6 days ago
Senator Matt Canavan makes unlikely ally in Greens founder Bob Brown as pair rally against wind energy projects
Senator Matt Canavan has shared the amusing news he made a 'strange friend' while at a rally against wind power in North Queensland during the election campaign.
Speaking to Sky News host Andrew Bolt on Tuesday, Senator Canavan was asked about Greens founder Bob Brown fight against a wind farm off Tasmania's coast, which he claimed would endanger at least two species of native bird.
Mr Brown said in a statement he predicted Environment Minister Murray Watt was about to 'turn both barrels' on Tasmania's wildlife and environment with the ACEN-led wind project on Robbins Island.
'The Robbins Island project includes a vast concrete causeway, 100 turbines with blades spinning more than twice as high as Hobart's Wrest Point Casino tower in the middle of flightpaths, including those of the critically-endangered Orange-bellied Parrot and Tasmania's giant Wedge-tailed Eagle,' he wrote.
Senator Canavan told Bolt he had not only found himself 'on the side of Bob' during the election campaign, but was at a rally against a wind project in North Queensland at the same time the Greens founder was at a similar rally in Tasmania.
'I was at a rally against a wind project in North Queensland and I believe Bob Brown was at a simultaneous rally in Tasmania,' he said.
'I've actually been at rallies with Bob before, but we were on opposing sides.
'It's funny how politics can sometimes cause strange friends.'
The Nationals Senator said green energy, including solar and offshore wind projects, came with "higher power prices" and called for energy costs to be scrutinised.
"They were talking about that project off Newcastle. Let's go out and see what that will cost," he said.
Senator Canavan joked he thought the Greens founder might even 'get along with Donald Trump' after the United States President said words to the same effect last month.
'You see these windmills all over the place, ruining your beautiful fields and valleys and killing your birds, and if they're stuck in the ocean, ruining your oceans,' President Trump told reporters at Glasgow Prestwick Airport while visiting Scotland.
Senator Canavan's remarks came after at least two farmers expressed their concerns about wind farms in regional Australia and how communities were being left 'in the dust'.
Emma Bowman from Dunedoo said regional communities have been 'steamrolled' amid the rapid renewable energy transition.
'I think there are huge risks to contamination of ag (agricultural) land, contamination of our water. I think taking our ag land out of full production, in some cases, to generate energy for intermittent supply, I don't think that's the right thing to do,' she said.
