Jim Willmott is a bio-security scientist and the president of Property Rights Australia. Hear about the true impact of Renewable Energy Hubs on our otherwise pristine regional areas.
TRANSCRIPT:
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Um, I just, before we get really going, I just wanna talk a bit about Property Rights Australia and, and what we're, what, what we, what we're founded on and, and what we believe, um, who we are and what we do. And so we're established in 2003.
So this is our, um, 20th year. And um, we were established when, um, Peter Beattie brought forward the, uh, Vegetation Act in 1999 and, um, actually produced maps that were supposed to guide landowners of how to clear certain land. And these landowners were around the charter area, um, clearing, uh, fodder mulga. And they were given these maps, they cleared the land and the maps were incorrect.
So the landholders were taken to court. So the land, that's how we came about. We actually took the Beattie government to court and won 11 out of 14 cases. So that was back then, and this is now.
So we're grassroots to the core. So we are from the bottom up, not the top down, which we're all experiencing. Um, we're not for profit and we're not aligned to any political party.
I can't say we've got much in common with the current government of the day here in Queensland though, unfortunately. So what we do, we hold government to account then the corporations. So the Power Links, the Queensland Hydro, all those types of organizations for their actions regarding decisions that affect our property rights, our private property rights.
So we also ensure detailed scrutiny of any evidence they use, any scientific evidence that they use. And we have links to a number of scientists, um, that give us that information.
Believe it or not, a lot of the information isn't evidence-based. It's modeled the whole, a lot of information is modeled, which they use to base the foundation of legislation that they used against us.
And we also provide a, a support network. So some people have been driven to destruction under this legisl under a lot of different legislation that's based on modeling. They have committed suicide, they have lost their business, they have lost their livelihood.
Remember those livelihoods have been in the families for generations and if they complain, they're focused and targeted on. So why are our property rights important, both in urban, rural, whether you own a big farm, small farm, 600 square meters, whatever, why are they important to us?
So the erosion of property rights is one of the biggest issues facing all property owners and investors. Can you feel it? But what's happened in Western Australia? Look how the government are just fairly flippant with our property rights. Well, we've consulted out of a population of 10,000 people, we got 200 submissions back. Is that really consultation?
No, it is not. It creates uncertain uncertainty. It stifles investment, job creation, threatens incomes and service delivery. Whether you own a suburban home or a broad acre farm, you have the right to exclusive access, use.
And believe it or not, the opportunity to turn a dollar. Yeah. To make a profit. Is that such a bad word? Legal recognition of the property rights isn't the best, is in the, isn't the best interest of a fair, just and prosperous society without property rights.
We have nothing. And they're under threat every single day. So to lead on what, uh, professor Plimer was saying, well this is Queensland based, um, like green energy emission target. So here we are now lower 0%, we're heading for 20, 30, 50% emission targets 2032, 70%. So Anna can have a, a green positive Olympics, which is very important for us all 2035, 80%. And on a national basis, 80%, that's when 80% of base load power generation will leave the grid.
Yeah, just remember that. Tell the agreement. 20, 50, a hundred percent. So tonight I'm gonna talk about the green energy transition, but I'm going to say it in a way and give you examples of just what landholders are forced to do under different legislation, the Reef Act, the Vegetation Act, but what these renewable energy companies, most of them foreign, are allowed to do and the damage that they're doing.
So it's a snippet. So as everyone, the framework to achieve net zero in our national energy market, nm um, it's, it's, it's put out by the Australian Energy Market Operator, AEMO and it's called the integrated system plan of 2022.
It's like a roadmap of how they're gonna transition our energy grid now to make it net free, net net free zero emissions by 2050. So it's got a number of different scenarios.
It's quite comprehensive in their views, but it's just one plan. So the scale and the rate of change, I, I just want you to try and grasp this because a lot of people don't realize what's happening in regions. And this is not just in Queensland.
This is up and down the east coast of Australia as we speak right now. So we are installing, they call it Variable Renewable Energy because when the sun doesn't shine, you don't get any energy out of solar panels. And when the wind doesn't blow, you don't get any energy, you don't get any electricity. So it's variable. Okay?
So we're installing industrial scale, wind and solar, I won't call 'em farms because they're not farms. They're complexes faster than any time in history and faster than any other country in history at this point in time.
So to reach the 2050 target that's in the integrated system plan that I just mentioned, between 2020 and 2030, we've got triple the industrial scale wind and solar complexes. That thing in that decade, in the next decade, we've gotta double that again.
