In this interview, Mia Schlicht appeared on 2SM Mornings with Chris Smith to discuss the findings of the IPA’s research on net zero.
All media appearances posted onto the IPA website are directly related to the promotion and dissemination of IPA research
Chris Smith:
Thank you very much. Now, the momentum against Net Zero, despite what Zali Steggall says internationally, the momentum against Net Zero is growing and the momentum against renewables in this country is growing. I’m convinced of it. Well, I don’t need to be convinced of anything because now we’ve got a brand new database from the Institute of Public Affairs, which has documented the growing counter rebellion against the Clean Energy Revolution. It’s called the Renewables Rejection Database, and it lists more than 150 community-led rejections of solar farms, wind projects, battery hubs, and those monster transmission lines stretching through farmland like open cut scars. Joining me now is the lead of the project at the IPA, Mia Schlicht, who says the so-called renewables consensus is collapsing, and I’m sensing the same thing. Mia, welcome to 2SM and the Super Radio Network.
Mia Schlicht:
Good morning. Thanks for having me.
Chris Smith:
Mia, this database is quite extraordinary, a national record, a national record of pushback that no one in government seems to want to talk about. What made you decide to start tracking these rejections in the first place?
Mia Schlicht:
Well, Chris, see, the IPA, has been working with our regional communities for a long time to find out about their experience with the rollout of renewables. And there has been this narrative from those advocating for Net Zero for a long time, that somehow opposition to renewables is isolated or fringe or there isn’t this consolidated consensus, but the IPA have actually been out there. We’ve been talking to these communities, and opposition is certainly not isolated or fringe. Everyone out there in the regional communities has said they’ve had enough of enough and they’re sick of not being listened to by the coalition. They do not want these projects on their land, and they want to be represented by those who they’ve elected to represent them in parliament, and that’s the coalition. At the moment, that’s just not happening.
Chris Smith:
When you look through all of these cases, more than 150 of them, what stood out to you? Are these just isolated protests or is there a real grassroots movement building here?
Mia Schlicht:
No, no. There’s a real grassroots movement and it is organised and it is national and it’s certainly growing. What really stood out to me doing this project was when you look at the 10 electorates with the most opposition, nine out of 10 of them are all coalition seats. Now, we know that last week, the coalition had a meeting to discuss their position on Net Zero. They had various academics that were advising them on what their position should be. What was noteworthy is they were not communicating with the regional communities that they are meant to be representing. They weren’t in the room to hear their voices and speaking out with these regional communities. That is the message we receive in time and time again, that they have tried to be vocal in standing up against these projects, yet their representatives just are not listening to them. And it’s all very well and good for those people in the inner city to peddle these ideological causes for Net Zero. At the end of the day, they’re not the ones who have to bear the brunt of this infrastructure in their own backyards.
Chris Smith:
Well, if they’re disappointed in their own representatives, usually a conservative politician, they must be terribly horrified at what Chris Bowen is carrying on with because every day, he tries to describe renewables as reliable. Every day, he’s saying that communities are embracing renewables. Every day, he’s saying, “How good is it that farmers are picking up $50,000 for putting a wind turbine on their property,” but your research paints a completely different picture.
Mia Schlicht:
Yeah, that’s right. These communities, they are terribly frustrated with Bowen. I mean, there’s no shock that during the federal election campaign, Bowen was effectively in witness protection. We didn’t hear anything from him.
Chris Smith:
None.
Mia Schlicht:
Labour hid him away, and now they’ve been elected, is out there sprouting all these lies and they are just lies. The reality is, you cannot run an advanced economy under Net Zero and under renewables. It just cannot happen.
Chris Smith:
It cannot happen, won’t happen.
Mia Schlicht:
It won’t happen.
Chris Smith:
I imagine a lot of these locals aren’t climate sceptics either. They just don’t want transmission towers over the top of their property. They don’t want wind turbines taking their very arable and productive land. They’re the concerns they’re most worried about, right?
Mia Schlicht:
Yeah, that’s exactly right. I mean, farmers understand the environment better than anyone. They’ve had to work with it for generations, have held these farming properties in their families. They understand how it happens, but they just understand that this is all pain no gain. Net Zero is a futile policy. It won’t do anything for global emissions. It doesn’t help the environment. I mean, just have a look at China. In Australia, what we emit in carbon emissions, China emits in just 12 days. Other IPA research has found that for every tonne of emissions that Australia has cut, China has increased its emissions by almost 36,000 tonnes. This is all pain, no gain. It’s a futile policy, and it’s an act of economic self-harm.
Chris Smith:
You’re not wrong. Mia Schlicht, thank you very much for your time this morning.
Mia Schlicht:
Thank you for having me.
Chris Smith:
Okay. The database, you can go to the IPA website and you can have a look at that database, 150 community-LED rejections. We don’t want that solar farm next to us. Thank you. We don’t want that wind project. We don’t want that battery hub. We don’t want these monster transmission lines where bulldozers push through 150 wide metres of bushland and forestry to put up staunches for network lines. They don’t want any of that. They want to continue farming and producing the way they should. Now, they might believe that the temperature is warming, but do they think that this is the way to change the weather? Of course not, because it’s not. We’re pulling the wrong levers. It’s 17.
This transcript with Mia Schlicht on 2SM Mornings with Chris Smith has been edited for clarity.
