Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, President. We certainly acknowledge that renewable energy infrastructure will impact on a significant amount of land within Australia, and that is to generate the kind of clean, cheaper energy that our country needs—including our farmers.

What I would say also is that I can introduce those opposite to plenty of farmers around Australia who have actually developed new income streams as a result of hosting renewable energy on their farmland. That's helping them to diversify their income streams so that they're protected in times of drought and at other times when markets fall. So this isn't an all-one-way equation. We know that we have to have good consultation practices, but we want farmers to be able to make money.