THE BID to enshrine the Liberal Party’s moratorium in law is an attempt to “bring concern into the South East”, Legislative Council member David Ridgway has claimed.
The investment minister and former South East resident spoke against Mark Parnell’s bill in parliament, criticising the Greens for “trying to play politics” by bringing the existing ministerial directed moratorium into question.
Mr Ridgway said the moratorium, which was implemented on March 29, was functioning as intended, with the regulator, industry, stakeholders and the wider community aware the state’s Mining Department was unable to approve any environmental impact reports relating to fracking.
“The situation in the South East is unique and the social licence for fracking in that region was not established by the proponents,” he said.
“That is why we took action.
“The former government had a policy to approve fracture stimulation, the Liberal Party said we would have a 10-year moratorium and that is what we have implemented.
“If there is a matter for government policy, it should be dealt with as we dealt with it, through a policy decision.
“The mining act should not be used to advance political agendas that could or would hurt the confidence of investors.”
Mr Ridgway added the government did not support using mining legislation to ban specific activities and technologies in principle.
“Legislating this ban could be seen as the beginning of a series of legislative interventions on resource projects acrorss the state,” he said.
“We have a measured approach to resource issues.
“We want to avoid the issues caused by legislative changes is other jurisdictions such as NSW and Victoria.
“We do support the co-existing framework where diverse land users can exist for the benefit of the community and the state.”
In rejecting the bill, Labor MLC Tung Ngo said the State Opposition would look to the “science and independent regulators” in any consideration of the future of gas production in South Australia.
“Labor believes it is vital for this state’s continued prosperity that gas production is environmentally sustainable and collaborative,” he said.
“Gas production provides a vital resource for the community and a significant number of jobs and economic prospects.
“South Australia has a long and successful track record of producing gas from the Cooper Basin in the far north and Otway Basin in the South East.
“While there are currently no proposals to undertake fracture stimulation in the South East, the regulatory framework in place ensures any exploration and production cannot go ahead unless the projects meet the highest environmental standards.”
During Mr Parnell’s scathing closing statement, in which he told the house “there was no surprise” the two major parties were not backing the bill, Mr Ridgway interjected a number of times, saying “we’ve already got the 10-year moratorium in place”.
Mr Parnell dismissed the outbursts, telling the house the Liberals’ pre-election pledge to implement a moratorium appeared to only exist while they remain in office.
“That was not what they said before the election, they promised a 10-year moratorium,” he said.
“People will say, ‘you can’t promise in a four year electoral cycle anything for 10 years’.
“Well the Liberals did. “If they were true to their word, they would give this moratorium the best possible chance of surviving 10 years.
“The best way for it to survive for 10 years is to put it in legislation.”
“The government of the day, Liberal or Labor, has not controlled the numbers in the upper house of parliament since the 1970s.
“Even if there was a change of government, even if there was a change of heart, the chances are the moratorium would still survive that change because of the strong crossbench presence in the upper house.
“I think it is incredibly disappointing that the Liberals have let down their constituents.”
