Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is an odd thing to have a constituency statement where I cannot and will not name the constituent to whom I refer. I cannot and will not because, if I do, this constituent will then probably face the fury of his neighbours and, potentially, of a company that is threatening to cover—litter—his farmland and that of others with these insidious wind turbines. They'll do it on his farmland only if he allows them, but what is happening in the Riverina and regional Australia is we are getting wind turbines all over the place. It's turning it into an industrial junkyard on the back of this pursuit of net zero.

My constituent lives in Old Junee. It's an area I know well, because the McCormacks have been farming there for more than 100 years. My great grandfather James and my grandfather Tom are both buried in the Old Junee cemetery. Tom's son, Tony—my late uncle—and his son John have farmed there near Coffin Rock Lane. My constituent says: 'While it's in the very early days of discussions, and my conversations with him—' a neighbour '—are amicable at the moment, I fear that I will eventually have a falling out with neighbours that I have had a close and good association with for many years. I find this unfair given that I am at a stage of my life where I'm currently looking to retire.' He has been a generational family farmer. He says, 'Apart from the undesirable aesthetics of the turbines and fins themselves, my biggest concern lies with the battery storage facility. This is because: (1) most grid-scale battery energy storage systems today use lithium ion batteries, containing lithium iron phosphate, nickel, manganese, cobalt et cetera; (2) if a cell overheats it can trigger thermal runaway spreading to other cells; and (3) this creates intense heat-up to 1,000 degrees Celsius via the venting of highly toxic gases. In addition, fire services are generally unable to control these fires and they allow them to burn out, which means there is a long toxic smoke exposure, and the land, livestock and humans for hundreds of metres to many kilometres down could be severely affected. Even though the risk is said to be minimal, any risk at all of this happening is totally unacceptable.'

That's the sad reality—we've got volunteer rural fire services that are saying they are going to refuse to go out to these fires. This is the sad reality of the pursuit of net zero in the Riverina. We are going to be covered with these industrial turbines. People don't want them—some do and others don't. The fact is, it is dividing families and it is dividing family friends who have been friends for many years. The minister might have a mandate to govern, but he doesn't have a mandate to ruin my electorate.