- Polling of renewable energy zones again shows support for clean energy projects steady at 62%; opposition steady at 17%
- Regional people more united on clean energy than almost any other researched issue in the past 20 years
- Those polled significantly underestimate support for clean energy in their communities: only 37% of local residents believe there is majority support for clean energy in their region, despite 62% actually supporting it.
The polling of nearly 2,000 people across Renewable Energy Zones in New England NSW, Central West Orana NSW, Hunter NSW, Illawarra NSW, Gippsland, Victoria, Western Victoria, Gladstone, Queensland and then Central Queensland excluding Gladstone (so as not to measure Gladstone twice) was conducted by 89 Degrees East in the second half of September. The margin for error was 2.11% at a confidence level of 95%.
Key results:
- Opposition to clean energy projects across all Renewable Energy Zones steady at 17%
- Strong majority of 62% across all Renewable Energy Zones support clean energy projects
- Those polled underestimate support for clean energy in their communities: 37% of local residents realise there is majority support for clean energy in their region
Goulburn sheep farmer Dimity Taylor, who lives next door to a wind farm, said FCA respects the valid concerns of those opposed.
“It’s interesting that regional people are underestimating local support for clean energy, which suggests a quiet majority support clean energy while a minority oppose,” Ms Taylor said.
“This is why we listen to farmers, not Facebook. The concerns raised by those opposed are valid: all clean energy projects must demonstrate how they’re good to nature and local communities.
“The numbers in this poll match the numbers in other polls by Porter Novelli, CSIRO and previous FCA polling of regional areas. Despite the onslaught against climate change action and clean energy by some media and the endless bots on Facebook, opposition to clean energy projects has not grown. FCA will continue to prosecute these facts and push clean energy companies to be good to nature and country communities, and for the government to expect this from industry.
“It’s great that we now have around 20 gigawatts worth of solar panels, the equivalent capacity of about 10 coal fired power stations, on city rooftops around Australia too. We’re all in this together and we’re all doing our bit.”
Background: The sample sizes are large for the population sizes they measure. The Newspoll which is so widely reported by Australian media uses a sample of 1100 (weighted to match the population) to measure the attitudes of 18,089,986 voters. A sample size of 300 (weighted to match the population) to measure a population size of say 100,000 in a regional area is many times larger by comparison.
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