THE National Farmers’ Federation says agriculture must not be the sacrificial lamb in Australia’s future energy plans, with the next year’s Federal election set to be an energy policy showdown.
Opposition leader Peter Dutton today unveiled seven regional locations where existing coal-fired power stations are set to be transformed into nuclear reactors, with the ultimate goal of reaching net zero emissions by 2050 with less reliance on wind and solar.
The plans are a direct challenge to the current Government’s plans to have 82pc of the national electricity grid powered by renewables by 2030.
While the renewable push has received mixed responses from agriculture, the NFF has raised concerns about the way the rollout is happening and the impact it is having on the rights of landholders.
Acting chief executive officer Charlie Thomas said in a statement that agriculture had already been treated with contempt in the renewable rollout – and that, whatever direction the energy grid goes, the contempt must not continue.
“Australian farmers and regional communities are warning policymakers the debate around Australia’s energy mix must come back to the people and land it impacts.
“The NFF’s position remains that Australia’s national energy policies must deliver affordable, reliable and increasingly lower emissions energy for all Australians. These policies should be technology-neutral and driven by markets.
“This isn’t about cherry picking solar or wind energy or nuclear, but about having all options on the table.”
NFF supports net zero
Both the Coalition and Labor are pushing for net zero by 2050, with Labor promising to reduce emissions by 43pc by 2030. The Coalition says the journey to net zero is “not linear” promising to abolish the 2030 target and cap the amount of large-scale renewable energy projects.
Mr Thomas said the NFF supported net zero by 2050 and understood that an energy will be part of it.
“In no way can agriculture be the sacrificial lamb in the pathway to net zero and we will hold the government – and any future government – to its commitment not to impose targets on farmers directly,” he said.
“Any credible climate plan needs to partner closely with farmers and at the core of future energy plans must be early and meaningful engagement with the impacted communities.”
Mr Thomas said energy companies needed to do better in partnering with agriculture.
“As renewable energy projects have been rolled out across rural landscapes, landholders and regional communities have been treated with contempt, and their concerns and contributions have been ignored,” he said.
“Engagement on any future energy proposals must do better. Communities must have the right to say no, farmland must be protected and landholders must be properly consulted.
“Today’s announcement by the Coalition should sharpen the current Government’s focus on delivering meaningful protections for farmland and affected communities.
“There also needs to be a clearer focus on local communities being able to benefit from energy investment.
“National energy policy and emissions reduction must be a shared responsibility and agriculture will play its part, but that part has to be fair and not comprise productivity, profitability or food security.”
Nuclear power stations require a lot of water, to drive the turbine, and to cool the reactor, so where is this water coming from.
In the Hunter Valley, all water is fully subscribed with Hunter Water desperately seeking water for urban expansion. I can’t see how these plants (which are still not commercially available) can go ahead.
Wake up. Stop playing the game the government wants you to play, supporting its ideological and unattainable emission reduction policy, with net zero as the ultimate utopian goal. The government is more than happy to let industry to turn itself inside out trying to find a compromise, trying to find some common ground, anything which might allow the industry to continue, while letting the government get away with the insanity of its rush to a “renewables only” energy industry, and the frightening consequences of that.
The Labor government knows, but will never admit, it is not able to meet its 2030 emission reduction targets. Why? Because of its gross incompetence in being able to get numerous renewable projects up and running. Compounding this is its continuing disbelief of the evidence that, even if it could get those projects up and running, the governments “renewables only” concept cannot replace the need for baseload generation.
So, what is it doing? Well, the Labor government sees the rural industries as an easy and obvious target from which to extract emission reduction quotas, to firstly mask the government’s own incompetence, and secondly, at the same time, to claim emission reduction results which take it closer to its targets.
However, this is all conditional on two very significant points.
The first is that our federal parliamentary system provides, following the current term, that one full parliamentary term and one partial term will be served by the time we get to 2030. That means at least two elections will be held between now and 2030, and the government will need to win both, and at the same time extract even more emission reductions from farmers in order to satisfy its insatiable thirst for environmental fame. What are to odds of two more election victories for the government, and of being able to continue with its demands on farmers through to 2030?
The second point is that one of the elections mentioned above has to be held next year, or maybe earlier. The reality is, the Labor governments environmental bubble could burst in a year, or even less. Would it not make more sense to step away from emission reduction commitments, stop engaging with the government, and wait to see if the bubble bursts. The least outcome is that farmers would get a year to work on their production, rather than on the ambitions of others.
Be aware, there are a lot of people working to make that bubble burst, and for the demands on farmers to stop, by this time next year. Come to think of it, they would probably appreciate a hand.
Once again rural citizens are bearing the brunt for urban aspirations. The NSW Parliament cynically removed the Paris Agreement phrase ‘…in a a manner that does not threaten food production…’ from the NSW Emissions Act 2023, which was meant to codify the intent of the Paris Agreement. Clearly, we are meant to be thrown under the bus in the mad rush to build wind and solar all over the country. Farmers are good citizens who will generally ‘take one for the team’ if it is for the greater good, but this irrational energy transition, and rationale for it, is recognised as completely flawed and just another merchant project to shovel money to the investor class at our expense. Chair, National Rational Energy Network.