Lock the Gate Alliance has slammed the Prime Minister’s announcement today of an urgent meeting of big gas producers, following the release of the Australian Market Energy Operator’s report.
“This is a slap in the face for farmers who are having their land and water ruined by big gas companies,” Lock the Gate National Coordinator Phil Laird said.
“Instead of holding an exclusive meeting with big gas companies, the Prime Minister should be meeting with farmers to discuss the damage this industry is doing, and with renewable energy companies, which hold the answer to our energy problems.
“Siding with big gas and riding roughshod over farmers, who are trying to protect our food security and their regional communities, is not the way to go about solving energy issues.
“These gas companies have planned to link the domestic economy to international markets for decades. They have gambled big with our nation’s resources and have comprehensively lost, to our collective detriment.
“Now the government has plans to make landholders and regional communities collateral damage with the roll out of fracking and unconventional gas.
“There is no point turning to the perpetrators of this situation - the big gas companies who need someone else to pay for their failed strategy.
“Come on Malcolm Turnbull, get with realistic solutions that the community actually wants.
“The answer is renewable energy with storage, which is affordable, reliable and doesn’t sacrifice our farmers’ land and water, like gas and coal do,” Mr Laird said.
The AEMO report states that 'alternative generation fuel sources...or technologies such as energy storage may be viable alternatives to GPG (gas-fired power generation)'.