Dorinda Cox (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Today I want to talk about a megafracker that is currently on its way from the US to Australia. This is one of five megafrackers that Tamboran intends to use to frack the Beetaloo basin, against the wishes of traditional owners. GetUp have estimated that it could arrive in late April and be in use by the second half of this year. This is, of course, if Tamboran can gather the extra $1 billion a year they will need to offset their emissions from day one, which has been one of the great wins the Greens have secured for the safeguard mechanism.

This megafracker has the capacity to drill for more than four kilometres in multiple directions at once. This is nothing like what we've seen here in Australia. In fact, this piece of machinery has a capacity two to four times that of anything that is currently approved in Australia. This means that the impacts on climate, water, the environment and cultural heritage are greater too.

The Northern Territory and federal governments need to complete an independent assessment of the increased risks of this megafracker. There are outstanding recommendations of the Pepper inquiry that have not been implemented, and the use of this machinery will ruin any chance of some of these inquiry recommendations actually being met. The import and use of these rigs must not be permitted in Australia. This sets a dangerous and unacceptable precedent that we cannot afford in the middle of a climate crisis. At this time, we need to be moving away from the fossil fuel industry.