Renewable Energy — Speech in the House of Representatives 12/02/2024

Hansard 12/02/2024  House of Representatives

Mr LLEW O’BRIEN (Wide Bay) (13:51): On Tuesday last week, more than a thousand Australians converged out the front of this building, calling for a Senate inquiry into the economic, environmental and social impacts of industrial-scale, reckless renewable energy projects and their associated transmission lines. A number of speakers addressed the gathering, including Katy McCallum from the Kilkivan Action Group and Jim Willmott from Property Rights Australia. Also present was Save the Mary River coordinating group’s Glenda Pickersgill. We heard scientific but heartfelt, passionate speeches about the perils of the Albanese government’s renewable energy policy. But conspicuous by their absence were speakers from the Labor and the Greens side. They failed to either explain or defend their policies, which are decimating prime agricultural land, dividing communities and destroying the habitat of koalas and other endangered species, and all for what?

The policies of Labor and the Greens will give us the most unreliable, expensive form of electricity, which will rely upon billions of dollars of Chinese imports. Australia is abundant in its own energy resources, and this government is outsourcing our energy security to other countries. We need a Senate inquiry to fully examine the impacts of Labor’s rushed and reckless renewable energy policies.