❓ Mr. Love questions the Premier on hydraulic fracturing (fracking) policy, alleging a double standard between Perth/Peel and regional WA. The Premier defends the government's position, highlighting pre-election commitments, scientific inquiry, and landowner rights.
AnsweredQoN 986Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
HYDRAULIC FRACTURING MORATORIUM
986. Mr R.S. LOVE to the Premier:
On behalf of the Nationals WA, I would
like to record our condolences to the member for Churchlands on the sad loss of
his father.
I refer to the Hatton inquiry into
hydraulic fracturing, the government's response and the comments made
by Labor member of the Legislative Council Hon Kyle McGinn in The Sunday
Times on the weekend that —
''My view is that if you had something
(a ban) in the Peel and in the city, it would be unfair on particularly my
electorate to have something different,'' �
Does the Premier share Hon Kyle
McGinn's concerns or is this just another example of how this
government has one set of rules for Perth and another set of rules for the rest
of the state?
986. Mr R.S. LOVE to the Premier:
On behalf of the Nationals WA, I would
like to record our condolences to the member for Churchlands on the sad loss of
his father.
I refer to the Hatton inquiry into
hydraulic fracturing, the government's response and the comments made
by Labor member of the Legislative Council Hon Kyle McGinn in The Sunday
Times on the weekend that —
''My view is that if you had something
(a ban) in the Peel and in the city, it would be unfair on particularly my
electorate to have something different,'' �
Does the Premier share Hon Kyle
McGinn's concerns or is this just another example of how this
government has one set of rules for Perth and another set of rules for the rest
of the state?
AnswerView source ↗
If I can just be clear: the position
prior to us announcing this was the position of the former government. The
position of the former government was to let fracking occur everywhere. The
position of the Liberals and Nationals was for open slather fracking.
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER : Member for
Bateman!
Mr M. McGOWAN : We have a different
position, and we announced it prior to the state election. That was that we
would have a ban in Perth, Peel and the south west where there is high-density
residential development—it would be very difficult to do it in any
event because of that density of residential development—and we would
have a moratorium on the rest of the state pending a scientific inquiry, which
is exactly what we did. We said that the scientific inquiry would be persuasive
on what we would do if we were successful at the election. We have followed to
the letter what we said prior to the election. We have also allowed for
traditional owners, farmers and landowners to have the right of consent for
fracking production. That is new. The arrangement under the last government was
that farmers, landowners and traditional owners could not say no. We have now
allowed those people those rights over their own land in the same way as for
other mining proposals. I think that is a significant difference, and we have
banned it from within two kilometres of residential areas or communities and
from public drinking water zones. We have put in place a range of protections.
We followed the scientific inquiry. It is a balanced position to deal with a difficult
issue.
prior to us announcing this was the position of the former government. The
position of the former government was to let fracking occur everywhere. The
position of the Liberals and Nationals was for open slather fracking.
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER : Member for
Bateman!
Mr M. McGOWAN : We have a different
position, and we announced it prior to the state election. That was that we
would have a ban in Perth, Peel and the south west where there is high-density
residential development—it would be very difficult to do it in any
event because of that density of residential development—and we would
have a moratorium on the rest of the state pending a scientific inquiry, which
is exactly what we did. We said that the scientific inquiry would be persuasive
on what we would do if we were successful at the election. We have followed to
the letter what we said prior to the election. We have also allowed for
traditional owners, farmers and landowners to have the right of consent for
fracking production. That is new. The arrangement under the last government was
that farmers, landowners and traditional owners could not say no. We have now
allowed those people those rights over their own land in the same way as for
other mining proposals. I think that is a significant difference, and we have
banned it from within two kilometres of residential areas or communities and
from public drinking water zones. We have put in place a range of protections.
We followed the scientific inquiry. It is a balanced position to deal with a difficult
issue.
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