Ballina’s Greens MP Tamara Smith has accused Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull of wanting to open up the northern rivers region to fracking.
Ms Smith was responding to claims by the PM that Australia was facing a gas crisis ‘which has been created by policies of state governments that have locked up gas resources over the years despite many warnings’.
The northern rivers stood up to the gas industry when thousands turned out to a blockade at Bentley which almost saw 900 riot police descend on the area before the state government called a halt to gas mining in the area.
Ms Smith said however that the PM’s comments indicated the northern rivers was again at risk.
‘Malcolm Turnbull and the National Party are actively pushing for more coal seam gas development in NSW and clearly that means they want to see fracking return to the northern rivers,” Ms Smith said.
‘It is disturbing that at every juncture the Liberal and National parties revive the idea of fracking our region. Malcolm Turnbull and Kevin Hogan should explain to the community why they think this is appropriate.
‘The community have made it clear that this industry has no social license and that they will fight it every step of the way, but the National Party just doesn’t get it.
‘They think they can sneak this back onto the agenda under the guise of a gas crisis, but we will not be fooled.
‘The real issue when it comes to gas availability is that successive Coalition and Labor Governments have allowed greedy oil companies to send all of our gas overseas without a care for the implications for Australian businesses and households.
‘Mr Turnbull and the National Party need to get the message that we are not going to allow these multinationals to exploit the Northern Rivers to pay for their greed.’
Meanwhile, at a meeting on Wednesday, Mr Turnbull met with mining industry leaders who gave an assurance that they would step up their domestic supply to ensure Australians had enough gas.
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