Will a third of Barnaby Joyce’s electorate be covered in renewables?

On Tuesday, Barnaby Joyce took to Sky News to complain solar and wind projects had “carpeted” his electorate.

The claim:  

“I come from a seat, Laura, where 31 per cent of the area of the New England is going to be covered in solar panels and wind turbines. I don’t think people ever comprehend that” 

If that number sounds ridiculously high, that’s because it is. New England is 75,000 square kilometres in size, so 31% of it would be bigger than Sydney and Melbourne put together. 

You would think somebody else would’ve noticed if that much land was set to be covered in renewables, but his Sky News interview seems to be the only place that 31% figure has ever appeared on the internet. 

And if you don’t trust us on this being wrong, trust Barnaby. He followed up his claim with: 

“We’ve got 400 square kilometres of solar panels coming into our electorate… then 4,000 square kilometres of wind turbines and the associated transmission lines” 

So now he claims 4,400 square kilometres will be covered by solar and wind projects, or just 5.8% of New England – less than one fifth of the first number. 

We couldn’t find a source for that either, and though it’s closer to a realistic figure, it still overstates the amount of land that renewables currently, or probably ever will, cover in New England. 

Barnaby might hate electricity that comes from the wind, but he seems fine sourcing facts from thin air. 

Verdict: Fanciful