Politics & Council
27 July, 2026
Country confidence crashes carrying cost, says Webster
REGIONAL communities had been forced the carry the cost of an energy transition rapidly losing public confidence and without social licence, said Mallee MP Anne Webster.
REGIONAL communities had been forced the carry the cost of an energy transition rapidly losing public confidence and without social licence, said Mallee MP Anne Webster.
“For years, communities across Mallee have raised concerns about transmission lines, industrial-scale wind farms and blanket solar developments turning productive farmland into industrial wastelands – but their voices have gone unheard in Labor’s corridors of power,” Dr Webster said.
“Instead of listening, Labor governments in Canberra and Spring Street blindly rely on bureaucratic word salads\ like ‘capacity investment’, ‘involuntary load shedding’ (ie blackouts’) or constituents playing ‘an increasingly active role: role’ (read: brown outs’), while Labor governments shift goalposts while 2030 and 2050 emission-reduction targets are unlikely – then using heavy-handed powers to push failing projects forward.”
Dr Webster said Australians were being presented with an increasingly convoluted web of schemes, subsidies, underwriting arrangements and government interventions that obscure a simple question.
“If these projects are such good investments, why do they need layer upon layer of smokescreens of taxpayer support, special schemes and constant rule changes to remain viable?”
Dr Webster said many regional residents were frustrated by what they saw as political spin replacing honest conversations about the challenges facing Australia’s energy system.
“Mallee people understand plain English. They know the difference between reliable power and power shortages. Rebranding problems with weaselly political jargon does not solve them.”
“Mallee residents are tired of political gobbledygook and they are not fools, they are tired of the smoke and mirrors.”
Read More: Meering West