Newly endorsed Liberal candidate for Buninyong has let the cat out of the bag and confirmed that the Liberals will reverse Victoria’s ban on fracking the first chance they get.
Speaking to the Ballarat Courier, Liberal candidate Andrew Kilmartin said of a Liberal National Government – ‘We’re going to allow gas fracking, which is going to be good’.
The Liberal candidate has let slip what many people already suspect – that the Liberals can’t wait to poison our land by allowing fracking in Victoria.
This also shows the deep division within Coalition ranks – that while the Nationals talk a big game about protecting Victorian farmers, they’ll always roll over for their Liberal masters.
The Liberals have already reversed their support for the onshore conventional gas moratorium, and today’s comments show that they’ll back gas companies and destroy our prime agricultural land before they back farmers.
Victoria’s agricultural sector exports about $12 billion in food and fibre products each year and employs about 190,000 people.
Victoria’s farming community have made it clear that they want to protect the industry and their land from the impacts of fracking and coal seam gas operations.
The Andrews Labor Government has backed the science and banned fracking and only Labor will keep this ban in place.
Quotes attributable to Minister for Resources Tim Pallas
“Labor introduced the fracking ban, and only Labor will keep the ban in place.”
“The Liberals have always been soft on the ban – and now they’ve confirmed they’ll reverse it if given the chance.”
Quotes attributable to Minister for Agriculture and Regional Development Jaala Pulford
“Only Labor can be trusted when it comes banning fracking – forever, and for good.”
“We back our farmers and unlike the Liberals, we won’t let gas companies destroy our prime agricultural land.”
Reviewed 19 August 2020