Rotto turned PM off turbines

No one has ever complained about Rottnest Island’s sole wind turbine — until now.

According to Tony Abbott, the turbine, which provides 30 per cent of Rottnest’s power and saves $350,000 a year on diesel fuel, is ugly, noisy and the cause of his growing distaste for wind turbines.

This week the Prime Minister said he was keen to reduce wind turbines, while backing contentious claims they harmed health.

Mr Abbott says a bike ride on the island bred his dislike of wind power.

“I cycled around the island and my path took me almost directly under the big wind turbine which has been on Rottnest Island for some time,” he said.

“Now, up close, they are ugly, they are noisy and they may have all sorts of other impacts which I will leave to the scientists to study and that's why I think it's right and proper that State governments should have increased the distance from habitations that these installations now need to keep.”

The $4 million turbine, which is almost 200m from a bitumen road, was built in 2004 in a joint program between the Labor State Government and the coalition in Canberra. It saves shipping about 430,000 litres of diesel a year to the island and reduces greenhouse gases by about 1100 tonnes a year.

The Rottnest Island Authority said there were no records of complaints about its noise or appearance.

A Senate inquiry under WA senator and former RIA chief executive Chris Back is looking at wind turbines, including their impact on power prices and health.

Senator Back said the Rottnest turbine, built after his RIA term, did a good job in powering the island’s desalination plant but he backed Mr Abbott’s concerns about wind turbines and their possible health effects.

Shadow environment minister Mark Butler said Mr Abbott was rejecting research from the National Health and Research Medical Council, the AMA and others that there was no evidence of adverse health effects from wind farms.

“It’s hard to believe Tony Abbott could find a less sophisticated argument against renewable energy,” he said. “He must have had nightmares about that one wind turbine on Rottnest.

“This is more than a joke.

“Tony Abbott is actively campaigning against an industry that employs thousands of Australians, attracts billions in investment and reduces Australia’s carbon pollution.”