Renewable Energy (Electricity) Amendment (Excessive Noise from Wind Farms) Bill 2012

The majority voted against a motion to read the bill for a second time.

This means that the majority of senators reject the main idea of the act, which was to provide the Clean Energy Regulator with powers to ensure that accredited power stations that are wind farms do not create excessive noise.(Read more about the bill here, including its explanatory memorandum. )

Background to the bill

The bill was introduced by Democratic Labor Party Senator John Madigan, also on behalf of Independent Senator Nick Xenophon.

Currently, there are questions about whether the noise generated by wind farms may cause health problems.(For example, read about the divided reactions surrounding a proposed major wind farm project in South Australia here. ) However, this is widely disputed.(For example, the South Australian Environmental Protection Authority rejected the link between wind farms and health almost a month before this vote took place (see here. ) These concerns reflect similar debates around the world in communities that are affected by wind farms.(Read more about these debates here.)

References