The Tasmanian Greens will move to introduce a permanent ban on fracking when Parliament resumes next week, Greens Leader and Mining spokesperson Kim Booth MP announced today at the frack-free rally in Hobart.
“Today’s rally, and all those people who took the time and effort to submit to the recent review raising concerns about the unacceptable impact of fracking, have demonstrated that short term reprieves are not enough,” Mr Booth said.
“The Greens will heed this call, and we will move in the Parliament for a permanent ban to be implemented.”
“While a welcome first step, all the extended moratorium guarantees is ongoing uncertainty, especially given the bizarre provision allowing exploration to continue during the moratorium.”
“Our farmers deserve complete certainty about investing in long term cropping and stock business cases.”
“Landowners deserve the certainty that they can say not on my land, should mineral exploration identify any shale oil or unconventional gas deposits beneath them.”
“The community deserves the certainty that our crucial groundwater aquifers and waterways will remain clean and unpolluted by fracking-related chemical contamination.”
“The mining sector should also have complete clarity about what the Tasmanian people will not accept, now or into the future, and that is the fracking of our land.”
“The Greens will be moving on the resumption of Parliament to have the recently extended moratorium made permanent,” Mr Booth said.