Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese slams Barnaby Joyce for 'betrayal' outside Glen Innes wind project

Shadow Minister Chris Bowen, who travelled with Mr Albanese, castigated Mr Joyce for a "betrayal of regional Australia" for not backing green energy in Glen Innes.

The opposition leader visited Sapphire Wind Farm before travelling to the White Rock Solar Farm, both outside Glen Innes in the New England area.

"Here we are in the electorate of the Acting Prime Minister, in part of a renewable energy zone ... but that Barnaby Joyce actually opposes," Mr Albanese said.

"He's opposed to jobs in his own electorate. It's no wonder that he can't envisage what the future looks like and the opportunities that are for renewable energy jobs for regional Australia."

"I don't think there are opportunities in the New England for new energy, I know there are. We can see it right here."

But Mr Joyce said it was Mr Albanese who was betraying the nation by not disclosing how Labor would cut emissions.

He said without transparency, the opposition had no right to attack the government on its policies.

"Betraying the area would be just not telling us Mr Albanese what is in your legislation that you have said you are about to bring forward," he said.

"What is in your legislation because betrayal only happens when you don't tell people the truth, and he hasn't told the truth."

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Mr Joyce defended his attitude towards the White Rock solar project, saying it was an investment built with mainly imported material, that doesn't employ people in the same way a coal mine or abattoir does.

He also said renewable energy can't sustain communities in the same way other industries do.

"I can find you a mining town, Gunnedah is underpinned by mining, Boggabri is underpinned by mining, Muswellbrook, Singleton, Biloela, Emerald, Gladstone, large sections of Mackay," he said.

"I can take you to the coal mining towns and to the areas supported by coal mining.

"Mr Albanese please now tell me where's the renewable town, we'll lose hundreds of thousands of jobs, so where is the renewable town."

The opposition leader said it was "embarrassing" that the acting prime minister opposed the green transition.

"Barnaby Joyce is just scared of the present and terrified of the future. He's incapable of leading Australia to where we need to go," he said.

Mr Joyce turned the first sod on $450 million White Rock project, which was fully commissioned in 2018 after receiving funding through the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA). It was among the first projects in the country to generate both wind and solar power.

In 2020, he turned against the industry, telling the Leader he had adopted the "contrarian view" on behalf of landholders opposed to the industry's expansion.

The development of the wind project has not driven a boom in local industry in Glen Innes.

Mr Albanese said the country was "behind where we should be, because of almost a decade of denial by Scott Morrison and the coalition government".

Mr Joyce had voted to close both ARENA and the Clean Energy Finance Corporation.

He said the government should turn to "industry policy" to get the full value out of the sector.

"It's a holistic approach that we have. Only a Labor government will ever deal with the sort of industry policies that are required as we transition to a clean energy economy," he said.

Shadow Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen said the renewable energy zone was an opportunity to create "hundreds of jobs".

"We know in the Labor Party, that the world's climate emergency is regional Australia's job opportunity," he said.

"Every day that the National Party and their mates in the Liberal Party oppose renewable energy jobs is a day of betrayal for regional Australia."

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