Tonight in Parliament I stood with my community and opposed Advent Energy’s Petroleum Exploration Permit 11 (PEP 11) application which would allow oil and gas exploration drilling off our beautiful coast.
Our region’s beaches and ocean environment are renowned for their natural beauty and abundant sea life.
We cannot put them at risk.
This application makes no sense from an economic, environmental, and energy perspective.
Advent Energy’s proposal would likely employ less than 100 people, however it will jeopardise thousands of local jobs in tourism, recreational and commercial fishing.
If there was an accident, this would have a devastating environmental impact, including on the marine life in the area.
And while NSW does need to produce more gas in the short to medium term, there are already projects under development that will produce gas more cheaply and in less sensitive environments without endangering existing industries.
Beyond the short term, our nation’s priority should be renewable energy, not gas.
Advent Energy’s proposal has drawn some of the fiercest opposition I have ever witnessed from my community.
The current PEP 11 application for a secondary work program variation and a suspension and extension of Year 4 of the Permit is currently sitting with the Offshore Petroleum Joint Authority whose sole members are the Federal Minister for Resources, Water and Northern Australia, Keith Pitt and his NSW State Government counterpart.
I urge them to listen to the community, protect our coast and local jobs and reject this application.