Perin Davey (NSW, National Party, Shadow Minister for Water) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you very much, and I too rise to support this motion, and to again implore the government to allow us to have an inquiry. I do not see how they can legitimately oppose something as simple and as straightforward as an inquiry.

We keep seeing this government refuse to acknowledge the concerns of the communities that are being impacted by transmission lines and wind turbines and solar factories, as well as of the people who face the very real prospect of compulsory acquisition of easements across their land. We have learned—through our own inquiries, through asking questions of proponents—that having easements put across their land has more than just aesthetic and physical impacts. It impacts their tax status. It impacts their income and how their income is generated and how capital gains tax is treated. There is a whole raft of ramifications—which we on this side are learning about because we're out there asking the questions—that we believe the government should learn about.

But I wonder if—instead of seeing an inquiry, which, in the big scheme of things, because we've already got the committee system set up in this parliament, is not a huge drain on resources—what we might instead see from this government is a $15 million communications campaign, as asked for by the Australian Conservation Foundation in their pre-budget submission. Yes, the ACF have written to the government asking for a mere $15 million to educate and inform and run a strategic, targeted, public communications strategy and campaign, because the ACF are concerned:

… that the social licence for constructing new energy projects and transmission—sufficient to meet the Government's 82% by 2030 target—is at risk due to increasing levels of community opposition and fear.

Well, I'm glad they see that, because this government completely ignores that community opposition and fear!

I can tell you that the answer to that fear is not a smart, glossy communications campaign like the propaganda campaign we're currently seeing across televisions everywhere, from Sydney to Melbourne to Cairns, about the Murray-Darling Basin and how we're all going to run out of food and water in the next drought, which is the biggest load of rubbish! And if the ACF gets their wish and gets $15 million, which is about the same as it cost for the Murray-Darling Basin campaign, then maybe we will see photos of wind turbines off the coast of Dover or Scotland! That's what the government did: they had photos of a Turkish citrus orchard, to justify their Murray-Darling Basin propaganda—a Turkish citrus orchard, because we don't have beautiful photogenic citrus orchards in Griffith or around the Mallee!

So I can just imagine that we'll get pictures of the solar panels built across in China, saying, 'This is the solution to Australia's problems.' That will be the $15 million spend that we'll get from this government, instead of them listening to people or actually getting out from behind their desks in Canberra—particularly the way the departments are now being instructed to do consultations: 'Yes, do a community consultation; send out an online survey web link, and get people to do an online survey.' That's how this government does community consultations.

Then, if they actually do bother to sit down across the table to talk to a real person face to face, the first words out of their mouths will be, 'Sign here,' as they produce a non-disclosure agreement, because, far from being the government of openness and transparency that they'd promised to be, this government is the government of secrecy. We've seen that just today, with their 'how not to answer a question' manifesto provided to every department. And we've seen the departments following that manifesto, verbatim, in our estimates processes, in our answers to questions on notice.

So I do actually believe that it is far more likely that we will see some sort of a glossy communications campaign before we actually see some genuine consultation with the people who are being impacted—the people of Deniliquin and of Moulamein, who have Transgrid powerlines going over their heads, or the people of Port Stephens, who have taken me to the coast and pointed to the horizon and said, 'Far from what the government would have you believe, these wind turbines will be visible; they will not be over the horizon.' We're talking about wind turbines 280 metres high.

Two hundred and eighty-four—thank you for the interjection, Senator Cadell. They will be visible from the beach. They will be planted in a whale migration zone. And then they will require massive high-voltage direct-current cables to connect them to the shore.

Now, unlike onshore transmission lines, you won't be able to see the cables; the cables will be put on the ocean floor. But there are still concerns about those cables. Where are we going to get them from? Currently, most production capacity for high-voltage direct-current cables is booked out until the late 2020s. This could lead to shortages for any country outside China. The government yells at us and says: 'Nuclear? Oh, it will take you too long to build!' Well, how long will it take to lay these cables, when we can't even guarantee that we can access them? Where are we going to miracle these cables from? There's a shortage of vessels capable of laying these cables. (Quorum formed)

Debate interrupted.

Sitting suspended from 18:32 to 20:30