And in the next decade leading up to 2050, we need to double that again. But think about that. So what's it gonna look like this proposed green energy grid? Yeah, you hear Minister Reni and Bowen talk about it's all beautiful, they love wind turbines.
Everyone just loves looking out and seeing how beautiful they are on the landscape. So we're gonna have large scale wind complexes. Now remember these just aren't pretty little windmills. They've got blades a hundred meters long, The towers, these new ones 'cause they're building them bigger and bigger are 170 to 180 meters high.
So you just think of the material that goes into building these towers and the base they have to be on to withstand those conditions. A thousand cubes of concrete are used in these big towers.
Imagine the emissions off that a thousand cubes of concrete and large scale solar complexes. How large, well look at the recent one. I don't know if you've um, heard Ben Fordham recently Sydney 2,700 hectares south of Gladstone, 70 Ks from the Barrier Reef prime agricultural land grazing and cropping. And that's stage one of a three stage project.
And a farmer's gotta go up through that to reach his own property. He doesn't get any compensation. They clear every tree on the place and there's big blue gums that you can't wrap your, your arms around. They're all gone for green energy. And of course you've got, they call it distributed solar rooftop solar, which I don't mind in some respects, but because renewable energy through solar and wind, it's variable like I said.
So they need firming capacity on those long dark nights, cloudy days or wind droughts. They need something to make to firm that power up. You would've heard of pumped hydro. It's one in the Pioneer Valley.
There's one at Barumba. You know, they pump water up during the day using renewable energy, apparently let it go at night. One of mpi at one of Rumbas 14.2 billion. So they say it's gonna be, they reckon plus about eight or $900 million for transmission lines.
You are gonna have utility scale batteries. Big complexes of batteries to store power for an hour, half an hour, 20 minutes. But battery technology is improving. You got coal fire generation now some gas fire generation that's gonna stick around. But to reach the 2050 holy grail, it's gonna be replaced by green hydrogen.
Now remember when I said one scenario they call it, sorry, I'll go back to that high voltage transmission lines. They're also in that a EMO integrated system plan. They say around 10,000 kilometers of high voltage transmission lines, but it could be up to 28,000.
And that's up and down the eastern seaboard of Australia, not just in Queensland. And a lot of these high voltage transmission lines aren't just like your normal 275 KV lines, which are big enough. They're 500 kv, big fat cables Up to 80 meter high towers and the easements about 70 to 80 meters. They're massive and they're two way circuits that come outta these pumped hydros.
So they can put power in when there's not enough renewable power to power up and they can pull power out. But what people don't realize also is that these pumped hydros and these big transmission lines that come out of them, they're also enablers to bring more industrial scale renewables to that area, says so in the literature.
I'm not making this stuff up. They want that to occur.
So one of the scenarios in the step cha in the um, integrated system plan put out by a EMO is called the step change scenario. So that's the tripling this decade, the double double, there's another scenario, there's a slow scenario that just doesn't get to the 2050 targets progressive scenario which just gets there.
And there's also this scenario called the hydrogen superpower scenario. So that's when we produced green hydrogen through renewable energy to make green steel to export green hydrogen. So that is 34 times the capacity of renewables that we have in this decade that is gonna be to 2050.
So the other thing I wanted to talk to you about was capacity factor with renewables. So you might hear a lot of ministers say, well this is gonna power 2000 homes or 200,000 homes for how long? How, how regular will it power?
That capacity factor is what the difference between what it does power and the maximum capacity. So for solar, you know it varies around the world. In Queensland here it could be around 20%, 22% of its, that's its capacity factor. So that's what it produces. Uh, not maximum all the time for wind it varies as well. Let's say 30%, it's kind of average figure. There's some wind farms, the Emerald wind farm that's been up the back of uh, Mount Ember wind farm at the back of Cairns. There's two months of the year where the wind doesn't blow at all. So guess what? It doesn't produce any power at all.
There's another two months when the wind's very low so it only produces 15% of the power. But you don't hear them say that, do you? When they open these things up and say what a great thing it's gonna be.
So the under the step cha step change scenario, the triple double double. So basically they're saying this is straight outta the ISSP renewables would account for 98% of total annual generation by 2050 and renewables meet a hundred percent of the demand. Approximately 65% of the time the generation would come from be dominated by utility scale, solar and wind energy and a smaller proportion from rooftop solar.
So here's an interesting map. It's all about the steps change scenario. And in Queensland here or right across the eastern seaboard, like you have these renewable energy zones and that.
So that's by the end like this is actually wrong. There's a lot more wind and solar there at the moment than they're even what they're saying is gonna be at the end of this decade.
