Meet the MNC tradie battling energy misinformation online

When he isn’t “swinging a hammer around”, Smiths Lake tradie Dayne Pratzky can be found online, waging war on green energy “misinformation and clickbait”.

Despite the negativity that often surrounds the topic online, Pratzky said in the Forster region - on job sites and on the school run - he sees an overwhelming willingness to engage with the renewable energy transition. Anecdotally, he has seen an increase in the number of EVs on local roads.

The backstory: Pratzky, better known online as “The Frackman”, started looking closely at the impact of the coal seam gas industry on farming communities in rural Queensland in the late 2000s, when his own property was in the firing line.

Almost two decades later his fight has broadened to shine a spotlight on anti-science rhetoric and what he calls “targeted foreign interference campaigns” on social media.

Taking the fight online: When Pratzky was fighting to save his home, he organised multi-day protest blockades, but now has taken his work online.

His explainer-style videos encourage his audience - which has grown to almost 50,000 followers across Facebook and Instagram - to engage critically with the content and question "disingenuous" narratives on Australia’s green energy rollout and the impacts of fossil fuels. 

He also hosts a podcast “talking about politics, misinformation and clean energy” with online influencers including former rugby league star Martin Bella. 

Why bother?: So, what inspires a tradie on the coast to spend his time engaging in an online world he describes as toxic? Pratzky credits dishonest politicians and foreign interference. 

• “We have large external lobby groups that are setting up astroturfing on a scale that we've never seen before in this country,” he told the Mid North Coaster. 

Astroturfing is when business, lobbyists or other vested interests establish fake grassroots community groups to create the impression of widespread support.

• “I see it as a problem for democracy,” Pratzky said. “I also find it really difficult when I see even our local politicians come out and just simply mislead people on what the facts are.
  
  “We know that clean energy is the cheapest form of energy, but politicians keep on trying to drag in this misleading information that we need more gas and we need more coal.”

Realities and perceptions: Pratzky said his experiences highlight a disconnect between the views held by genuine locals and narratives being pushed online.

He describes a “concerted bot misinformation campaign around energy” and the broader political landscape, which serves to artificially inflate negativity around renewable energy. 

• “We see a lot of negativity online, but that's not the reality,” he said. “These (social media) pages attacking renewables don't have names, there's no one behind them. You'll find a lot of these pages that are spurting this misinformation online are managed out of places like Sri Lanka and Vietnam.”

Can we do more?: Pratzky believes not enough is being done locally to support the shift, calling for a regional plan that outlines opportunities for community batteries, small-scale wind turbine installations and more solar on the Mid North Coast.

• “I actually don't think our area is doing its fair share,” he said. “A couple of wind turbines won't hurt anyone, and people will actually realise they're not the boogeyman they've been told they are.
  
  “We lose power here very regularly [and] we should have these larger community batteries in places like Smiths Lake, Boomerang Beach and Rainbow Beach.
  
  “All these places can have batteries that help take pressure off the grid, because our power is coming from the New England Renewable Energy Zone (REZ), or it's coming from Newcastle, or it's going to be coming from the Orana REZ out in Bathurst and Lithgow and Oberon.”

He said producing power where it will be used is the “best solution for this”. 

Image credit: Frackman Project Facebook.