Anne Urquhart (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The date 3 August 2015 should go down in history as an important date for global action on climate change, when Barack Obama announced the final release of America's Clean Power Plan. Sadly, on the same day in Australia the Senate Select Committee on Wind Turbines was pulling in directly the opposite direction with the release of its final report.

Let us be clear; this was not an inquiry, it was a grudge match. And the rules were stacked from the beginning so the industry never stood a chance. The final report is a reckless, science-denying document that Labor thoroughly rejects. This was not the first inquiry to look at wind farms. In fact, there have been multiple parliamentary inquiries and 25 reviews into the issue, and each and every one found the same thing: there is no credible evidence that wind farms have any impact on human health. And there is no reason that the majority report should have come to a different finding to the ones that preceded it, but that is exactly what happened.

The majority report privileged the opinions of individuals acting outside their area of expertise and those who have been discredited in court proceedings both here and overseas. At the same time, it ignored the Australian Medical Association's clear position statement that infrasound from wind farms in Australia cannot affect human health. It thumbed its nose at the extensive work of the National Health and Medical Research Council, which also found no evidence that wind farms have human health impacts. It disregarded the comprehensive $2.1 million Health Canada study, which included over 1,200 houses at varying distances from turbines at six different wind farms, 4,000 hours of acoustic data, acoustic and medical expertise, self-reported health questionnaires and objective health measures including hair cortisol, blood pressure and heart rates. This study found that wind turbine noise exposure is unrelated to self-reported sleep problems, illness or perceived stress and quality of life. The majority report asserted that infrasound from wind farms presented a human health risk despite evidence from the Association of Australian Acoustical Consultants that infrasound is likely to be higher in city offices than it is around wind farms. It is also strangely mute on concerns from multiple submitters, including the Climate and Health Alliance—which represents 28 health sector organisations—about focusing on the health impacts of wind farms, of which there is no evidence, while ignoring the well documented and proven health impacts of coal energy.

The report is not only ill-informed, blatantly thumbing its nose at the evidence-based science, but it is reckless—setting out to destroy an industry that promises billions of dollars of investment and thousands of jobs in regional communities. It proposes an extra layer of expensive bureaucratic measures in areas completely outside a federal government remit and tries to strongarm the states with threats of punishment if they do not submit. Largely these onerous recommendations are based on the unproven assertion that wind farms are causing human health impacts.

When I started on this inquiry I was willing to look at these claims with an open mind, but I first needed to have some questions answered. Firstly, after three decades of wind farm operations globally, has there been any scientific or professional organisation agreeing that there is cause for concern? The answer is no. Not one single acoustical, regulatory or medical body holds the position that wind farms are dangerous to human health. Secondly, what do the reputable medical journals have to say on the matter? Surely, given the maturity of the industry, there would be multiple recorded case studies in the medical literature. Again the answer is no. In fact, there has not been a single example of a medical case study of wind turbine syndrome in any indexed medical journal in the world. Although that is not really surprising, given that individuals have attributed the operation of wind turbines to over 200 conditions including asthma, arthritis, autism, brain tumours, cataracts, diabetes, dolphin beaching, epilepsy, haemorrhoids, lung cancer, multiple sclerosis, parasitic skin infections and even bee extinction.

Another factor I was interested in was the international experience, given that wind farms operate in many countries. Do we see the same sorts of concerns in these countries? The evidence presented to the inquiry was that we do not. In fact, the vast majority of concern shows up in English-speaking countries. Interestingly, some of the most compelling evidence in this regard came from former Liberal senator for Tasmania, Peter Rae, AO. Mr Rae's distinguished post-parliamentary career includes being the vice president of the World Wind Energy Association, proving that not all of the conservative side of politics dwell in the dark ages when it comes to climate change. His opening statement provided the committee with unique insight into the global perspective on wind farm health concerns. He said:

In my experience around the world there are a only few centres where this concern appears to arise and be concentrated.

…   …   …

It follows that, as the complaints arise selectively, then considerable caution should be adopted in making any findings on the issue and, in particular, in imposing further restrictions and costs based upon that concern.

Mr Rae's sentiments were echoed by witness after witness who told the committee of many countries who are looking at Australia's anti-wind movement in bafflement and disbelief.

Another thing I was looking for is the experience of front-line workers. Surely, if wind farms were making people sick, the workers would be the first to feel the symptoms. Yet again, the committee heard the exact opposite. In fact, two of the world's biggest turbine manufacturers, Vestas and Senvion, testified to the committee that not one single health complaint had been made from the many thousands of staff working directly at wind turbine sites.

It is not just in other countries that we see no evidence of sick workers and disproportionate representation of complaints. Exactly the same thing is happening right here in Australia. In fact, Professor in Public Health at the University of Sydney, Simon Chapman, found that close to two-thirds of wind farms in Australia generated no complaints at all. Not only that, but a whopping 72 per cent of the complaints that were received came from just six wind farms. Coincidentally or not, these wind farms were also the focus of significant organised anti-wind activity. The argument that wind farms have health impacts utterly fails any objective, logical assessment of the evidence.

At this point, I want to make it clear that I do not doubt that the people appearing before the committee have legitimate health issues. But the issue is: what is the cause of their suffering? Just as I do not think that I am the appropriate person to diagnose and treat my own health concerns, I believe that in the absence of expert medical advice individuals can be mistaken about the cause of their symptoms, particularly if they are exposed to messages that are telling them that wind farms are a health risk. That is exactly what the research is telling us. In fact, Fiona Crichton at the University of Auckland has found that infrasound is not correlated with people's health perceptions of wind farms on their health but exposure to anti-wind messages is.

I sincerely hope that the government responds to this report with the scorn it has received in the wider community. But, sadly, the members of this committee have found themselves some kindred spirits in this renewables-hating government, which has already agreed to wasteful measures, including the appointment of a wind commissioner and an independent scientific committee. The states have responsibility for wind farm planning, monitoring and compliance. Without any legislative power, the commissioner can be little more than an expensive paper-pusher, shuffling complaints from individuals back to state governments and taking responses from state governments back to the complainants. It is an absurd situation from a government that has sworn to cut red tape.

Similarly, the suggestion of setting up an independent scientific committee into the impacts of infrasound is breathtakingly wasteful, unjustified and deeply disrespectful to Australia's legitimate health research body, the National Health and Medical Research Council. While the majority members have been able to force the creation of this committee, if it is independent they certainly will not be able to influence its reporting of the actual science on this issue. In fact, the most likely outcome of the independent scientific committee is that it will provide the same advice that acousticians and medical researchers have been saying for years—that is, that wind farms pose no health risks under Australian guidelines.

I think what should happen is that the majority membership front up to the Australian community and say 'sorry for inflaming anxiety' and for feeding fear amongst those living near wind farms, and apologise to the thousands of workers whose jobs have been put in peril in their attempts to sabotage the industry. While they are at it, they should also apologise to the scientists, the health bodies and the acousticians whose professionalism they have impugned with their blind determination to destroy the wind industry—a progressive, renewable energy in this country.