STATEMENT REGARDING COOPER BASIN GAS OPERATIONS

“The Australian gas industry has operated in the Cooper Basin for more than 50 years. It is extremely well managed and takes its legislated environmental obligations and responsibilities very seriously

“Furthermore, gas provides regional areas with high-paying jobs – including for local indigenous families – as well as driving small business, and providing billions in royalties and taxes that benefits the whole nation.

“Unfortunately we have out-of-touch activists using alarmist narratives to dictate that regional communities can’t have access to these jobs and projects.

“But not all Aboriginal people want to be rangers, and regional areas should be allowed to benefit from a mature, conscientious and high-paying industry.

“The resources industry is one of the biggest private sector employers of environmental scientists and it operates under some of the world’s strictest regulations.

“Additionally, government agencies, including CSIRO, are continually monitoring gas operations and their potential impacts on local environments, resulting in some of the highest standards in the world.

“Scare campaigns around gas extraction – both conventional and otherwise – are not supported by science. Time and again, anti-development activists make claims that, on testing, don’t stack up.

“We have seen this happen before. Activist groups like Lock the Gate have a history of running scare campaigns against coal seam gas projects in Queensland, but after more than a decade of successful gas operations, these alarmist claims never eventuated.

“The industry needs to continue to provide more education, rather than allow people to come in and run scare campaigns that if successful would disadvantage the regions and the people who live there.”