Yesterday, the Renewable Energy Alliance (RE-Alliance) appeared as a witness at the Senate Committee on Information Integrity on Climate Change and Energy public hearing in Sydney along with farmers Sally Hunter from Narrabri in New South Wales and Lindsay Marriott from South Gippsland in Victoria.
RE-Alliance is an independent not-for-profit working for more than a decade with regional communities at the centre of the shift to renewables.
RE-Alliance National Director Andrew Bray made a pointed call to the Committee that a community-led, robust solution to information integrity has been in front of the Federal Government for almost two years.
Speaking at the hearing, Mr Bray said:
“There are a range of opinions about renewable energy in the regions, but repeated data demonstrates a clear majority support renewables.
“While the rollout can be messy and communities have legitimate concerns that deserve to be addressed, one of the biggest contributors to community anxiety is not being able to easily access factual, locally-relevant and trusted information.
“When there is an information void we see it filled, time and time again, by false and exaggerated claims. This is why our submission recommends the federal government establish a network of Local Energy information Hubs in renewable energy regions across the country,” he said.
About Local Energy Hubs
Local Energy Hubs are proposed local information service centres run by councils or community organisations. Each Hub would have a team of trusted local staff working to ensure communities are genuinely seeing the benefits of renewables at all levels, from accessing bill subsidies to helping electrify farms and small businesses, to responding to large-scale projects in development.
Local Energy Hubs are not simply shopfronts or drop-in-centres. They are designed to dramatically increase the capacity and agency of rural and regional communities so they can lead the shift to renewables, incorporate a range of local perspectives and tackle challenges as they arise.
Appearing at the Hearing with RE-Alliance were Sally Hunter from Narrabri in NSW and Lindsay Marriott from South Gippsland in Victoria.
Sally is a farmer and community leader who spoke about her experience spending the last three years trying to establish a community battery for Narrabri. Despite strong community support, this project has been derailed because of the spread of false and exaggerated information.
Lindsay is a beef and sheep farmer who hosts 12 wind turbines and a substation on his family property. The wind farm has been in operation for just over 10 years. Lindsay spoke about the campaigns that ran against his wind farm during the planning process, some of the claims that were made, and what the reality has been 10 years later.
RE-Alliance invited Sally and Lindsay to appear to share their experiences and learnings with the Committee.
“I’m incredibly thankful to Sally and Lindsay for travelling to Sydney today to answer the Committee’s questions. It’s a brave thing to go on the public record, their stories were so powerful,” Andrew Bray said.
RE-Alliance, Community Power Agency and Yes2Renewables, have been calling for improved community engagement and access to reliable information in regional communities about Australia’s shift to renewables, through Local Energy Hubs for almost two years.
More information on the Local Energy Hubs model can be found at: localenergyhubs.org.au.
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A full recording of RE-Alliance’s appearance at the Senate Committee on Information Integrity on Climate Change and Energy can be accessed here.
A transcript of Andrew Bray’s opening remarks can be accessed here.
High resolution images of Andrew Bray, Sally Hunter and Lindsay Marriott can be accessed here.
For media inquiries and interview requests please contact Kitty Walker on 0438900117 or [email protected].