Note to One Nation: Regions aren’t rejecting renewables, they just want them done properly

One Nation is channeling regional anger about renewables. That doesn’t mean it understands it.

The party has promised to cancel VNI West, the Western Renewables Link and other major transmission projects, scrap net-zero targets and remove Victoria’s prohibition on nuclear energy.

But it has not explained what would replace Victoria’s ageing coal-fired power stations, where the alternative infrastructure would go, what it would cost or when it would produce electricity.

For over a decade, I’ve worked with Australian communities hosting wind and solar farms, battery projects and new transmission lines. If there’s one message I wished our politicians could hear, it’s that opposition to renewable energy development, when it doesn’t address the needs and wants of a community, is not the same as rejection of the renewables rollout.

A polarised public debate struggles to accommodate this. Those who are ideologically opposed to renewables will use any local grievance to claim all of regional Australia is similarly opposed. At the same time, there are renewable energy advocates who dismiss all objections as selfish NIMBYism or the product of disinformation funded by fossil fuel interests.

There’s a more nuanced and frankly, more useful, picture of what is actually happening on the ground.

Most Australians living in the regions support renewable energy. We know this from polling that shows even among those Australians living in a renewable energy zone, most support shifting to clean energy. And there are plenty of examples where projects have been developed with good engagement and community buy-in.

However, too often, state government planning is focused on the technical requirements of the energy system, rather than a holistic understanding of the impacts to host communities.

Multi-project impacts on workforce development, housing, roads and local services are left for councils and communities as issues to manage, and usually without the authority or resources to plan properly.

Host landholders do well but, with some exceptions, the same can’t always be said for neighbours and the wider community bearing significant disruption. 

That causes genuine anger.

We then see political parties and other bad faith actors exploiting that anger, proposing to tear up existing plans without explaining what they would build instead – or which regional communities would be expected to host it. 

False and misleading claims are spread by political campaigns and vested interests. Algorithms that thrive on rage bait fan the flames of discontent. Genuine community concerns that should be at the centre of these discussions seem simultaneously bigger, but also harder to engage with.

But mostly, people understand that new power generation is necessary. They see the opportunities in large scale renewables: construction and maintenance jobs, more work for local businesses, new income for farmers and neighbour payments, and funding for community facilities and services that can revitalise towns that have been struggling to grow.

But neither is support for the rollout a blank cheque for every project, in any location, on terms that don’t reflect community ambition.

One Nation’s promise to cancel VNI West and the Western Renewables Link is a case in point. Cancelling essential infrastructure would shred years of planning by farmers, energy companies and regional communities without making Victoria’s future electricity needs disappear.

And removing the prohibition on nuclear energy is not a replacement plan: One Nation has not said where reactors would be built, what they would cost or how they could arrive in time to replace ageing coal generation. 

A promise to cancel infrastructure without identifying the alternative does nothing to help regional communities plan for the future. Nor is it a sufficient acknowledgement of the detailed and legitimate feedback regional communities have given to improve the renewables rollout process.

For every community challenged by the rollout, there are examples of communities successfully organising to achieve positive outcomes, including Victoria’s Coonooer Bridge where local landholders became co-owners of the wind farm; or the communities of Queensland’s Western Downs who are working with council to design regional benefit-sharing arrangements.

These are the models that our representatives in parliament should look to for what can be achieved if concerns around the renewables rollout are genuinely addressed.

There are practical policy measures that can shape whether renewable energy delivers for regional communities. Which is why we’re calling on every party to commit to implementing and enforcing VicGrid’s new requirements for how renewable energy developers engage with communities, share benefits and manage local impacts.

If political leaders listen carefully, they may discover that regional Australians are not rejecting the renewable energy rollout. They are demanding that Australia do it properly.

Andrew Bray is national director of RE-Alliance – an independent not-for-profit organisation operating across Australia, working to deliver a responsible shift to renewable energy that actively contributes to the strength of our regions.