This article is more than 6 years old

This article is more than 6 years old

Joe Hockey has labeled wind turbines “utterly offensive”, indicating that renewable energy funding and environmental agencies will both be pared back in the upcoming budget.



The treasurer, speaking on Alan Jones’s 2GB radio show, said: “Can I be a little indulgent? I drive to Canberra to go to parliament and I must say I find those wind turbines around Lake George to be utterly offensive. I think they’re a blight on the landscape.”

Asked by Jones why the government was “chasing Thai and Chinese-subsidised wind turbines down the road with a chequebook”, Hockey pointed out that government support for businesses, as well as individuals, was under scrutiny.

“When I say we’ve seen the age of entitlement, that applies to business as much as it applies to the rest of us,” he said.

Hockey also indicated that environmental agencies would be facing the budget axe.

The Coalition has already disbanded the Climate Commission, which provides information on climate change, and is attempting to scrap the Climate Change Authority, which sets targets for emissions cuts, and the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, which provides funding for renewable projects.

“You will see in the budget that we have addressed the massive duplication, the vast number of agencies involved in doing the same thing,” Hockey said, when asked about climate change agencies. “We’ve considered that very carefully.”

The government has already committed to a review of the health impacts of wind turbines. The National Health and Medical Research Council and Australian Medical Association both recently stated that there was no evidence wind power itself causes any of the litany of illnesses and problems it has been linked with.

Environmental groups have urged the government not to dismantle the architecture designed to combat climate change, or to wind back other environment bodies.

The Australian Conservation Foundation said it was concerned the Commission of Audit had recommended the abolition of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation and Climate Change Authority.

The commission also proposed a halving of the national landcare program, which funds environmental projects, and a merging of the National Water Commission and Murray-Darling Basin Authority into government departments.

The ACF said the government should target the “billions in fuel subsidies” given to mining firms, rather than cut environmental programs.

“The Commission of Audit report gives the government a stark choice: go further down the anti-nature road or start to responsibly steward our natural assets, the life support systems that sustain us now and act as an insurance policy for future generations,” said Dr Paul Sinclair, the ACF’s director of environmental campaigns.

“The Commission of Audit has had its say – it’s now up the government to show whether it is for nature or against it.”