Misinformation Stalls Community Battery Project as Climate Debate Intensifies Across Australia

A community battery project in Narrabri has been derailed by social media misinformation, highlighting the growing challenge of climate-related disinformation in Australia. Initially backed by a $500,000 federal government grant and local council approval, the project now sits in limbo after false claims about safety risks spread through Facebook community pages.

“They are the castle of propagandised misinformation,” said Sally Hunter, a founder of local non-profit Geni.Energy, during testimony at a Senate inquiry into climate and energy misinformation. Hunter explained how allegations that the battery would pose fire risks and “shut down the town for days” eventually reached local councillors, who voted in April to rescind their previous agreement.

The testimony came during three days of public hearings that coincided with the Liberal party’s decision to withdraw support for net zero emissions targets, following a similar move by the Nationals. The inquiry brought together a diverse array of stakeholders, including renewable energy opponents, industry representatives, climate advocates, think tank members, and media executives.

Experts described how misinformation is creating deep divisions within communities across Australia. Dave Sweeney, policy analyst at the Australian Conservation Foundation, noted that “people who have valid concerns about specific projects get subsumed and are used to weaponise a wider ideological frame.”

The inquiry heard troubling accounts of escalating hostilities, including physical intimidation of renewable energy workers. One witness reported that a windfarm employee was manhandled and threatened on the street, while another described how a farmer’s daughter was accosted outside a pub because her father had permitted wind turbines on his property. In a particularly disturbing case, a member of a group opposing an offshore wind project in central NSW claimed to have found maggot-infested dead rats on his driveway.

“It is hard to overstate just how dangerous mis- and disinformation is,” said Ika Trijsburg, director of urban analytics at the Australian National University’s Institute for Infrastructure in Society. “Misinformation around climate does make people increasingly polarised in their decision making and makes their stances uncivil. It can drive a sense of being overwhelmed and a disengagement and this hostility that we see in local communities.”

Trijsburg, who also works with the Municipal Association of Victoria representing 79 local councils, detailed how local governments are confronting false claims about wind turbine health effects, fabricated infrastructure deals, and exaggerated risks of electric vehicle fires.

The inquiry provided insights into the organized opposition to renewable energy projects. Grant Piper, chair of the National Rational Energy Network (NREN), revealed that his group connects approximately 160 anti-renewables organizations across Australia. Piper testified that New England MP Barnaby Joyce’s office hosted NREN’s first online meeting in 2023, saying Joyce “had a vision for a group.” While Joyce holds no formal role in the network, Piper acknowledged they speak regularly.

NREN later organized a “Reckless Renewables” rally in Canberra and partnered with the right-wing activist group Advance Australia, which has actively campaigned against net zero targets.

The Institute of Public Affairs (IPA), a right-wing think tank known for promoting climate science skepticism, recently claimed credit for the Nationals’ abandonment of net zero targets. IPA representatives told the inquiry they had visited more than 60 regional communities as part of their campaign efforts but refused to disclose their funding sources when questioned. Court proceedings in 2018 had previously revealed that mining magnate Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting provided between one-third and one-half of the institute’s revenue in 2016 and 2017.

The challenge of climate misinformation extends far beyond Australia. This week, an initiative backed by 10 countries was launched at UN climate talks in Brazil specifically to combat climate-related mis- and disinformation.

“As the Nobel Peace prize laureate Maria Ressa said, information integrity is the mother of all battles,” Trijsburg emphasized. “Once disinformation is created it is very hard to put it back in the box. It is expensive to debunk and it is hard to regenerate trust once a community has had false information shared with them.”

She warned that this represents “a rapidly developing critical crisis,” adding: “If we lose this battle then we lose them all.”