Lock the Gate

Where would you rather see our taxpayer money invested?

The Government wants to frack, but what does Australia want?

We’ve put together a letter you can sign below and add your ideas for the Federal Government on what they could do with our hard-earned tax dollars.

Please add your name and give us your ideas for where you’d rather see your tax dollars spent.

Petition text:

To Federal Parliamentarians, Ministers, Departments,

We are alarmed and disappointed to see the Federal Government now rolling out a suite of actions to prop up expensive and dangerous gas fracking across Australia without any proper public accountability.

As voters and concerned Australians, we ask that you hear our message - do not spend our money on gas fracking projects and big new gas pipelines.

Farmlands, water resources and the climate can’t afford to keep propping up polluting gas.

It’s time for Australia to grow stronger and tool up to embrace cleaner energy and storage.

There are a multitude of ways the Government could take a smarter approach to the Covid recovery. The Australian community has many ideas on how we can boost agriculture, tourism, First Nations opportunities, community health and disaster relief.

We know we can create jobs by genuinely supporting diverse Australian businesses, not throwing our money at the gas fracking industry.

We see huge opportunities to help Australia to get off polluting and expensive gas into the future, to modernise our power and heating and to save on gas and energy bills.

I ask that you oppose the measures being rolled out to fast-track gas fracking, including the ill-considered and secretive National Gas Infrastructure Plan, and take on board our ideas for how the money could be better spent.

Yours sincerely,

Please add some comments.

What would you rather see money spent on?

Here are some ideas:

Helping Australian businesses get off gas
Funding community projects in your neighbourhood
Land stewardship programs
Supporting First Nations organisations and businesses working on country
Renewable energy projects and battery storage
Disaster relief

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Showing 30 reactions

Neil Plummer commented 2021-03-23 15:56:33 +1100

Mining more gas is a very poor and dangerous idea. Instead, invest in deploying renewable energy technologies, energy efficiency, and supporting electric vehicles. The gas industry is the big winner from more gas and it is a poor ‘dollar for jobs’ investment.
Al Ingli commented 2021-03-23 15:56:23 +1100

Renewable energy is a much better investment like battery’s to store power , fracking is a disaster waiting to happen ,once the water is contaminated it’s lost for ever , the future in agriculture will be not more,
Bill King commented 2021-03-23 15:56:21 +1100

I would rather see money spent on saving the planet eg govt buying electric cars to provide a second hand market,more help and job opportunities for the disadvantaged and disabled, hydrogen power development ,energy audits for all govt departments,greater protection for women.
Gary MacPherson commented 2021-03-23 15:56:20 +1100
Juliette Norwood commented 2021-03-23 15:56:15 +1100

Please support sustainable energy and agriculture, which will support jobs in perpetuity, rather than the short-term, corrupt and damaging options of fossil fuels.
Wendy Ivanusec commented 2021-03-23 15:56:08 +1100

How about flood mitigation/irrigation/hydro power? Topical today as we experience a 1 in 100 year flooding event. Snowy Hydro mapped many rivers along the east coast of Australia in anticipation of that scheme being replicated in order to provide flood mitigation to the east and water to the arid areas to the west of the Great Divide. Sadly, valuable expertise was lost when SMHEA was disbanded – such a short sighted move by the then Liberal Govt. In a shocking oversight, State & Federal Govts since have done nothing whatsoever to ameliorate the situation, so that our country and its people continue to pay an appalling price without water going west (drought relief/irrigation) and flood relief to the east not to mention the by-product of ‘free’ hydro power. Time to think beyond the next election and bite the bullet to address this shortfall.
Helen Marsh commented 2021-03-23 15:55:55 +1100

Consider renewable energy projects and battery storage and recognise this is the 21st century
Jackie Nowell commented 2021-03-23 15:55:54 +1100

Frackers can Frack Off!! Feel very grateful to be in Vic where fracking is banned in the constitution and will always be grateful for Dan Andrews doing so. Rest of Australia must eventually follow.
warren brown commented 2021-03-23 15:55:35 +1100

Fracking puts the artesian water table at very serious risk, a risk which we should not, cannot, bequeath to future generations.

Additionally, gas adds substantially to atmospheric pollution, we need to cut back dramatically on adding to this.

Invest the money instead on health and aged care – a much better outcome for all.

Continued capitalism is leading us to our deaths.
Steve Karlson commented 2021-03-23 15:55:26 +1100

I would love to be able to relate to the term Honoroble Member, as in they would actually do something constructive and have a 50 year plan for the future. Not keeping poluting our farm land and water ways with the most stupid of all options-fracking, when there are clearly solutions more future friendly. How can anyone call these people honoroble when they are so stuck in poluting this wonderful country? Invest in science, employ people who can search the world for what has worked best and start to really build an industry in this country that can show the world we are not stuck in the past. Please, enough of this stupid poluting fracking already!
Jason Makeig commented 2021-03-23 15:55:05 +1100

Fracking has dangerous environmental consequences according the majority of scientists .. so the industry must shut down !!!
Saskia Strange commented 2021-03-23 15:55:03 +1100

Please listen to the Australian people who are overwhelmingly opposed to fracking and are in favour of real support for sustainable energy source development. Experts repeatedly call for emergency action on mitigating the effects of climate change – actions to the contrary can only be interpreted as a willingness to aid and abet influential donor businesses no matter the cost
Janine Vinton commented 2021-03-23 15:55:01 +1100

Wouldn’t the money be better spent on disaster relief as well as renewable energy? Come on government, have a thought for future generations as well as the planet.
John Rodgers commented 2021-03-23 15:54:45 +1100

Water is the most precious comodity in Australia & essential for life into the future for inland Australia. Fracking has a high probability of destroying or polluting underground aquifers which are the only reliable source of water in all of low rainfall Australia.

