Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I'm very pleased to contribute to this discussion on the PEP 11—Petroleum Exploration Permit. I thank my Labor colleagues for agreeing to select this motion today. They know how important it is for me to be raising this issue, my concerns and those of my community on this critical matter, and I certainly welcome this debate. I also want to recognise the member for Mackellar—now Deputy Speaker—for raising this issue. He's right: oil and gas exploration should absolutely not continue in the waters from Newcastle to northern Sydney. But let's be real, this motion won't even go to a vote, let alone force the hands of Liberal governments in Macquarie Street or Canberra to act. So I do hope that the member for Mackellar has backed his words with action. Has he written to the two government ministers responsible? Has he met with them? Is he fighting to insist that this motion be put to a vote in the Australian parliament? These are the things that separate genuine political action from hollow grandstanding.

Let's be clear, this permit should never have been granted in the first place. We don't need this project. We don't want this project. If anything goes wrong, we will more than regret it. Australia has plentiful energy sources. We don't need drilling rigs set up within spitting distance from major cities and towns. There are some six million Australians, almost a quarter of us, that live near the PEP 11 coastline. The argument for PEP 11 is even weaker now than it was in the beginning, with the Australian Energy Market Operator confirming that the cheapest source of new electricity is a combination of renewables and storage. The spectre of oil and gas fields off the coast of Newcastle has loomed over my community since PEP 11 was first granted back in 1999, causing enormous uncertainty and distress, and it hasn't improved since. Frankly, this project has all the hallmarks of an operation in disarray. We've seen a complex and confusing web of companies attached to it. Despite this, I found it near impossible to find somebody in authority willing to speak. Phone calls go unanswered. Meetings were cancelled at the last minute. Once when I tried to get in touch I even found that Asset Energy's phone had been disconnected and their website was down. If they can't even keep a website up why on earth should they be trusted with our precious oceans?

My community has been subjected to botched community consultations and controversial seismic testing being rolled out with seemingly zero regard for the deep local concern. Despite two decades of exploration now, there seems to be no adequate evidence of viable oil or gas reserves to justify or attract further development. After years working to minimise the impacts of PEP 11 on my community—through ministerial representations, a parliamentary petition and working with government agencies on better community consultations and protections of our oceans—I awaited the permit schedule to February 2021 expiry with anticipation. If common sense had prevailed PEP 11 would have been left to die a natural death. The fact that it didn't, and that Asset Energy has instead applied for an extension, is disappointing. The fact that it hasn't been rejected out of hand by this government is worse.

When I learnt about the proposed extension, I went back to my community to seek further feedback. The message I got from Novocastrians was loud and clear: no oil and gas rigs for Newcastle; no way, no how. As a coastal city, the ocean is at the very core of our identity, and Novocastrians feel any threat to it very deeply. I have shared my concerns and those strongly held views of my community with my Labor colleagues. I am confident that Labor understands just how important this issue is for the people of Newcastle and just how important it is for me to make this statement today.

But it is not federal Labor who will make the decision on the future of PEP 11. Indeed, there are no avenues for public input or parliamentary intervention that could influence the outcome of the extension application. No, this decision rests solely with the joint authority consisting of the federal Minister for Resources, Water and Northern Australia, Keith Pitt, and his state counterpart. Minister, I urge you not to approve the PEP 11 extension. It doesn't stack up. It never stacked up, and it never will. Listen to the voices of the people and reject this application once and for all.

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