PHOTO: Last year farmers in
south-west Victoria made their feelings known with a sign made out of sheep.
(Audience submitted: Heinz DeChelard)
ABC News
By Frances Bell
February, 7, 2017
Victoria will become the first state
in Australia to permanently ban fracking, after the Opposition party room
agreed to support legislation introduced by the Andrews Government
The bill, to be debated in Parliament tomorrow, will
also extend a moratorium on conventional onshore gas exploration in Victoria
until 2020.
The Coalition's support for the legislation is at odds
with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, who has criticised the Andrews Labor
Government for implementing "an effective ban on gas exploration onshore
in Victoria".
The Federal Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg has also
warned against "blanket statewide moratoriums and bans", amid growing
concerns about rising gas prices and supply constraints on Australia's east
coast.
Fracking is used to extract so-called unconventional
gases such as coal seam, tight and shale gas by pumping high-pressure water and
chemicals into rock, fracturing it to release trapped gases.
The process has been opposed by farmers and
environmentalists due to fears the chemicals could contaminate groundwater
supplies and threaten agricultural industries.
Onshore conventional gas can be extracted without
using the fracking process.
The ABC understands that while Liberal and National
MPs will vote in favour of the Government bill, the Coalition will explore
options for allowing the conventional gas moratorium to be lifted after 2020.
Details are yet to be finalised but Coalition sources
said there would need to be consultation with landholders, and a consideration
of appropriate regulatory frameworks and safeguards, ahead of the 2018
election.
The Grattan Institute's Energy Program Director, Tony
Wood, said he understood the public support for a ban on fracking.
"But it just seems to make absolutely no sense to
me as to why we'd have a moratorium on conventional gas," he said….
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