And this is what they see in these renewable energy zones, what they think by 2050. Now have a look, I'm from the Wide Bay area and look at the yellow is the solar, the blue is the wind. Have a look in the Darling Downs. Renewable energy zone, yellow solar, blue is wind.
How much area is that gonna take up? Remember when they quote, remember I talked about capacity factor? So in the Queensland's blueprint energy plan, the energy grid, they say they we need another 25,000 megawatts by 2035 to meet our target. So they said it's gonna come from rooftop solar, a small amount, but it's gonna come mostly from utility scale, wind and solar.
The big ones. Yeah. So they say 2,700 more wind turbines are gonna be required by 2035 in Queensland and that's gonna cover roughly 600,000 hectares. And you go oh 600,000 hectares, that's too much.
But remember the capacity factor 30%. So that's 33%. You can times that amount by three because that's how much they're gonna build to actually achieve those targets, whether they do.
So you're looking at 1.8 million hectares under wind turbines by 2035. And when industrial size solar farms, they say only 40,000 hectares is gonna be required by 2035. You are 40,000 hectares. It's still a lot but you know you've gotta times that by another four.
So you see what's happening. So you can see that map. There are areas in our rural landscape that are just gonna be a pin cushion of transmission lines, solar panels and wind turbines.
Can you see the industrialization of the landscape? So just keep that picture in your mind of the scale that we're talking about. Yeah. So what are the issues with the, that current approach? What's happening? So they, they all rave on about social license. You know, if the community accept it and keep accepting it through the life of the project. They have no social license.
People have moved out to the country for the amendment people, there's generational farms there. People have been on there for 150 years, 160 years and they're gonna go and put this all over them.
What they're doing, they're rolling out a future, what they call trophy landowners in some areas where they get the best deal, they get the most money and people go, geez, that's a pretty good idea. Look at it.
But remember what if you live next to one of these monstrosities already and there's hard data up and down the east coast, even transmission lines, you live within a kilometer of a big transmission line, 30 to 50% reduction in property value. So it's all right for some, see how it splits communities, you've got some made, yeah, well I'm making a fortune, it helps me balance drought out.
Why isn't it a good thing? And then you've got landholders like look south of um, the mango. There's a 600 hectare solar farm. They're looking at putting in. The guy doesn't even live there but everyone else around them do live there and they're complaining about it. But it will potentially go ahead.
There is no environmental license. Who is speaking for the animals, the flora and fauna that are getting decimated. And I'll go into this a bit more and show you some photos that might shock you.
Some of you might've seen some photos on the net. One of the biggest killers of wedgetail eagles in Queensland is from the own government fact sheet. But guess what? Transmission lines smash 'em. There was a fire in Gympie the other day from a transmission line. 150 acres got burned out.
Do you think we're gonna have aerial support dumping fire, dumping, uh, water, water, water bonds in the place to put out fire when you've got rotors that reach 300 meters into the air on the top of, on the top of mountaintops? Have they thought of that?
So really the key thing for us is that the lack of strategic assessment and analysis to inform the road map that looks at renewable energy projects, cumulative impacts on landscape, nature, biodiversity and social impacts 'cause you've got people leaving these regions when they see maps like that and the rate of development, they're out of there because once these lines are put in, it attracts more, it attracts big solar complexes and big wind complexes and people just don't wanna live next to that stuff.
They didn't move there to live next to that stuff. They're bird chompers and back killers. We had a um, strangely enough it does happen and has happened before, big hailstorm near a Luga, west Impi last year on their big solar farm.
23,000 panels got wiped out in one solar farm. One, one hailstorm. And that was surprised. We don't get so we we don't get hail storms in this area. Well, yes we do.
So where did those solar panels all go to? Into landfill. China kept selling more and more to us. So we keep putting them in decommissioning problems. Solar panels and wind turbines to landfill.
And remember the concrete pads, these things only last 20 years, you know they're supposed to be intergenerational assets - 20 years. What about the thousand cubes of concrete? They punch into the base. What's gonna happen to that?
How will agriculture be affected? What about all the biosecurity issues? Look at all the fire ants you guys are dealing with here. 800,000 hectares of infested country and they're bringing all this stuff from here out west.
There's already been issues with the potential threats of movement of material from here out west and around the Toowoomba area with fire ants. And when you break virgin country up or you put transmission lines through farming country, any disturbance, it's noted in biosecurity discipline.
You look at these things, you call 'em spread pathways, high risk pathways 'cause you're cutting across so many countries, one easement. It's a spread pathway for weeds and pest animals and so forth.
