You heard Labor planned to plant wind turbines off our beaches. It didn't feel right. Something was off. Many of you told me this directly—people can sense spin down this way. There are plenty of streetwise folks in Mandurah and the South-West. It comes with experience in the working economy: where the saying ‘measure twice, cut once’ isn’t a throwaway line, but a tradesman’s creed. That instinct, to check things that look wrong, needs to be respected. And the more we learn about these megastructures, it’s clear you called it correctly. In three ways. First, you called out the ugliness. Because these machines aren’t small, and there won’t be one or two of them. They tower up to 280 metres tall. And there will be hundreds of them. Spread across thousands of square km of pristine ocean. The area of a small European nation. If you and your family live here, I reckon you appreciate the beauty of our local environment. Our oceans and beaches, forests and farms, black swans and sea eagles. We know that wind farms aren’t just an eyesore. On top of pulverising coral reefs, they kill millions of birds each year. One wind energy company in America admits they’ve killed 150 rare eagles. Ugliness is one thing. The unfairness to you—the people who live here—is worse. After Chris Bowen announced his plans for our region, I had a long hard look at the costs. Sure, the wind will be free. But laying the undersea cables puts this project into the billions—one in Tasmania has blown out to $5.5 billion. So, once the sunk costs are factored in, power prices for us locals will rocket up. That’s right. At a time when Anthony Albanese is meant to be focused on the cost-of-living crisis, his mate has found a way to jack your costs up. Either in your power bill, or your taxes, or both. That’s not fair at all. The third worry is the worst of all. Now we’re learning that of these turbines, almost none of them will use Australian technology. Guess where all the chips, circuits and communication systems will come from? That’s right. From the country who—even the current Defence minister admits—could soon be threatening us with “economic coercion.” Research shows that Beijing is deliberately selling their wind turbines on the cheap, so we have to buy from them, and become dependent on them. Remote switching and shutdowns will be a breeze for the tech owners to our north. And they can “coerce” us from there. You knew these turbines were smelly. Now it’s clear they stink. The government has done some rounds of “consultations.” But I want you to be ready to go the next step. You can start by signing my petition here. You had your concerns. Now it’s time to make your voice heard. Regards
Andrew Hastie
www.andrewhastie.com.au
Peel Energy ForumYou're e-news is arriving on Saturday because I was busy on Friday night discussing Australia's energy needs with Shadow Environment Minister Senator Jonno Duniam,Liberal Candidate for Dawesville, Owen Mulder, and 200 very engaged and passionate locals. Of course Anthony Albanese's Mandurah offshore wind farm was the subject of intense concern, along with Labor's push to replace reliable base load power with Chinese built wind turbines and solar panels.
The people in this room know that Labor has got it wrong, and that came through loud and clear. | 
