Penny Wright (SA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I am very disappointed that the government and particularly the National Party do not see fit to support this motion. Despite what my colleague has just said about the merits of local communities having their land and their food production protected, in fact it goes against that to not support this motion. Indeed, this was actually a landmark unanimous decision by seven councils that make up the South East Local Government Association of South Australia after hearing the concerns of their residents, farmers, landholders, winegrowers, croppers and graziers, who were saying that they are concerned about the risk of unconventional gas mining in their area to the water supplies around Mount Gambier and the south-east region. For that reason, they have sought a moratorium to receive further independent analysis about the risks that are involved. It would seem to be highly uncontroversial and, in fact, we congratulate the council on seeing fit to speak out to protect the interests of their residents and the landholders in the area.