Fracking OK, but under 'strict laws' – Gunner

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p2354-michael-gunner-1LETTER TO THE EDITOR
 
Sir – The Northern Territory Government has accepted all 135 recommendations of the independent fracking inquiry.
 
Implementation of the recommendations will now begin so that Territorians can benefit from the creation of new jobs while protecting our unique natural environment for generations to come.
 
We promised to be a Government that restores trust, listens to the community and creates jobs. We promised an independent, scientific inquiry after which we would either ban fracking or allow it in highly regulated circumstances in tightly prescribed areas.
 
We have kept our promise.
 
We have accepted the key finding of the report – that if all the recommendations are implemented the risk from fracking can be reduced to an acceptable level.
 
We have also accepted the inquiry’s advice about no go zones and coupled with areas where there is no petroleum potential, 49% of the Territory will be frack free, including in national parks, conservation areas, Indigenous protected areas, towns, residential and strategic assets, and areas of high cultural, environmental or tourism value.
 
In the remainder of the Territory, strict new laws and regulations will be put in place to ensure that when fracking takes place, we protect the environment, the cultures and lifestyles that rely on it, and the many tourism, pastoral and agricultural jobs that depend on it.
 
We understand that many Territorians are concerned about increased greenhouse gas emissions from fracking and as recommended by the inquiry. I have written to the Prime Minister and the Federal Leader of the Opposition seeking their agreement to partner with us in offsetting all additional emissions.
 
In line with the recommendations of the report, the Government will be ensuring industry pays its fair share through an appropriate cost recovery model.
 
Work on a detailed implementation plan for the 135 recommendations of the final report will begin immediately and be completed and released to the public in July this year.
 
As part of the ongoing implementation a community and industry reference group will be created to ensure Territorians continue to have a formal voice in the process.
 
Chief Minister Michael Gunner
 
 
 

17 COMMENTS

  1. What a disgrace. No social licence.
    People voted this government in for their NO FRACKING position.
    The benefits for the average Territorian will be minimal despite all the hype – and who wants to think about all the money the government has thrown at this industry already?
    I am disgusted.

  2. When the Federal Government have you in a squirrel grip what choice have you? Best hope is that the pace of developments of the alternatives and the cost of developing the resources means not much will happen.

  3. This guy is just sitting back thinking of stuff that will ensure he won’t be re-elected.

  4. Well blow me down, I never thought he would have the guts to go ahead.
    And a Labor Government at that. Good on him.
    The benefits to the Territory will be considerable. Maybe able to cut the life line from the Australian taxpayer and stand on our own feet.

  5. Yes, Psuedo Guru, and he will organise the supply of water bottles for the few of us that will have remained.

  6. From the moment Gunner failed to give an unequivocal NO to fracking during the last election, we all knew this was going to happen. It was just a matter of time.

  7. Yes Hal, and all this money spent on inquiries, surveys etc was just to pull the wool over our eyes and a waste of the taxpayers’ contributions.
    “Their impressive credentials and dazzling performances will pull the wool over the eyes of even those who ought to know better.”

  8. Evelyne Roullet, sadly I agree with you. As I’m a bit older now the pollution of groundwater may not affect me in time.
    However what are my sons supposed to do? Just pack up and move to the coast, Melbourne, Sydney?
    No, thanks. This is just so wrong. I feel sad for what may, could, will happen to this wonderful part of Australia.

  9. Gunner: “We have accepted the key finding of the report – that if all the recommendations are implemented the risk from fracking can be reduced to an acceptable level.”
    I’m sorry sir, but NO level of risk is acceptable to me and, I believe, to a majority of Territorians when it comes to contamination of water, one of the essentials for life.
    You have sold off any hope to a “Green and Clean” future for the Territory, and for what?
    A few crumbs in royalties as shareholders and mining CEOs laugh all the way to the bank.
    Territorians will all pay dearly for this decision, but no less than the NT Labor Party at the next elections.

  10. Domenico Pecorari: Gunner does not care about the next elections. He probably has a good CEO job or consultant reserved for him in the mining / fracking industry like Adam Giles with the pastoral industry.

  11. FACT: All well holes fail sooner or later.
    These politicians are banking on the hope that they won’t be around to take the anger of the public when these failures start occuring.
    Time to change the laws that protect them when they pass laws that cause harm.

  12. The NT is BROKE. And with falling GST revenues it isn’t getting better any time soon, folks.
    We are used to milking the states of their revenue.
    Territorians have grown used to their “entitlements” being fed regularly at the expense of those who actually create the wealth.
    We go to Centrelink in huge numbers on “Pay Day”. So what is NT Government to do?
    I feel like we are seeing the future, as pristine Antarctica is mined, as world resources diminish.

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