Fracking and Agriculture are NOT comparable for the future. Gas from fracking will run out in a geologically very short time but Agriculture can continue to provide food for ever. All fracking should be stopped and no new areas should be abused by addition to the area approved.

This is a different issue to climate change but very important!

Money should be spent on battery storage added to solar or wind generation.
Sally Schmidt commented 2021-03-23 15:54:45 +1100
Margaret Fleck commented 2021-03-23 15:54:17 +1100

Australians should not be compelled by the Federal Government to spend tax payer money on expensive, polluting fossil fuel projects and associated infrastructure. This money should be spent on new battery technology, hydrogen technologies and energy management systems to complement the cheaper and cleaner renewable energy sources that are being developed at an exponential rate.
Annette Spear commented 2021-03-23 15:53:50 +1100

Australia doesn’t need to frack our beautiful country. The government has already sold off more rights for oil and gas to other companies which belong over seas. Any fracking will destroy our heritage and our country. Many Australians will suffer from this and our taxes will increase in the future due to environmental damage that it will occur. Australians are proud of our country and what it has to offer tourists but no one wants to see fracking happening around them instead of our beautiful country.
Frennie Beytagh f commented 2021-03-23 15:53:49 +1100
Susan McKellar commented 2021-03-23 15:53:38 +1100

I don’t have gas and I don’t like gas………..Disaster relief.
Ross Dickens commented 2021-03-23 15:53:10 +1100

More money should be spent on renewable energy and assisting communities transitioning from reliance on fossil fuel production.

I cannot understand the wisdom in continuing with gas fracking that puts valuable agricultural land at risk.
Tim Frazer commented 2021-03-23 15:53:10 +1100

No responsible Government would let Fracking occur unless it wanted to take away clean food and water to only see gas be exported. I live within 2 hours from Orbost which has gas coming in from offshore yet I’m having to pay exorbitant prices for bottled gas and yet it’s on my doorstep. The Coal Seam Gas Blockade I saw first hand at Glenugie – Grafton showed me how destructive, poisonous and toxic it is on Community, Water Tables and the fact the NSW Government sent thug riot police in to attack woman first to insight men to react, this showed me how conflicted, corrupt and lost governance is in Australia. Only a foreign body would pollute it’s on living environment
Rob Mill commented 2021-03-23 15:53:05 +1100

Support First Nations organisations, they have far more knowledge than anyone.
Jan and Warren Watson commented 2021-03-23 15:53:03 +1100
Jan and Warren Watson commented 2021-03-23 15:53:00 +1100
Wesley Ward commented 2021-03-23 15:53:00 +1100

Let’s put more thinking and resources into expanding renewable energy projects, including pump hydro, solar and wind.
Karen Rooksby commented 2021-03-23 15:52:57 +1100

Spend on:

Refuges for abused families

Public housing

Jobseeker

Aged care
Nigel Howard commented 2021-03-23 15:52:46 +1100

We already have enough gas to meet our needs through the transition to 100% renewables, after which gas will be as stranded an asset as coal. Investors and governments are getting out of fossil fuels and into renewables as fast as their circumstances allow and only a moron would be locking in more gas for the future, especially fracked gas with all of its problems especially its fugitive emissions. If you want to spend our public money on a initiatives for a survivable future for our children and grandchildren, a future that makes us proudly competitive rather than a shameful global pariah, then you’ll invest in grid firming and storage and super-charging the transition to EV’s with reverse charging. Did you know that if all of Australia’s cars were EV’s linked with reverse charging to the grid we would have 18hours of the whole nations generating capacity available within the 20million car batteries grid connected. That’s 4 times the storage of Snowy 2.0. Time for some joined-up scientifically informed thinking in Canberra to serve the people in place of the lying, spin and misdirection to serve your gas cartel sponsors.
Mark Giles commented 2021-03-23 15:52:46 +1100
Deborah Stevenson commented 2021-03-23 15:52:45 +1100

We are applying for small grants to kick start a network of microgrids and e-charging stations across our shire so that we are more resilient in the face of future fire and flooding events. We would like to see Commonwealth dollars spend on these community projects, not on expansion of the gas industry. Gas is not clean, nor is it renewable and further extraction will do NOTHING to assist our shire to face further extreme events, in fact it will only increase Australia’s already high GHG emissions and worsen these events. We are currently in flood and cut off. Last year we were impacted by fires for over 6 weeks. The year before that we were in drought. We still haven’t received any of the Commonwealth funds that were promised to assist recovery and build community resilience, instead our government intends to use public money to prop up the gas industry. This government is morally and environmentally corrupt.
Peter Green commented 2021-03-23 15:52:40 +1100

The federal government seemed to defer to medical science when it undertook its response to the COVID crisis. So what is so hard in accepting climate science to underpin the national response to the climate crisis? The insidious influence of the fossil fuel lobby must be quashed, and a federal ICAC with teeth would be a useful adjunct.