Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There are nearly 250,000 wind turbines throughout the world and 25 reviews conducted by leading health and research organisations have found no direct link between wind farms and health effects. The Australian National Health and Medical Research Council's recently updated statement on the evidence on wind farms and human health says:

There is no direct evidence that exposure to wind farm noise affects physical or mental health.

In Australia, however, we have a Prime Minister and a government who claim to know better than scientists and health experts. Indeed, not only are wind farms 'a blight on our landscape'; they are noisy and potentially dangerous!

Last week the Prime Minister said:

When I've been up close to these wind farms, there's no doubt, not only are they visually awful, they make a lot of noise.

This noise, alongside the noise of certain Senate crossbenchers, has led to the government proposing to appoint a new national wind farm commissioner. While there is apparent need for a wind farm commissioner, this government continues to ignore the much greater need for full-time a disability discrimination commissioner. I agree with former Disability Discrimination Commissioner, Graeme Innes, who said:

It sends a very clear message about where people with disabilities fall in the pecking order.

Twenty per cent of Australians live with disability and about 37 per cent of discrimination complaints received by the Human Rights Commission are related to disability. They need someone in a role dedicated to defending their rights. This government must shelve its ludicrous plans for a wind farm commissioner and instead reinstate a disability commissioner. (Time expired)