The property values are going down, people are leaving the area. People that were gonna go there around the Kilkivan area, west Gympie, there's a number of people leaving 'cause they can see what the roadmap is and that's splitting the community.
And it's not good. It's gonna impact tourism. I don't know if anyone you wanna come out and see all the wind farms on the top of the ranges. Isn't it beautiful? Not me. Thanks.
Critical habitat destruction and erosion. Now just the wind turbines alone from Rockhampton to Cairns as of June, 2023. Here you go. There is 10,178 hectares of koala habitat that is being destroyed just out of the wind turbines.
And that's remnant vegetation. That is virgin vegetation that is being decimated. And I'll show you a few photos soon. And remember there's another thing I wanted to talk to you about.
It's called reef legislation. So reef legislation, a lot of it's model data, not factual data. So we've got issues with it straight away. So it consider reef legislation like a big electric regulatory blanket that's been rolled out across the six reef catchments. I'm in one, I'm in the Burnett Mary one.
So I've gotta keep 50% ground cover by the end of September each year, which most good farmers do. You should be able to do that. We've got no problems with that.
Some of the things that come with it though, we can get audited by the reef police. They fly across, they don't particularly but in satellites taking imagery of our property, we can get audited by the reef police for having bare areas on our country the size of a dining table. I'm just pitching this to you. Okay, so we've got that to live on.
We've gotta show them all our records of how much fertilizer we put on, how much herbicides we use, when did we use them, what's your stock, how many stock you run in the gym, when did you move and what paddock did you move them into? And they can walk on.
We can't stop 'em. We've gotta keep all these records for seven years and there is massive fines for not non-compliance. So we've got these rules to live by. There's one of those big wind turbine, it's about 280 meters tall. Each blade is a hundred meters long.
Remember there's a thousand cubes of concrete in the base and you can notice the bare area here. Remember we can't have a bare area the size of the dinner table. We get in trouble, we get a knock on the door.
Remember that's all virgin scrub around there on the top of these things are on the top of ranges, not out in the middle of the desert.
I'll just whip through some photos for you.
So these are all from central and northern Queensland. Look at this. So there and there, remember there's big access roads. This is all heavy industrial equipment that they move up here.
The access roads are up to 70 to 80 meters wide to get up to the top of the ranges. They estimate there's 400 kilometers that needs to be established just to do these wind farms that are in play.
Now at June, 2023 of roads on the top of ranges that is near the reef. Can you see the regulatory umbrella that farmers are under? You've gotta do this. We're gonna come around and see you.
I've gotta apply for a permit to go out and plant a crop. If it's over 10 hectares and I sell it off my property, do you know that I've gotta apply for a permit depending on the size, if it's 250 hectares, it could cost me $20,000.
Did you know that? I like when they're saying in their literature too. Oh this is just, yeah, that's um, permanent disturbance. It's destroyed and it is destroyed forever. Don't believe what they say when, oh we're gonna pick up that biodiversity and we are gonna plant more trees over.
What about all the bugs? The beetles. The koalas? Where are they gonna go? They're gonna die some more photos just to go to show the scale. Remember this is all virgin timber on top of ranges.
Look at that. So that's the start of a base. That's not a finished base. Believe me. Look at the beautiful timber they're destroying. There's some of those hall roads that come up to it.
And remember the erosion that's gonna take place here. Remember these are full coastal, quite close to the coast. Mm-hmm What do you think's gonna happen when a cyclone comes down?
Do you see why landholders are quite angry that it's alright for them but not for us? What happens when this stuff does run over and out to the reef and they say, oh, water quality targets need to be increased.
You now need 90% ground cover by the end of September. You're gonna have to stock, see what's happening. This is your food security. See the windmills and the distance? Yeah, the wind turbines.
Why Labor and the Greens pride itself on being conservation. Share that standing up. Well where are they on this or renis? Done. Oh we're gonna, you know, this is all code accessible. There's a, there's a, they call it uh, a wind wind code wind development 20 code 23. Oh we've listened to you.
We're gonna make some changes. It's still only, it's not impact accessible. So that means they don't even have to talk to landowners next door or the community to put these things in because it's not impact accessible.
Remember these, a lot of foreign companies, we are just rolling out the red carpet. They've built out Europe's with all these Europe and other countries with all these monstrosities. And now they're coming here and why wouldn't they?
There's no legislative cloud over their head. They get paid to do it. They send in the greases to try and woo over the community. Look at the jobs Jim, the jobs about as much jobs as what goes into a McDonald's looking in the Kingaroy area.
