MEMBER for Mount Gambier Troy Bell has moved forward with his pledge to bolster the Marshall Government’s cabinet-imposed fracking ban, introducing a bill seeking to enshrine the moratorium in law.
The independent MP introduced a private member’s bill to the lower house yesterday morning that will ban hydraulic fracturing in the South East for 10 years.
Under the measures proposed by Mr Bell, which will amend the Petroleum and Geothermal Energy Act, the minister would be unable to grant any fracking licences within the region.
The ban, which mirrors an earlier bill introduced into the upper house by Greens MLC Mark Parnell, will begin from the day of the state election and end on March 17, 2028.
In his 15 minute speech, Mr Bell highlighted the lack of social licence and the lack of peer-reviewed scientific studies relative to the region as being core reasons for imposing a legislative ban on the practice.
“Quite simply we need the 10 year ban on fracking in the South East because the work has not been done,” he said.
“There are many differences between the South East and the Cooper basin,” Mr Bell said.
“The geology, the fault lines, the population density, the use of settling ponds, the aquifers, on and on it goes.
“This 10 years gives everyone the time needed to make informed opinions based on facts specific to the South East.”
Mr Bell told his former colleagues there was “not one person” in the region who believed a ministerial direction was a 10-year ban.
“If you say one thing before an election, you need to honour it after an election,” he said.
“The debate is no longer about fracking or not fracking in the South East, the community has already decided that.
“This debate is now about trust.”
Limestone Coast Protection Alliance spokeswoman Merilyn Paxton, who was in attendance with a small contingent of people, backed Mr Bell’s move to strengthen the moratorium.
“Troy made a very good and very informed speech and he referred constantly to peer-reviewed studies around health and the dangers of fracking,” she said.
“It was good to show we were interested and it was good to show the parliament that we want a moratorium that is legislated.”
Following Mr Bell foreshadowing plans to introduce a similar bill in the House of Assembly earlier this year, the State Government would not be drawn on committing to supporting legislated change.
The debate around Mr Bell’s bill was adjourned and it will be discussed in the lower house again on September 5.
Mr Parnell’s fracking bill is expected to be subject to a vote on July 25.
