Lee Rhiannon (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today, 4 February 2016, is a historic day. It is a historic day for climate action; it is a historic day for steering Australia to a fossil fuel free future; it is a historic day for creative and courageous direct action. AGL, the second largest energy retailer in Australia, has pulled out of coal seam gas operations across this country. In one centre, Gloucester, AGL planned 330 wells alone. Now many in the business reports will attribute this to the slump in oil and gas prices. Yes, that has a role—I am not denying it—but the key driver that has pushed AGL to walk away from an industry that its US CEO, Andrew Vesey, has described as 'potential investment of $1 billion' is a range of organisations and individuals who today have taken their place in the rich protest history of this country. I very warmly congratulate Julie Lyford, a former mayor, and all the rest of the Groundswell Gloucester crew, who have done a most amazing job to take the great wonder and the beauty of Gloucester to the rest of Australia and even further. Then there are other fantastic organisations: Manning Clean Water Action Group, Knitting Nannas, Lock the Gate, the Gloucester Project, and my own colleagues—Greens Senator Larissa Waters and Greens New South Wales MP Jeremy Buckingham—have all played a significant role. Community direct action has been the key.

In saving the beautiful Gloucester Valley in New South Wales, Groundswell Gloucester, Lock the Gate—all of those people who have been on the front line there have made a huge contribution not just in saving Gloucester but also in actually putting it on the table that CSG has no place anywhere in Australia. The people of Gloucester and their supporters did not stand aside for mining companies to make a profit. They have protected their vibrant rural communities, and I am very proud that I was able to join them on their picket line. My next Gloucester visit was due on 13 February this year for another stage in the protest—a fantastic weekend of music, a whole lot of creative activities and also a walk through Gloucester to amplify our combined voices for no CSG. I imagine now that will be a most fantastic celebration, a celebration of all that is so wonderful about Gloucester.

As AGL licks its wounds, it has decided the right thing to do—obviously within its four walls, the board of that company would be doing some tough talking. But it has left. Our attention now needs to shift to Santos, the last CSG company operating in Australia. And they are operating not too far from here, in New South Wales. Santos plans to build gas fields across the Gunnedah Basin of north-west New South Wales. In this case, it would see 850 coal seam gas wells constructed through the Pilliga forest, the largest inland forest left in eastern Australia. Now that is simply unacceptable. It is scandalous; it is vandalism.

Senator Edwards interjecting—

Senator Bushby interjecting—

The writing is on the wall for this unscrupulous company. Its quest for coal seam gas in the Pilliga has been hit with over 20 pollution scares, including groundwater contamination, waste spills and leaks from evaporation ponds. It has got it so wrong it clearly, for those local environmental reasons alone, let alone the impact on runaway climate change—

Senator Edwards interjecting—

Senator Bushby interjecting—

this industry should close. Santos should follow AGL and just get out of this industry.

Sean Edwards (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Oh, Lee!

Lee Rhiannon (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I notice the interjections there. There is a fossilised approach to this industry. It is not surprising from the coalition benches, but considering it is 2016, considering the evidence before us and considering all the extreme weather events that we have had lately, from the terrible fires in Tasmania to the extreme floods to the extraordinary period at Christmas—there was one day when New York in wintertime had a higher temperature than we did in Sydney, when it was our summertime; yes, we had a cold summer and they were having a hot winter, but that is just totally out of whack—again, what a reminder that is to the interjectors from the coalition benches.

This Pilliga project that Santos is trying to push ahead with has been delayed many times and delayed because of some fantastic, well-organised protests by the Pilliga Push—and what a fantastic name. This project is really on its last legs, with all those problems that I have just outlined, and it has been held up regularly by many nonviolent actions. And they have the backing of the local rural community. Surveys have found that 96 per cent of people living across more than three million hectares of land in north-west New South Wales want to be gas field free. Again, what a strong message! Wouldn't a wise government give it the boot? Wouldn't a wise company looking to its own business model and how it is going to stand with its own community get out of this dirty industry?

I just want to share with you some of the many creative actions, and these are just some of hundreds that have occurred in the Pilliga Push and the many protests to date. On this day, for a couple of women who I will give you the details about, their protest started at 5 am. They are two local women: Nicole Hunter, mother of three and small business owner, and Michelle Webb, a sixth-generation farmer and agriculture teacher. They set off, and they each travelled for more than an hour to lock on by 6.30 am using bike U-locks around their necks. Nicole locked on to the gates of the proposed Leewood waste water facility, and Michelle locked on to the Santos's Narrabri holding depot. That day, with the support of a fantastic group of people who were there to give them assistance, they delayed the Narrabri CSG project operations for more than four hours.

These are rolling protests that are occurring under very difficult conditions. If you go to the Pilliga, you will see how Santos is attempting, with the support of the New South Wales Liberal-National government and the federal Liberal-National government, to turn this into an industrial landscape which is crisscrossed with wells, wells that we now know are leaking gas. They are leaking contaminated water. There are spills—highly irresponsible operations. A decade ago it was Eastern Star that was there; Santos used to be part of Eastern Star. The industry then was highly unregulated, real cowboy country. They got away with a whole number of spills. When you go to the area, you see the spills. There are holes in the ground. No trees grow there. No trees grow there, because of the level of contamination, again a reminder of how dangerous this industry is.

That is why Nicole, Michelle and their support team were out there in the early hours of the morning under difficult conditions taking a stand. That is what is pushing this industry, in the case of AGL, to its senses. And now Santos are the last one standing, and they need to move in a similar way.

I also want to pay tribute to Neil Kennedy, a local farmer. I understand that he is about 200 kilometres west of the Pilliga forest area, and he also has locked on to a blockade. He has a very funny story about when he was picked up by the local police, who arrested him because he was locked on. These are people who you would not expect to protest in this way. Often people who protest have been typecast, but this is a broad range, a diverse group of people. Why are they taking action? They are taking action because they can see for themselves the damage that has been done to farming land and to the natural environment, and there are the climate change impacts. They have had the courage of their convictions, and I deeply congratulate them.

We now know that the risks of coal seam gas have been so well documented. They have been documented in terms of the damage to the land, to the soil; the contamination; the damage to our water reserves and to people themselves. People report the skin rashes. There could be possible carcinogenic impacts. There are a whole range of problems. There are many unknowns with how this industry is conducted. It is excellent news today that AGL has moved out of the industry. The pressure—and it will be unrelenting—is now on Santos to move on. I congratulate all those who achieved the end of AGL and saving Gloucester and many other areas. Now we will save the Pilliga.