{"id":641798,"date":"2026-05-01T02:16:25","date_gmt":"2026-05-01T02:16:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/641798\/"},"modified":"2026-05-01T02:16:25","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T02:16:25","slug":"new-study-suggests-majority-of-regional-australians-back-renewable-energy-transition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/641798\/","title":{"rendered":"New study suggests majority of regional Australians back renewable energy transition"},"content":{"rendered":"

Spend a bit of time on social media and it would seem like renewable energy is tearing regional Australia apart.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In Victoria, stand-offs over the VNI West transmission lines and protests against proposed offshore wind farms along Gippsland’s Bass Coast have sparked tensions in affected communities.<\/p>\n

But a new study suggests the majority of regional residents support the transition \u2014 even if they don’t think their neighbours do.<\/p>\n

\"Tall<\/p>\n

Plans for new transmission lines have proven to be unpopular in some farming communities. (ABC Rural: Angus Verley)<\/p>\n

‘A striking disconnect’<\/p>\n

The study, conducted by 89 Degrees East \u2014 a member of The Research Society \u2014 polled 1,965 people across Australia living in renewable energy zones.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In Victoria, 300 people in Gippsland and 202 in western Victoria were surveyed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The study found that 28 per cent of those polled in Gippsland and 43 per cent in western Victoria had become more concerned about climate change in the past year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Support for a transition to renewable energy was strong, with 60 per cent of respondents in Gippsland and 66 per cent in western Victoria indicating their support for Australia shifting to renewable energy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Yet far fewer believed their communities shared that view. Just 39 per cent of respondents in Gippsland and 46 per cent in western Victoria thought there was support for a renewable energy transition locally.<\/p>\n

Farmers for Climate Action (FCA) CEO Verity Morgan-Schmidt said the findings exposed a “striking disconnect” between reality and perception.<\/p>\n

\"Verity<\/p>\n

Verity Morgan-Schmidt says farmers need the support of people in the cities. (ABC Rural: Lydia Burton)<\/p>\n

“Many who support the shift to clean energy do not realise they are part of a quiet majority,” Ms Morgan-Schmidt said.<\/p>\n

“Media and social media algorithms will continue to promote conflict, and FCA will continue to listen to farmers, not Facebook.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

For Warracknabeal farmer Phil Koschitzke, the issue is no longer abstract.<\/p>\n

Returning to his family’s 149-year-old farm in 1997, he remembers climate change being framed as a distant risk.<\/p>\n

He said, at the time, the media was covering the hole in the ozone layer, and an El Ni\u00f1o event was mentioned on the news for the first time.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“They were talking about that over the next 50 to 100 years, something might change,” Mr Koschitzke said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Phil Koschitzke says renewables “are the next step forward”. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

“What I’ve seen in the last 30 years is 26 of 29 have been below average [rainfall].<\/p>\n

“If it is us doing this, it seems to be a far more accelerated than anybody would have thought.”<\/p>\n

Mr Koschitzke said the changes on his land had reshaped his thinking.<\/p>\n

“We’re making a mess of this and our kids are going to have to deal with it,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Renewables can be the next step forward \u2014 maybe not the final answer, but the next step.<\/p>\n

“I’m not pro-renewable energy, but I’m anti-stuffing the world up.”A question of delivery<\/p>\n

Still, support for the transition comes with conditions.<\/p>\n

Victorian Farmers Federation acting president Peter Star said it was not a question of whether the federation supported renewables.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Peter Star says renewable infrastructure needs to “be fair to everyone”. (Supplied: VFF)<\/p>\n

“It’s how we deliver them in a way that’s fair for everyone and that communities are properly consulted,” Mr Star said.<\/p>\n

“When 20\u201330 per cent of people are raising concerns, that’s not something to ignore, and we need to be smarter and more balanced in how these projects are rolled out.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Spend a bit of time on social media and it would seem like renewable energy is tearing regional…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":641799,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[64,63,10663,68,2572,75,13330,19158,128,6831,102561,15777,72610],"class_list":["post-641798","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-clean-energy","tag-climate-change","tag-energy","tag-environment","tag-farming","tag-renewables","tag-science","tag-solar-power","tag-transmission-lines","tag-turbines","tag-wind-farm"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641798","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=641798"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641798\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/641799"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=641798"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=641798"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=641798"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}