Barnaby Joyce (New England, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I wasn't going to speak on this motion but, having listened to some of the piffle, I will. First of all, if you want to completely destroy the Australian economy then 'decarbonise' it. Australia's largest export is fossil fuels, whether you like it or not, and there's nothing on the horizon that looks like it's going to take their place. If you want to be earnest and honest about this discussion then you must suggest what you're willing to give up, when you have a budget that doesn't have nearly the capacity to pay for the social services you expect, after you take away the coalmining industry, the gas industry and the LNG industry. What is your solution? There is no point—in fact, it's just plain rubbish—to say, 'Oh, there'll be jobs in the future.' We need to see the jobs now.

I'll take you to one example. One of the largest sectors of renewable energy is in my electorate, in Glen Innes, where we've had $2 billion of investment in wind towers. In the last census, the population of Glen Innes went up by one person. This goes to show you that the rhetoric is a long way from the reality. If people believe that there's something morally appropriate in their electorate having renewable energy then they should be advocating for it to be positioned in their electorate and lead by example. There is absolutely no reason why we can't have wind towers off the beaches of Manly and Warringah—it's technically possible—but, of course, the member wouldn't want that because she wants to see them somewhere else.

Then we can go to some of the issues that have been happening lately. I read with great interest that Dr Bob Brown and Christine Milne are now fighting against wind towers. I'll repeat that: they are now fighting against wind towers. They do not want Tasmania to be the battery of Australia. In fact, they're fighting against the interconnector. Why? It is because they believe wind towers are an eyesore. How things change! Just wait, and the situation changes. I've seen it in my own electorate. There are protests in Nundle and Kentucky, where people—who in some instances, I would say, voted for the Greens—are now fighting against wind towers. If you just hang around and wait, the sentiment changes. The same thing is happening around Euroa. They're fighting against solar farms because they don't want to be next to a large mirror.

So how do we solve this? We solve it, if you earnestly believe in it, by putting it in your electorate. That's what you should do. But, of course, if you want zero emissions—

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