A CONTINGENT of South East residents will take to the steps of State Parliament today to support Greens parliamentarian Mark Parnell’s push to legislate a ban on fracking.
Limestone Coast Protection Alliance members travelled to Adelaide this morning to witness Mr Parnell’s attempt to introduce amendments to legislation in the Legislative Council, which will prohibit hydraulic fracturing in the region for 10 years.
Alliance chair Angus Ralton said the 20-strong group had planned to hold a demonstration at the front of Government House, before moving into the Legislative Council to watch the vote on Mr Parnell’s bill.
Under the measures proposed by Mr Parnell and Greens colleague Tammy Franks, the ban will begin from the day of this year’s state election and end on March 17, 2028, in which time the minister would be unable to grant any fracking licences within the region.
Any existing licences authorising fracking in the region would be annulled.
In order to pass in the upper house, the bill will require the support of the Liberal Party and one crossbench MLC.
Mr Ralton said the group’s motivation for attending parliament was to “hold the Liberal Party to account” on its election promise for a 10-year moratorium on fracking in the South East.
“We are trying to make sure that the Liberal Party is able to look us in the eye while they stab us in the back,” he said.
“We need to make sure we have done everything we can to make sure we have protected the environment and also to protect the economy.
“We are really going to make them know that we are paying attention and trying to keep them to their word.
“At the moment, all we have is their promise.
“We don’t have any action.”
The group, along with Mr Parnell and Member for Mount Gambier Troy Bell – who has a similar amendment up for a vote in September – have argued the State Government’s cabinet-imposed moratorium fails to consider a change of government and can easily be overturned with a ministerial directive.
Mr Parnell said without legislation, the moratorium was not “worth the paper that it is not written on.
“Alongside South East residents, the Greens know that with a four-year electoral cycle, a ten-year political promise is worth very little unless it is legislated,” he said.
“That is why we want the new Liberal Government to enshrine the fracking ban in an act of parliament.
“That way, even if the government changes again at the next election or if the current leadership gets rolled before then, it will have to come back to parliament to overturn the ban.
“The Liberals’ current position – an ‘administrative’ moratorium – is not good enough.”
Mr Ralton said he was hopeful the group’s demonstration on the steps of parliament would generate greater knowledge of the industry in metropolitan Adelaide.
“We are aiming to raise a bit more awareness in the city of what is happening in the country,” he said.
“We believe what our area has to offer in terms of primary production and other agricultural industries is far and above what the gas industry can ever give us.”
