MALLEE family budgets are set to be strained further by Australia’s reckless charge towards renewables.
A blind commitment to the rewiring agenda when Australians are hurting from the cost-of-living crisis means mums and dads will be forced to foot the bill for energy infrastructure, including up to 10,000 kilometres of poles and wires by 2030.
Currently there is significant pushback by farming communities to the transmission lines because construction risks biosecurity and farm access, hampering farmers from putting food on the table for the nation and the world, and will result in higher prices at the checkout.
It is simple supply and demand – if we can’t produce efficiently, then our food and fibre will cost more.
Renewables are supposedly the cheapest form of energy, yet statements so blithely repeated by the Energy Minister Chris Bowen rely on inaccurate data supplied by the CSIRO’s GenCost report that doesn’t account for costly transmission and renewable infrastructure before 2030.
I have been working with farmers and encouraged a tractor rally in Melbourne on Tuesday which The Nationals leader David Littleproud and I will be attending.
I have been proud to stand with Mallee farmers along the way – making sure their voices are heard.
Governments can do their bit for Australian families by lowering power bills.
Meanwhile the Labor government vehemently opposes nuclear, a cheaper option than renewables.
German-American energy economist Robert Idel reported on the full cost of renewables in an energy system, finding solar is 14 times more costly than nuclear and wind is 4.7 times more costly.
Nuclear can be part of a policy that will secure Australia’s energy grid, cut emissions and also lower power bills.
Our great island continent is blessed with abundant energy sources of every kind – coal, gas, uranium, wind, solar and more.
Simple economics tells you the sensible approach is not to put all your eggs in a renewables basket.
