Fortescue Metals executive chair Andrew Forrest has said the government's energy infrastructure push into regional Australia should not come at the expense of prime farmland.
He also used his National Press Club appearance on Monday to correct "misinformation" pedalled by anti-renewable provocateurs that Australian farmers will have to give up "all of their land" to enable the green energy transition and called out bad actors in the pro-nuclear lobby to "stop betraying the bush."
"I stand with farmers in prioritising the protection of prime agricultural land, noting that only half a percent of Australia's land mass will enable environmental sustainability and all the green energy economic growth I speak of," he said.
"We must also compensate farmers fairly when transmission lines cross over their land, which has happened for decades but must be accelerated.
"And not just through lease payments for wind farms - the most drought resilient crop a farmer can put in but also through community initiatives like high-speed internet in places that currently have no cell reception... through housing, and support for community organisations."
Dr Forrest also announced that his renewable energy company Squadron would create an industry-wide fund to cover the future decommissioning costs of obsolete renewables after "listening to the many landholders we engage with."
However, he said that "not every wind farm" will be decommissioned under the plan, with some extended or re-powered to provide landowners "peace of mind."
Dr Forrest made billions from metals before adjusting his venture portfolio, Forrest family corporate investments now also currently operate a string of operating and proposed green energy developments across the globe, including wind and solar farms up Australia's eastern seaboard.
In a wide-ranging speech to the Press Club, he said the "vicious lobbying" of fossil fuel producers was the greatest impediment to the green transition, calling on government to "help us get the fossil fuel boot off Australia's neck."
In referring to the Diesel Fuel Rebate as "one massive subsidy that's locked in", he said while lobby groups "hide behind" Australian farmers in defending the Rebate, "the vast proportion of the money goes to big mining and fossil fuel companies - not Australia's farmers or fishermen."
"If you think that nuclear came out of nowhere - no, it didn't. It's been pushed by the fossil fuel sector as a great way to delay the whole country for 20 years from switching over to cheaper energy," he said.
He opened his speech by calling on stakeholders and politicians, including sections of the National Party, who "claim to represent the bush" to stop dividing the nation with the "false hope that we can cling to fossil fuels forever."
"If we swallow this new lie that we should stop the rollout of green energy and that nuclear energy will be our fairy godmother, we will be worse off again," he said in pointing out that nuclear would take decades to set up and cost consumers "four or five times" more than other energy sources.
"These misinformed, unscientific, uneconomic, plucked-out-of-thin-air bulldust of nuclear policies of politicians masquerading as leaders helps no-one."
He also said the renewables sector would welcome more government subsidies as a way "to speed it up even further" - while his own companies also currently receive taxpayer support, including his push into green hydrogen.
He also threw his support behind a $100 billion a year "carbon solution levy" on fossil fuel extraction sites operating across Australia and on imports, proposed by former government advisors Ross Garnaut and Rod Sims, before other nations makes the decision for Australia as "more and more countries bring carbon border taxes online."
In 2026, the EU will impose a carbon border tax on all products, including Australian products, made from or using fossil fuel.
