Key Takeaways
- A new poll shows that 62% of residents in Australia’s Renewable Energy Zones support solar and wind energy projects.
- Despite the majority support for clean energy, only 37% of respondents believed that most people in their region support it.
- Farmers For Climate Action emphasizes the importance of understanding and addressing community concerns regarding renewable energy projects.
Claims that solar and wind are deeply unpopular among Australia’s regional communities have been challenged by the results of a new poll, which found a clear majority of people living in Renewable Energy Zones are supportive of clean energy projects.
According to the polling of nearly 2,000 people across Renewable Energy Zones (REZs) across Queensland, New South Wales, and Victoria, 62 per cent of respondents said they supported solar and wind development, while only 17 per cent opposed it.
Farmers For Climate Action, which co-commissioned the poll, says numbers remain mostly in line with polling from a year ago, which showed 70 per cent support and 17 per cent opposition to clean energy projects in REZs.
What’s more, the group says its polling has revealed that regional people are more united on renewable energy than almost any other researched issue in the past 20 years.
But the same polling also revealed that only 37 per cent of respondents in REZs believed there was majority support for clean energy in their region, despite the 62 per cent that actually support clean energy projects.
“It’s interesting that regional people are underestimating local support for clean energy, which suggests a quiet majority support clean energy while a minority oppose,” said Dimity Taylor, a Goulburn sheep farmer who lives next door to a wind farm.
“This is why we listen to farmers, not Facebook. The concerns raised by those opposed are valid: all clean energy projects must demonstrate how they’re good to nature and local communities.”
The polling was highlighted this week by Farmers for Climate Action (FCA), an independent, non-profit, and non-partisan movement representing over 8,400 farmers across Australia.
National consultancy firm 89 Degrees East conducted the polling in the second half of September for non-profit Renew Australia for All, of which Farmers for Climate Action is a signatory.
The polling sought responses from nearly 2,000 people across Renewable Energy Zones (REZs), including New South Wales REZs in New England, Central West Orana, Hunter, Illawarra, Victorian REZs in Gippsland, Western Victoria, and Queensland REZs in Gladstone and Central Queensland (excluding Gladstone so as not to measure the city twice).
89 Degrees East also conducted the polling from November 2024, though only 1,001 people were polled in that instance.
“The numbers in this poll match the numbers in other polls by Porter Novelli, CSIRO, and previous FCA polling of regional areas,” said Taylor.
“Despite the onslaught against climate change action and clean energy by some media and the endless bots on Facebook, opposition to clean energy projects has not grown.
“FCA will continue to prosecute these facts and push clean energy companies to be good to nature and country communities, and for the government to expect this from industry.”
Farmers for Climate Action also this week highlighted the specific effects that climate change is having on farmers.
“Climate change is smashing farmers,” the organisation said in a post on the movement’s LinkedIn page.
“Fires, droughts, and floods are more frequent and severe. Pollution traps heat, and 90 per cent comes from fossil fuels like coal and gas.
According to FCA, quoting figures from CSIRO, climate change is costing the average farmer $30,000 a year, with farm insurance bills “soaring” to the degree that “some farmers can no longer afford to insure their farms.”
And these issues will likely grow worse in coming years, with nearly all of Australia’s farm trading partners implementing net zero commitments, and China – the largest of the country’s partners – drafting a carbon border adjustment tariff.
The call from FCA to listen to farmers came at the same time as the National Party of Australia this week abandoned a net zero commitment.
But as FCA highlighted, “Electricity was free across QLD, NSW, VIC, and SA during the Nationals press conference thanks to abundant solar,” and the addition of more storage and wind farms will only continue to lower wholesale prices.
Similarly, according to FCA, abandoning net zero pledges will not stop clean energy projects, as investors are replacing old coal stations with clean energy and storage because they are the cheapest and fastest form of electricity generation.
“We need politicians to listen to farmers, not fossil fuel billionaires,” said South Australian pastoralist Ellen Litchfield.
“Coal and gas drive climate change, and climate change is smashing farmers and sending farm insurance costs through the roof.
“Ending net zero will not end clean energy, and nuclear isn’t viable without it. We’re being smashed by hotter, longer droughts in my part of the world, and we know that burning coal and gas is what drives climate change.”
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