They're gonna close down Tarong power station which employs 500 people plus the contractors. What's gonna happen to our community there and give us 15 jobs for a wind farm complex. So there's one of the um, bases that's where your a thousand cube goes.
'cause you imagine the height of these things, the stresses they'll be under in wind. It goes on. There's one of the bases under destruction under the construction there. So these are some of the impacts. You know, a lot of this stuff that's a Barking Owl chick, they've been sighted in these areas. Who's speaking up for them?
Are Labor speaking up for them? Are the Green speaking up for them? They can't speak up for themselves, can they? They cannon fodder you know, farmers are bad environmentalists.
Greater glider. So greater glider, 6,780 hectares are being destroyed of critical greater glider habitat. Know that is that in the press? There he is again, wedge tail eagles. What's gonna happen to them when they fly into the rotors and the transmission lines where they're putting these bag big transmission lines just near Kilkivan to plug into the pumped hydro.
The bumba pumped hydro Gympie you know, there's, there are dozens and dozens of families of wedgetail eagles there right through where they're gonna put this. But this is Green. This is part of the Green transition. It's good.
How can you destroy biodiversity and save the planet? Tell me rock wallabies honey eaters and the koala. Remember over 10,000 hectares of koala habit is being destroyed with the wind farms that are on the cards Now June, 2023, the Maow, the Northern spotted ko.
But it's all good, it's all green. Uh, the red go. What are we doing about it?
We're only a small organization. We're not big. We haven't got that much money, but we fight what we want and what the nationals be saying is just a woo, just stop and let's plan this out properly. Let's look at all the alternatives.
What's the rush? Are we all gonna get boiled alive? We wanna continue. We wanna push for a federal Senate inquiry. It's not just our group. There is dozens and dozens of group up and groups up and down the eastern seaport that are pushing for a federal Senate inquiry to get all this data shown and look at the governance mechanisms for all these companies rolling out this crap.
But guess what? The Nationals have tried with the Liberals and a federal senate six times now and Labor and the Greens keep knocking it back with the help of Pocot. They care about the environment. Farmers are destroying the environment.
So we've embarked on a truth campaign and it's doing stuff like this. And we support the action groups. We provide support to the action groups.
We help them with legal representation and we help 'em to unify. Because one thing these corporations are good at is divide and conquer. And when you have a community, what we've found through the last 20 years, once you divide it, it weakens it.
And that's when the Greens move in. And That's what destroys communities. Do you want your community? Do you want your regional and rural cousins to be destroyed like this? 'cause that is what is going to happen under this plan.
And that is what is happening next year. There's elections, local government and state government in Queensland and we are asking and we continue to ask, what is the policy position of both major parties and minor parties?
Heard nothing yet. We can't tell you yet. It's too, you know, too far out from the election year. But we'll have some, just be careful when they do. It's just not smoke and mirrors and a bit of a release valve.
We want a Senate inquiry into this just to woo up, to look, to stop before it's too late. So quite recently there was a, um, everyone here called a uh, heard of petter people.
That's ethical treatment of animals. Yep. So they put a, uh, a billboard, I won't show it on this slide in Rockhampton, the beef capital of Australia and says if you eat meat at a bit of beef on a fork, you are killing koalas. You're killing koalas, you evil farmers.
So we responded and said, you think koalas feel more at home here. Get a grip. This is where they feel more at home research. It's not just us saying this research has indicated koalas do better on beef properties that are sustainably grazed and managed. We control our weeds, we control our pest animals and we do cool burns to stop the thicken.
What do you think happens into a lot of national parks? Not all of them. They don't control their weeds, they don't do burns. And when they do do, when it is burnt, there's wildfires. And guess what's happens to the koala?
Can you see the misinformation and deception that's going on? They're painting us as environmental vandals, but look what they're doing. Just in conclusion, under this approach, rural, rural and regional areas are the losers. There's loss of nature, community amenity and farmland. That is what's happening.
That is the outcome of this approach. Regional communities are now being blamed. It started in Victoria. You can see a hint of it now. You know, there's some professor, professor Blake from the University of National University of Australia saying, I don't see what the justification is for all the jumping up and down brothers action groups. What's a few power lines, a few wind turbines, a few solar farms. We've gotta get this done as quick as possible.
The world is boiling. So they're turning this narrative that it is our fault that we haven't given them social license to carry this out. It's a bit weird, don't you think? But they're convincing city people that it was us. This is us.
This is our fault. You know, this is happening. Thank you.
RELATED: The solar industrial estates invading our prime agricultural lands.
A Current Affair, broadcast 9th February 2024.
