Cristel --
This election, use your vote to send the next government a
message—Big Oil has no place in the Great Australian Bight.
One of the major players staking claim is BP, the notorious Big
Oil company that caused the world’s worst ever marine oil spill
disaster six years ago in the Gulf of Mexico.
The Bight is a haven for threatened species—southern right whales
give birth in its protected bays, Australian sea lion colonies thrive
here, and its underwater ecosystems rival the Great Barrier Reef for
sheer diversity.
Further, opening up a new oil basin in the Bight will be a huge
blow to our shared global efforts in combating dangerous climate
change. A report by Climate Analytics found that opening up new Oil
basins—including the Great Australian Bight—is inconsistent with
commitments under the Paris Agreement to keep climate change under two
degrees celsius.
We've reached out to each of the major parties—the Coalition,
Labor, Greens and Nick Xenophon Team Parties—to ask their position on
oil drilling in the Bight. We have also sought local candidate
responses to this important issue.
- See more at:
https://www.wilderness.org.au/campaigns/big-oil-out#sthash.sjDh6a7z.dpuf
This election, use your vote to send the next government a
message—Big Oil has no place in the Great Australian Bight.
One of the major players staking claim is BP, the notorious Big
Oil company that caused the world’s worst ever marine oil spill
disaster six years ago in the Gulf of Mexico.
The Bight is a haven for threatened species—southern right whales
give birth in its protected bays, Australian sea lion colonies thrive
here, and its underwater ecosystems rival the Great Barrier Reef for
sheer diversity.
Further, opening up a new oil basin in the Bight will be a huge
blow to our shared global efforts in combating dangerous climate
change. A report by Climate Analytics found that opening up new Oil
basins—including the Great Australian Bight—is inconsistent with
commitments under the Paris Agreement to keep climate change under two
degrees celsius.
We've reached out to each of the major parties—the Coalition,
Labor, Greens and Nick Xenophon Team Parties—to ask their position on
oil drilling in the Bight. We have also sought local candidate
responses to this important issue.
- See more at:
https://www.wilderness.org.au/campaigns/big-oil-out#sthash.sjDh6a7z.dpuf
This election, use your vote to send the next government a
message—Big Oil has no place in the Great Australian Bight.
One of
the major players staking claim is BP, the notorious Big Oil company
that caused the world’s worst ever marine oil spill disaster six years
ago in the Gulf of Mexico.
The Bight is a haven for threatened
species—southern right whales give birth in its protected bays,
Australian sea lion colonies thrive here, and its underwater
ecosystems rival the Great Barrier Reef for sheer
diversity.
Further, opening up a new oil basin in the Bight
will be a huge blow to our shared global efforts in combating
dangerous climate change. A report by Climate Analytics found that
opening up new Oil basins—including the Great Australian Bight—is
inconsistent with commitments under the Paris Agreement to keep
climate change under two degrees celsius.
We've reached out to
each of the major parties—the Coalition, Labor, Greens and Nick
Xenophon Team Parties—to ask their position on oil drilling in the
Bight. We have also sought local candidate responses to this important
issue.
The Australian Greens’
position provides the strongest protections for the Great Australian
Bight. The party “totally opposes all oil and gas drilling in the
Bight”, supports the transfer of environmental approval and management
of offshore oil drilling to a new National Environmental Protection
Agency, and would prevent the renewal of drilling permits in the
Bight.
The Nick Xenophon Team (NXT) position acknowledges
that, in the Great Australian Bight, “the risk of a spill causing
massive environmental, social and economic damage is too high”. NXT
commits to the introduction of new legislation that would give the
Federal Department of the Environment the ability to veto an approval
decision made by NOPSEMA for drilling to proceed in the Great
Australian Bight.
The Coalition position does not oppose oil
and gas drilling in the Great Australian Bight and continues to
support the current approval arrangements that transferred
environmental assessment, approvals and management away from the
Environment Department to NOPSEMA.
At the time of writing,
Bill Shorten has not responded to our correspondence seeking Labor’s
position on oil drilling the Great Australian Bight.
However,
at a public forum held in South Australia on 16 June 2016, Senator
Penny Wong advised that the Labor Party would support the continuation
of the Senate Inquiry into oil and gas drilling in the Great
Australian Bight. The Senate Inquiry was jointly instigated by Nick
Xenophon and the Australian Greens with the support of the Labor Party
earlier this year, but did not report prior to the election.
Marg D’arcy, Labor candidate in the seat of Kooyong, did
respond to our correspondence regarding oil drilling in the Bight,
stating that Labor shares our concerns about how deep-sea drilling
could affect the marine life protected by the marine parks and
reserves of the Great Australian Bight. However, she made no
commitments in relation to any of the specific policy positions we
consider necessary to ensure the Bight is protected from Big Oil
drilling.
See
here for Party positions and Candidate
responses.
The Wilderness Society SA
http://wilderness.nationbuilder.com/
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