Lock the Gate Alliance has renewed its call for the Morrison Government to stop wasting public money to prop up polluting and dangerous gas projects following criticism of the plan by energy experts aired overnight.
Four Corners has reported Federal Energy Minister Angus Taylor and his department not only ignored the advice from the likes of the Australian Energy Market Operator, but that the independent experts may have been pressured to fall into step with the government’s ideologically driven gas-fuelled agenda.
“It is extremely concerning our elected politicians are not listening to the energy experts, and are instead pushing outdated and polluting gas and fracking onto the Australian public,” said Lock the Gate Alliance spokesperson Naomi Hogan.
“It’s galling that without an ounce of independent justification, the Morrison Government wants to sacrifice so much country to new gasfields, fracking, and pipelines, laying waste to farmland, water, and rural communities.
“It’s high time Federal Government politicians dumped their flawed plan to waste public money on paying for the gas industry’s pipelines and fracking rigs, and they should start by dropping the proposed changes to NAIF that will enable public funds for gas.”
Coonamble farmer Anne Kennedy said it was a travesty the Morrison Government was willing to sacrifice food and fibre growing land and the water beneath it for the polluting, temporary gas industry.
“The Morrison Government had so many other industries it could have funnelled money into if it wanted to help the nation recover from the Covid-19 crisis. Unfortunately, it chose one that harms our rural communities and our ability to produce food and access secure water, while actually harming our economy,” she said.
“I have given the government so much science and evidence over 12 years - really solid reports, and I naively thought they’d listen.
“Australians will be rightly shocked and appalled to learn there was not a shred of evidence supporting the Morrison Government’s ideological obsession with polluting gas.
“The government must back down from its diabolical coal seam gas and fracking plans before it is too late.”
Mullaley farmer Margaret Fleck said “Farmers in our region are now being approached by a gas pipeline company who has stated publicly they are after federal funding in order to proceed to development.
“This pipeline is a threat to hundreds of properties across the region, and there is no way that we can accept the Federal Government throwing away public funds on a project that will do so much damage.
“We have suffered enough after years of drought. We are now experiencing the first good season in many years. We would like to be able to enjoy that without the constant threat of high pressure gas pipelines and coal seam gasfields being superimposed on our agricultural businesses. It is a direct threat to food security as it would hamper our ability to grow food and fibre for the nation and earn valued export income."