The Northern Territory’s Katherine Town Council last night joined the rapidly growing list of local councils across Australia who have supported moratoria or passed motions of opposition or concern about unconventional gas mining.
“It is great to see that our local Council has listened to the concerns of the Katherine community in passing this motion for a fracking moratorium across the shire,” said Katherine resident and Don’t Frack Katherine member, Charmaine Roth.
“The community asked Council to consider all the evidence that is coming to light and the numerous reports that are now available that show that the unconventional gas industry is unsafe and they have done so.
“This action from Council will increase pressure on the NT Government to implement a Territory-wide moratorium on fracking until essential independent baseline data is collected, environmental laws and legislations are strengthened, and it can be proven 100% that our water, lifestyle and livelihoods are not at stake,” she said.
“Last night’s motion for a fracking moratorium from Katherine Council shows again that it is local government who are actually prepared to represent the interests of their constituents, whereas state governments are more interested in doing the bidding of multinational gas and mining companies,” said Boudicca Cerese, Shale Campaigns Coordinator for Lock the Gate Alliance.
“With more than 60 councils across all mainland states now standing up to oppose the unconventional gas invasion that is currently spreading across the entire continent, it is clear that this industry does not have a social licence to operate.”
“Communities Australia-wide are working together to protect their local environment and water resources, and safeguard the health of their children, in the face of an unprecedented push to industrialize vast swathes of the Australian land mass for export gas production.”
“The growing opposition to fracking in the Northern Territory shows that communities everywhere are prepared to take action on this issue and hold governments to account for decisions that have potentially disastrous impacts on local communities,” she said.