In this interview, Mia Schlicht appeared on The Bolt Report – Sky News Australia 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
Andrew Bolt:
Joining me is Sky New regular Joe Hildebrand and Mia Schlicht, research fellow at the Institute of Public Affairs. Mia, how can we do this stuff to our landscape, and to the most beautiful parts of it?
Mia Schlicht:
Well, because Andrew, we’re fools. Politicians here in Australia, they are fools. And the unfortunate truth is this, our wind infrastructure isn’t just tearing apart our natural landscape, which is absolutely just terrible. It’s also dividing our communities, and destroying our agricultural land. Land that we all rely upon for the food and the fibre of this nation.
And that’s why we’ve got so many communities across the country fighting back against this. And just last week, I was in Albury launching the IPA’s new Renewable Rejections Database, which is a national record of over 150 communities that are fighting back against renewable infrastructure in their area.
And since we launched this database, in just a week, we have had dozens of new communities coming forward, emailing their requests because they want to be on the record fighting against this just terrible, terrible infrastructure.
But as always, if you want to know why this is going up, you have to follow the money, that will answer the question. And here, it’s because there are billions of dollars in subsidies that Australians are paying for in hidden charges on their power bills, going to companies mainly overseas.
Andrew Bolt:
Oh, I’m paying for the views to be wrecked. Joe Hildebrand, I know that, global warming, you think it’s a serious issue and he’s attending. But seriously, do these wind farms make your heart go pitter pat, or do you think, “Oh my gosh, that is a shame?”
Joe Hildebrand:
No, they certainly don’t make my heart go pitter pat, Andrew. I know really well the country that you’re talking about, it is incredibly beautiful. I’ve been there many times. I’ve had very close connection to it. I mean, if global warming could be addressed adequately without building a single wind farm, I would much rather that. I suppose the hard truth is, the real politic is, that these things have to go somewhere. They need to go where the wind is blowing. They need to go within a feasible distance of existing infrastructure so they can connect to the grid. And that, it seems that this location is one of the ones that was chosen that was able to actually attract the investment.
Because of course, we know that there were some offshore wind farms in Victoria that actually failed to proceed because they did not get the overseas investment that they needed. And, I would much rather have wind farms way off past the horizon offshore where no one could see them.
But again, I suppose this is the price we pay for economic development, it’s the price we pay for progress. There would be, again, they’ve got to make sure that farming communities are on board with this. But there are people who say that farming itself is defacing the environment because there was once pristine forest there. And now that’s been cleared.
And again, I’m not of that view. And there’ll be people who say that the places where a lot of our coal mines used to be, probably looked pretty beautiful once upon a time as well. So, in a perfect world, none of those incredibly pristine environments would be affected. But, if this is something we are going to do to keep up with the rest of the world, then this is something that’s going to happen.
Andrew Bolt:
But I don’t know, keep up with the rest of the world, really? Are we in that competition? And I wouldn’t call it development Joe, this is anti-development of course, because it produces electricity too expensive and irregular for business to use.
But anyway, look, it’s just so… But the thing is, Mia, it’s not just here. This strange thinking that we’ve got to save the planet by destroying the planet that’s right in front of our eyes. Tomorrow, the annual United Nations Climate Conference will start, and it’s being held this time in the Amazon jungle. Believe it or not, to help the 50,000 delegates get to the host city, Belém, Brazil has splashed a new four-lane highway right through protected Amazonian rainforests. I mean, these are trees being destroyed that normally would suck carbon dioxide from the air. All destroyed, for cars of all things. Sort of symbolic, isn’t it?
Mia Schlicht:
Yeah, well it is the greatest hypocrisy. And let’s just wait, because soon it won’t just be making room for cars. I’m sure they’ll have to build a new airport very soon to make way for all the private jets that’ll be coming in for those UN conferences. But the sad thing is, is it’s not just the UN who is out of touch. And we’ve known for so long, the UN’s got no idea what’s going on in the real world.
But as we’ve just discussed, we’re doing it here in Australia. We are destroying our natural environment, and for what cause? We do this all in name of global emissions, but Australia emits in one year what China emits in just 12 days. We are committing this outrageous act of self-harm, all in the name of an ideological target that will do no good for the greater environment in general.
I just think it’s incredibly rich that we have all of these inner city elite who are peddling these policies, but they’re not the ones who need to have these wind turbines, these solar panels, or these transmission lines built in their own backyard.
Andrew Bolt:
Joe, do you think it’s time that the Teal voters in seats like Warringah on Sydney’s coast, that they have the wind farms in their suburb?
Joe Hildebrand:
Yeah, I think you would definitely see a very different set of values quickly emerge if it was their own political lives that were on the line for these things. And I’ve spoken to people in coal communities in the Upper Hunter, just in fact after the Teals got elected and they were just absolutely appalled at the sort of hypocrisy where they were demanding that these workers in these coal mines, they lost all their jobs, while at the same time objecting to even… I think there was someone who objected to a collective battery being built in one of their electorates.
Andrew Bolt:
Look behind you. But when I look behind you, mate, that’s Sydney Harbour Bridge. Beautiful position for three or four wind towers right there.
Joe Hildebrand:
That’s right, that’s right. You could [inaudible 00:06:14], Andrew.
Andrew Bolt:
Well, I’d like to get rid of one of them, but anyway. Mia Schlicht and Joe Hildebrand, thank you very much to you both.
Joe Hildebrand:
Thanks.
This transcript with Mia Schlicht on The Bolt Report – Sky News Australia has been edited for clarity.
