LETTER TO THE EDITOR:
THERE has been a great deal of uncertainty and large-scale community concern about hydraulic fracturing (‘fracking’) and coal seam gas in Victoria.
The moratorium did not solve this problem.
It only brought more uncertainty and caused a great deal of anxiety to our farmers in the process.
Over the past few months, I’ve spent a lot of time listening to both farmers and regional communities.
What stood out strongly was that the environment is the economy in regional Victoria.
If you do things that compromise the environment and in particular, water security you do things that compromise the agricultural sector, which employs more than 190,000 people.
We will not put our ‘clean, green’ reputation of Victoria’s agriculture sector at risk.
In a national first, the Andrews Labor Government is introducing a permanent ban on the exploration and development of all onshore unconventional gas in Victoria including hydraulic fracturing (‘fracking’) and coal seam gas.
Quite clearly, this is one of the biggest issues affecting regional Victoria.
