Ned K.
On Wednesday 11 March, 2015 Prime
Minister Tony Abbott visited the federal electorate of Barker in the South East
of South Australia. The local federal MP, Tony Pasin, is one of Tony Abbott’s
declining number of cheer leaders within his own ranks. Abbott talked up the
economic diversity of the region. What was meant to be an advertisement for
regional community support for the Abbott government encountered an unexpected
twist in the region’s main town. Mount Gambier, well known for its vast water
reserves in the Blue Lake.
About 70 local residents from the region formed the
Mount Gambier Community group and ‘greeted’ Tony Abbott with a visible, silent
protest about the threat coal seam gas exploration and extraction posed to
their livelihoods, the environment and the diverse economy that Tony Abbott
said he fully supported!
A spokesperson for the Community group said in
relation to the risk of pollution from fracking associated with coal seam gas
extraction, “Our aquifers in the South East connect to the Blue Lake, we
eat the food from the surrounding districts, we drink wine from these areas and
we have the tourism that flows on from the entire South East.”
These comments at the protest were similar to those
of the local Regional Development Australia local chairperson, Richard Vickery
who said that compared with some other regions, “We (Limestone Coast) have
a much more diverse economy due to our natural advantages with underground
water and a very broad range of soil types and a quite predictable climate...”
Abbott Dodges The Issue, While SA
Minister For Mining Companies Before Anything Else, Tom Koutsontonis Supports
Fracking
When asked about his position on coal seam gas
extraction and fracking in the Limestone Coast region, Abbott craftily
deflected the question by saying it was a state government issue. To appease
business interests in the region in wine, viticulture and agriculture, he said that
any progression of coal seam gas should be carefully considered... or words to
that effect.
Given the undeniable evidence that the concerns
about coal seam gas and fracking in the Limestone Coast region (and indeed
other regions such as the Hunter Valley) extend across the whole class
divide, from some of the richest winery owners to pensioners and low paid rural
workers, you would expect the SA Government Minister Koutsontonis to reply
with at least a measured response so as to not completely alienate himself
from the majority of the Limestone Coast community.
However this was not to be. He just did the
expected attack on Abbott (no problem with that) and then came in full support
of the expansion of coal seam gas and fracking!
Meanwhile in NSW, the state Liberal Government was
heading for election day in late March with a policy of a moratorium on coal
seam gas! This policy was in coalition with the Greens, Indigenous groups and
minor parties!
Coal Seam Gas Extraction By Fracking
and Global Warming A Toxic Mix
Combine this outburst with the state Minister’s
enthusiasm for turning South Australia in to a nuclear waste dump state and the
alarm bells for the people of South Australia are starting to ring.
On the following Saturday, the Advertiser newspaper
released a poll saying 70% of South Australians were against the nuclear option
for the state’s future.
The next day, the Sunday Mail newspaper contained a
report from Earth Hour co-authored by Professor David Karoly, an atmospheric
scientist, which predicts that the South East Limestone Coast region will
become even more in demand for viticulture due to the adverse impact of global
warming on viticulture areas in the state in the Barossa Valley and Riverland.
If this is the case, creating a further risk to the
area by pandering to the interests of coal seam gas companies like Beach Oil is
very short sighted.
Minister Koutsontonis and his fellow Labor
Government Ministers have the opportunity to re build South Australia as a
sustainable, environmentally friendly economy based on renewable energy. South
Australia is the driest state on the driest continent on Earth, a perfect
opportunity to build an economy powered by the Sun’s energy and the the already
proven energy initiatives in the state from wind farms.
The choice is stark and real.
In the same week as Abbott visited Mount Gambier,
the Lock The Gate Alliance web site reported that toxic chemicals - toluene,
ethyl benzene and xylene from AGL’s fracking waste water had been found in the
Hunter Valley waste water system.
The state government needs to heed the voice
of the communities such as the Limestone Coast Protection Alliance and
the warnings from the Fukishima disaster about nuclear power by Japanese
Professor Akiyama who said in commentary about SA ‘going nuclear’: “A
nuclear accident anywhere is a nuclear accident everywhere...Japanese people
had underestimated the risk” of nuclear power stations. He warned that when
assessing the risks, “Think the unthinkable!"
The same reasoning should apply with the risk
assessment of coal seam gas and fracking in prime agricultural regions like the
Limestone Coast
See also: http://www.protectlimestonecoast.org.au/
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