WA Labor locking the gate
Two WA Labor MPs have become the latest to call for a ban on hydraulic fracturing in the state.
Thousands of people turned out to highway protests last month, calling for authorities to “Lock the Gate” on gas exploration.
Now Collie-Preston MP Mick Murray and Member for the South West Region, Sally Talbot, have realised the level of community anger and responded to it.
They want legislation to ban fracking.
“People don't like it, they're worried about it,” Mr Murray told reporters on the weekend.
He said there was a risk to underground water supplies, and “we can't afford to risk that at any shape or form”.
“We have major opportunities for job creation and training for our young people in the areas of tourism, hospitality, food production, agriculture in general,” she said.
“Fracking is just not going to match those other industries for us.”
The state has two ongoing lease applications.
A new potential lease south-east of Bunbury was released 12 months ago. and the leading backer Bunbury Energy is in the first stage of native title negotiations.
The Department of Mines and Petroleum (DMP) says Bunbury does not plan to frack.
The second available area - the Whicher Range gas field - covers a large are south of Busselton.