Craig Kelly (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In the short time I have available today I raise the cost-of-living issues that are affecting many Australians out there today. One example is Coca-Cola. Coca-Cola is almost an international commodity, sold in just about every country in the world. In our supermarkets here in Australia the price for a two-litre bottle of Coca-Cola is currently $3.79. Last week I had the privilege of going on a delegation to Taiwan hosted by the Taiwanese government, and I thought I would check out the price of Coca-Cola in Taiwan. I went to a small 7-Eleven supermarket, and the same two-litre bottle of Coca-Cola that I buy at a supermarket in Sydney for $3.79 was on sale for 35 New Taiwan dollars. That is A$1.20 for something I am paying $3.79 for in Australia. It is not only Taiwan. Just before I spoke I looked on the UK website mySupermarket. Right now in the UK I can buy a two-litre bottle of Coca-Cola for the equivalent of A$1.90. This is just an example of the costs of living that are out of control in this country through our uncompetitive markets and the problem we have with competition in our retail sector.

If we are going to take the pressure off the cost of living we must make sure that all our industries are working to their maximum efficiency. Therefore, in my remaining time, I highlight the delusion we have with investing billions of dollars of our country's precious resources and wasting it by investing in wind farms and wind turbines. Nothing could be a greater waste of our national resources than to build more wind turbines in this country. Yet over the next decade under the current policy we could waste $10 billion of resources on wind farms.

I quote two letters from Dr Alan Watts, who holds the Order of Australia since 2004, when it was awarded to him for his services to medicine. He is also a member of the Royal College of Surgeons and the Royal College of Physicians in the UK. He has spent the majority of his life working for the welfare of his fellow citizens. Dr Watts' letter from 11 September 2012 reads:

They plunder our environment while enriching foreigners all under the guise of some mythical societal benefit. They take our health, our land, our peace of mind and our taxes. We surrender our precious mountains to this most gross industry. And in return they give us social chaos, environmental destruction, lies, deceit, scorn, and ill-health.

…   …   …

The wind industry is based on greed, ignorance, subsidy and institutional deceit. Its propaganda rewards the greedy, flatters the gullible, exploits the well-intentioned.

Industrial wind is a fraud of enormous consequence. And people who value intellectual honesty should not allow themselves to be cruelly deceived by such industrial treachery or even by their government's callous indifference.

That says it all. But Dr Watts, in a further letter to the editor of the Australian on 7 November, only a few weeks ago, also wrote:

Wind industry propaganda flatters the gullible, exploits the well-intentioned, and nurtures the craven.

Industrial wind is a fraud of enormous consequence whose foundation is based on greed, ignorance, subsidy and entrenched institutional deceit. People who value intellectual honesty should not allow themselves to be quietly fleeced by such industrial treachery or even by their government's callous ignorance and indifference. It represents not only poor science and wasteful economics but is ignorance in defiance of truth and indifference to the welfare of Australian rural families.

That sums it up. If we want to put a cap on the cost of living for our fellow countrymen, we cannot continue to invest billions of wasted dollars on useless wind farms which do absolutely nothing to change the climate or the temperature of the planet.