Former PM Tony Abbott at Manly Beach in his former electorate of Warringah during the election campaign.Credit:Janie Barrett
On Friday,2GB broadcaster Alan Jones asked Mr Abbott:"How are they going with the wind turbines in your former electorate? Is Zali Steggall sticking them up there?"
"I think there's been a lot of wind but not too much action - and thank God,because the last thing we want is what I regard as the dark Satanic Mills of the modern era spoiling our landscape,"Mr Abbott said.
This was an apparent reference to a line in the poem"And did those feet in ancient time",commonly known as"Jerusalem",by the Romantic English poet William Blake.
The line in the poem is generally thought to refer to either the mills of the industrial revolution,England's orthodox churches or the universities of Oxford and Cambridge.
The satirical change.org petition has attracted 25,000 signatures online.
Mr Abbott went on to praise Energy and Emissions Reductions Minister Angus Taylor,saying:"Angus wants to try to keep our existing coal-fired power stations like Liddell open,because we've got more and more wind and solar flooding into the system,and that's great when the wind's blowing and the sun's shining,but it doesn't always blow and it doesn't always shine."
The change.org petition calls on Ms Steggall,who campaigned strongly on a platform of climate change,to"take advantage of the sea breezes"offered by Sydney's northern beaches. It has received 25,000 signatures online.