Bad faith actors preying on anxiety with lies to tear down energy transition

Bad faith actors seeking to further their own political agendas are propagating misinformation to undercut the energy transition, the nation’s top green body says.

Bad faith actors seeking to further their own political agendas are propagating misinformation to undercut the energy transition and, if successful, may result in Australia missing out on generational reform, the nation’s top green body has said.

Kane Thornton, chief executive of the Clean Energy Council, which represents Australia’s renewable energy sector, said debate had been hijacked by “bad faith actors”.

“Bad faith actors are using a weakened media, preying on communities increasingly anxious about the uncertainty and tensions in the world around us to tear things down. Vested interests are stepping up [to] tell their story and peppering it with mistruths and outright disinformation,” Mr Thornton will say in a speech in Sydney on Tuesday.

“They are undermining the very things that would build our nation’s future and resilience in an unstable world, to further their own short-term political agenda.

“The battering ram of bad faith actors today is nuclear power. We all know it’s several times more expensive than renewables and storage and is two decades away at best.”

The comments underscore deep divisions between Australia’s renewable energy proponents and those arguing to temper ambitions for zero emission projects that they insist will reduce the impact on regional communities.

Clean Energy Council chief executive Kane Thornton.

The Coalition has said building nuclear power stations at the sites of retiring coal power plants will reduce the need for new high-voltage transmission lines. The Australian Energy Market Operator estimates 100,000km of new transmission lines will need to be built by 2050.

The comments underscore broad frustration from the energy industry amid an increasingly contentious debate about the nation’s energy mix.

The federal Labor government has pledged to hasten the rollout of renewable energy to produce more than 80 per cent of the nation’s power by 2030, while the Coalition has promised to develop seven nuclear power stations to achieve net zero by 2050.

AEMO expects all of nation’s fleet of coal power stations to have retired by 2037, by which time the Coalition expects only one nuclear power station to be operational. The Coalition has not disclosed how it intends to close the gap, either through prolonging coal or using gas in the interim.

The argument has won favour with some pockets of regional Australia, which insist communities will be severely uprooted by the transition and that offers of remuneration do not adequately compensate them for the impact on property prices, business operations and infrastructure.

In recognition of those concerns, states in recent months have increased their offers of sweeteners.

The NSW Labor government on Monday said it had opened applications for $70m in funding for new community projects within its so-called Central West Orana Renewable Energy Zone, one of seven such regions that have been earmarked for a concentration of new renewable energy projects so as to minimise the need for transmission lines.

NSW Energy Minister Penny Sharpe said the funding underscored the government’s recognition that the communities were doing the heavy lifting for the wider state.

“The Central West Orana is playing a leading role in our state’s renewable energy transition. These grants are a key part of the NSW government’s commitment to ensure the community can share in the benefits the renewable energy zone will bring, creating job opportunities and infrastructure for the future,” Ms Sharpe said. “We … will continue to work closely with all REZ communities as we transform our state’s energy system.”