The NSW Government must act after the Christian Democrat Party joined the Greens, Labor and the Shooters and Fishers Party yesterday, in calling for a moratorium on coal seam gas mining, said Lock the Gate Alliance.
The Alliance has congratulated the Christian Democrat Party for taking this vital policy step, and will be asking them to move on it in the next Parliament.
Spokesperson Georgina Woods said "The political consensus has shifted to an immediate halt on all CSG mining in NSW - only Mike Baird and the Liberal and National Parties are out of step with that.
"The political pressure on the NSW Government is now immense - Mike Baird needs to drop his ill-founded support for experimental and risky CSG mining, and put an immediate halt on all CSG drilling in the state.
"Right across the political spectrum, people are raising the alarm about uncontrolled mining.
"Farmers, faith leaders, Indigenous Traditional Owners and environmentalists have come together on this issue - standing shoulder to shoulder to protect land, water and communities.
“Instead of taking action to prevent CSG, the Baird Government this week has sat on its hands as major drilling company AJ Lucas has moved in on licenses covering the Northern Rivers and Newcastle, to the consternation of local communities.
"After all the trouble with unsafe CSG mining and the enormous groundswell of discontent, all that we have had from the NSW Government are tokenistic measures that do little to address the ever growing risk of CSG.
"It's time for the NSW Government to take heed, call a halt to CSG, and deliver lasting reform of coal and gas mining in the next parliament,” she said.