John Murphy (Reid, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We all know that the Leader of the Opposition's history of misleading statements about global warming and climate change does not have a significant component of scientific evidence. Those opposite fail to appreciate that scientific evidence, such as when supporting the government's decision to put a price on carbon, is based on real-world measurements conducted according to a scientific method that can be repeated by anyone anywhere at any time. The Oxford English Dictionary defines a 'scientific method' as:

a method of procedure that has characterized natural science since the 17th century, consisting in systematic observation, measurement, and experiment, and the formulation, testing, and modification of hypotheses.

Policy that relies only on scientific evidence is not based on beliefs, on prejudice or, as the opposition may wish to imply, on opinions that may be contradicted by some other point of view. Of course, policy based on scientific evidence is of no real value to the Leader of the Opposition confusing belief with fact and preferring the more convenient strategy of appealing to the ignorant with statements that have their origins in the ravings of cranks and crackpots and the dishonest claims of vested interests. Nowhere is this process more obvious than the unending attacks on renewable energy projects by the opposition and Liberal-National Party state governments. As we know, the Leader of the Opposition is committed to closing down the Clean Energy Finance Corporation and has said he will tear up any contracts that the corporation enters into and improperly warned the corporation not to enter into any new contracts before the next election.

Thanks to the combination of gullibility, political opportunism and the influence of vested interests, the Victorian government has introduced policies that have shut down that state's wind industry with a two-kilometre exclusion zone for wind turbines. The ridiculous measure—one that would be replicated by any Abbott government—is based on false claims of illnesses caused by so-called wind turbine syndrome and has cost an estimated 35,000 jobs in a state that has an unemployment rate that exceeds six per cent under a Liberal-National Party government.

Simon Chapman, Professor in Public Health at the University of Sydney, has stated that wind turbine syndrome is what is called a communicated disease. It spreads via the nocebo effect by being talked about and is a strong candidate for being defined as a psychogenic condition, one based on delusions, misinformation and irrational fears. The nocebo effect is the antithesis of the better-known placebo effect, which is the healing effect of an inert substance given by an authority figure, such as a doctor. In the placebo effect the therapeutic effect of a sugar pill arises from the power of suggestion and, similarly, the nocebo effect that causes apparent illness in wind turbine syndrome almost certainly rises from strong suggestions of harmful effects by authority figures, such as the Leader of the Opposition.

Professor Chapman stated that a search for wind turbine syndrome in 23 million research papers held in the United States of America's National Library of Medicine produced no reports of harm, not one. As of July 2012 there have been 17 reviews of the available evidence about wind farms and health and these reviews concluded that, while wind turbines may annoy a minority of people in their vicinity, there is no strong evidence that they make people sick. Neighbours of wind farms may be exposed to a minor nuisance; however, dishonest statements made for political advantage by people like the Leader of the Opposition may actually cause illness in people who worry themselves sick as a result of the frightening and false claims made by such irresponsible individuals.

In conclusion, there is good evidence that people can be made sick by suggestion, yet there is little or none of harm arising from wind turbines, despite the hysterical claims of the opponents of these very important clean energy sources.