Pauline Hanson headlines fired up crowd in Bunbury for anti–wind-farm protest
Credit: Oliver Lane · Bunbury Herald · Tue, 18 June 2024 · thewest.com.au ~~
Hundreds of people rallied at Bunbury’s Bicentennial Square on Sunday against the proposed wind farm zone off Geographe Bay.
The rally was headlined by One Nation leader Pauline Hanson who spoke to concerned residents and farmers opposed to the 7674sqkm proposal which spans from Cape Naturaliste to Mandurah.
Ms Hanson told the crowd wind farms did not stack up scientifically and refuted human-induced climate change.
“Let’s get fair dinkum about this, I’m not gonna talk about the science behind it, Martine [Shepherd] can tell you those sort of things,” she said.
“The facts are they are an absolute eyesore, the facts are that what are they going to do with these wind turbines and the solar panels when they’re finished with it?”
Ms Hanson was met with cheers from the crowd who also responded positively to anti-media, anti-government and right-wing talking points.
Ms Shepherd – another key voice to speak at the rally from the Save Our Beloved Geographe Bay campaign – said locals would not stand for the proposal.
“If you can join the dots, you’ll see we’ve got industrialisation of our oceans happening that’s going to destroy commercial fishing, it’s going to destroy rec fishing and you enjoying your beaches,” she said.
“Your tourist towns are going to be completely degraded … If this is what you want, that’s great, rollover but if you don’t, it’s time to stand and unite for Australia.”
South West independent MLC Sophia Moermond also spoke at the event after her recent departure from the Legalise Cannabis WA Party over the wind farm proposal.
Ms Moermond’s speech departed from the subject of wind farms when she aired her grievances with a range of topics including rebuking the live sheep export ban, the possibility of eating insects and a perceived threat of gender ideology.
She said while she did support taking better care of the planet, the wind farm proposal did not make sense.
“To destroy a reef, to turn the ocean bottom into a construction ground, to interfere with whale migration pathways, to interfere with life cycles of the animals and we’re looking at crabs, lobsters, all sorts of things, to limit fishing once again, to limit the rock lobster industry – none of these things are particularly logical,” she said.
According to Edith Cowan University’s School of Engineering senior lecturer Dr Asma Aziz who spoke to the Bunbury Herald in April, offshore wind farms have not been shown to cause long-term impacts to wildlife.
“When it comes to offshore wind farms, there are always concerns related with marine life,” she said. “The international projects which are currently ongoing around the world and various research have shown that this concern is not as much as the public perceives.
“There have been findings where initially, during the construction phase of the offshore wind farms some of the species do move away from that area but it has been seen once the construction is completed they basically come back.”
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