Victorian wind farm. Courtesy – Flickr user Indigo Skies Photography CC License 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Thanks to his many controversial views, Australia’s Prime Minister is regularly mocked on social media. On 11 June 2015, Tony Abbott's description of wind farms as visually awful and noisy brought both ridicule and outrage.
A blogger using the name Roswell responded quickly on the Australian Independent Media Network:
Are wind farms noisy? Tony Abbott thinks they are. And if Tony Abbott thinks they’re noisy then I imagine that every right-winger in the country will be using Abbott’s opinion as scientific evidence that your eardrums will be blown out if you dare to venture within two postcodes of the ‘awful’ things.
Abbott has been keen to slash Australia's Renewable Energy Target, and his comment about wind farms prompted additional criticism from supporters of renewable energy on Twitter:
Have you ever seen a coal mine @TonyAbbottMHR? That's what I call “visually awful”. #WindFarms don't even come close #coal #renewableenergy
— Ella Belfanti (@EllaBelfanti) June 11, 2015
Humans want more #windfarms Tony Abbott on the other hand…..http://t.co/9b88sBEZOQ
— Nigel Dobson (@Nigel_Dobson) June 11, 2015
On the same day, Mr. Abbott opened a terrorism summit in Sydney. Many people on thee Internet quickly linked the two:
That's funny because ‘submit and die’ is the crux of Abbott's environment, refugee, & social policies. #windfarms pic.twitter.com/gSNHZLIhS4
— Kingslayer (@squig_) June 11, 2015
The turbines are coming. #windfarms pic.twitter.com/9PllUdMMmm
— David Marler (@Qldaah) June 11, 2015
Comparisons with coal-fired power stations were also popular:
@TonyAbbottMHR #windfarms are “visually awful” and “noisy”…compared to a coal fired power plant emitting SO2 CO2 mercury & arsenic #nope
— Geoff Sawyer (@geofsawyer) June 11, 2015
TonyAbbott doesn't like #windfarms visually awful ?😳 Hey but coal is good ? #abbottoutoftouch #auspol pic.twitter.com/0ieF8S1jJU
— amjulie (@amjemmo) June 11, 2015
A Senate Committee is currently looking into wind farms as a renewable source of energy. Gaetan Burgio recommended a piece published at The Conversation, which studies the science of wind farms.
Some explanations there. The real science on #windfarms, noise, infrasound and health @ConversationEDU https://t.co/CuiMCSyApw
— Gaetan Burgio (@GaetanBurgio) June 11, 2015
The Prime Minister has some colourful support. Liberal Democratic Senator David Leyonhjelm has been vocal lately on the issue:
David Leyonhjelm swears at satirical protest group outside windfarm inquiry http://t.co/fKsZQQx2RL brilliant work. He's a senator, folks.
— Reasonable Hank (@reasonable_hank) June 9, 2015
One of the protesters, Liz Conor, responded online at New Matilda:
The Leyonhjelm Offensive: How And Why The Senator Told Me To F**k Off: Dr Liz Conor joined a protest of Tuesda… http://t.co/idlFBmWkwD
— newmatilda (@newmatilda) June 10, 2015
Others are concerned that Australia's head of state is damaging the country's reputation abroad by defying international efforts to promote alternative energy:
Does Abbott realise his #windfarms comments are pretty much saying FU to the international community on Climate Change Action.
— Jo Barnes (@Jo_Barnes) June 11, 2015
2 comments
With oil prices going down, oil producers would intensify their self-promotion, kind of : Let’s return to good old oil, it’s better than all those wind farms, which is inefficient, noisy, bird-killing, etc.
May be Mr Abbott has shares in an oil company?
Abbott apparently, not only denies the link of CO2 with global warming, but shows not an ounce of regard for the environment he is destroying with as much information regarding these matters as an amoeba. Wonder where he was educated? For someone of his age to be so unaware of environmental destruction and to be voted in as the leader of his nation is really scary. Does he not know that Australia is the country that has LOST the most fauna in so short a time? Reminds me of a WW2 tank ploughing slowly but destructively thru the land, impervious of the damage it is causing.//Do’nt expect he has heard of the newer bladeless turbines either?Pity such folks do not become as extinct as the Tasmanian Tiger.//It was during the last Govt, that young couples who bought homes but could not afford solar panels could enter in competitions to do so. Luckily , my daughter did.Would Abbott & Co have done so.??He seems to be the very epitome of those folk in the USA ans worldwide whose only criteria for success is to acquire as much as they can by filling their bank accounts no matter what the cost.