REVELATIONS that the cost of the “transition to renewables” could cost Australia a trillion dollars has prompted Family First National Director and NSW Legislative Council candidate Lyle Shelton to call for an urgent parliamentary inquiry.
Veteran business journalist Terry McCrann says the Albanese government is trying to “force feed” renewables through the Capacity Investment Scheme announced by Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen in 2023.
However Shelton is likely to be ignored, both by the political establishment and media, dominated by the warm and fuzzy sentiment that “clean, green energy is our future”.
One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce describes the projects being funded through the Capacity Investment Scheme as the “renewables swindle factories”.
Shelton is hoping to win an Upper House seat in the NSW Parliament next March, in which case he will move immediately to establish a full inquiry into what McCrann has described.
“Taxpayers and electricity bill payers were never told this transition would cost anywhere near $1 trillion,” Shelton says. “They were told renewables would be cheaper. That claim has now been completely exposed.”
Mr Shelton said the emerging figures showed a staggering escalation in costs — from early estimates of just billions for transmission infrastructure to hundreds of billions, with total system costs ballooning into the trillions once financing is included.
“This is not a minor miscalculation. This is a catastrophic failure of planning, transparency and honesty,” he said.
“Australians have been misled. The true cost has been hidden, and now families are paying the price through soaring electricity bills and a cost-of-living crisis that shows no sign of easing.”
Mr Shelton said the burden of financing the renewables rollout over decades would lock in high power prices for a generation.
“Unaffordable electricity is now baked in for the next 30 years under this model,” he said. “That makes Australia less competitive, drives up the cost of everything, and places enormous pressure on households already struggling to make ends meet.”
Mr Shelton says the inquiry, which would obviously require the support of One Nation and the Liberal-National Party, would examine how initial costings were so dramatically wrong, who knew about the risks, and why governments continued to press ahead.
“We need answers to some very serious questions,” he said. “Who signed off on these so-called ‘estimates’? What assumptions were made? And why were Australians not told the truth?”
Mr Shelton also raised concerns about the impact on regional communities and agricultural land, with thousands of kilometres of transmission lines and industrial-scale energy zones being rolled out.
“Our farmers are being asked to sacrifice productive land for a scheme that is fast becoming an economic disaster,” he said.
Mr Shelton believes there is still time to change course. “Only a fraction of the total projected spending has been locked in. This inquiry must be the first step in stopping a nation-crushing mistake before it is too late.
“Family First will fight to protect Australian families from being saddled with the cost of one of the worst public policy failures in our history.”
