Barnaby Joyce (New England, National Party, Shadow Minister for Veterans' Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

It is a cult. It is a mad, mad cult that we have become a part of that says, in its peculiar form of devotion, a sort of pious devotion, that we can somehow, by regulations and legislations, go to war with the weather and change the temperature from this place. I want to give an example of the next peculiarity. First of all, we have this devotion to what they call wind farms, which are actually swindle factories, overseas owned with deemed rates of return. They say that a large section of the power price is poles and wires, so what are they proposing to do? Put up thousands upon thousands of kilometres of new poles and wires, even though the clear effect at the moment is to put up the price of power. But the most recent adornment of this cult is this: new building descriptions that have been brought about by a federal policy, the Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme, otherwise known as NatHERS.

Tamworth is 400 metres above sea level, but, in the most recent dictum of this new cult, we have been declared an alpine area. As we have now become an alpine area, I looked up 'alpine', and it said:

of, relating to, or resembling mountains and especially the Alps

of, relating to, or growing on upland slopes above the highest elevation where trees grow

I had a quick look around Tamworth. Lo and behold, there are trees everywhere, even on Flagstaff Mountain. There are trees everywhere. In fact, it's surrounded by bush. Some of the trees are quite nice. In my whole time in Tamworth, I don't think it has ever snowed. But I tell you what this means, after this ludicrous cult. What this means is, as we build a new house in Tamworth, there will be an increase in the cost of roof insulation of $3,250 and wall insulation of $2,423 as well as an increase in the costs of internal wall insulation, slab insulation and glazing. The total increase in cost of a standard home build in Tamworth by reason of this cultish attachment to this bizarre new religion is over $46,000. You talk about cost of living. Where in this insanity, in this mythical world of Canberra, have they come up with the belief that Tamworth is an alpine area?

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