feed ourselves? But, don't worry, because, even if we do offshore wind, they're still going to take 55 per cent of it. This is a national disaster in waiting. As we sit here doing nothing, our children will sit back in a country this size that can't feed itself and won't be able to power itself, because this stuff is ridiculously inefficient, and they won't be able to do anything. The only things we are exporting are our pollution and our problems.