For city dwellers, energy policy is mostly about solar panels on their roofs and incremental power bill increases, however, in the country it’s about having your quality of life destroyed by giant renewable energy corporations.

This was the message that Federal Member for Parkes Jamie Chaffey — along with net zero sceptic and National Party colleague Senator Matt Canavan — took to two energy forums in late November.

In one forum at Dubbo, the other at Dunedoo, the two claimed that the Federal Government’s “blind ambition” to pursue “impossible” net zero targets is hitting regional areas of Australia the hardest.

“The Central-West Orana REZ is the first in Australia, and this experiment has shown that centralising solar, wind, and battery projects in one region has a massive detrimental impact,” Mr Chaffey said. “It will impact heavily on road infrastructure and on the environment; there will be the establishment of temporary work camps and major disruption to the community,” he added.

The projects themselves are only part of the problem, he argued.

“Residents are looking at hundreds of kilometres of new transmission lines, and massive wind, solar and battery projects. All of this disruption is for no benefit — prices continue to increase and our emissions reduction has stalled.”

Mr Chaffey urged support for what he called The Nationals' ‘Cheaper, Better, and Fairer’ energy plan.

“Net zero by 2050 is not the answer; our country should not be held hostage to a promise that is higher than that of other OECD [Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development] countries, a promise that can’t be kept. The Nationals plan to lower emissions while making the cost-of-living more affordable for Australians."

Senator Canavan said that the government’s energy plan has left Australians with higher power prices, declining living standards, and an environment littered with wind and solar precincts.

“Net zero has left Australians behind... our ‘Cheaper, Better, and Fairer’ energy plan will put Australians first again,” Senator Canavan said.

“The Nationals are listening to regional Australians who, for too long, have been sacrificed to reach Labor’s net zero target,” he concluded.