Federal Election 2019: Boothby Baby Boomers’ growing green guilt

Baby Boomer green guilt in the state’s most marginal seat could explain a massive voter commitment for the political party most prepared to stop oil drilling in the Great Australian Bight.

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• Federal election 2019: Shorten wants Bight oil spill study

Baby Boomer green guilt in the state’s most marginal seat could explain a 70 per cent voter commitment for the political party most prepared to stop oil drilling in the Great Australian Bight.

New polling from Greenpeace Australia Pacific reveals more than 60 per cent of voters and almost 70 per cent of undecided voters in Boothby would be more likely to vote for the party most committed to protecting the Great Australian Bight from oil drilling.

The 51-65 age cohort of the 840 Boothby residents surveyed earlier this month by uComms was the most supportive of fight-for-the-Bight politics, closely followed at 69.6 per cent by Generation Y and the first of Gen Z voters.

They were asked whether they would be more or less likely to vote for a party that is committed to protecting the Great Australian Bight from oil drilling.

Norwegian oil giant Equinor is seeking Federal Government approval to deepwater drill oil 370km off the SA coast, shared by Boothby — the state’s most marginal seat held by 2.8 per cent by Liberal MP Nicole Flint.

Oil drilling in the Bight weighed into the election campaign last week when Australian Labor Party leader Bill Shorten said he was committed to commissioning an independent scientific study into the potential impact of an oil spill in the Bight if he wins the election.

Greenpeace Australia Pacific senior campaigner Nathaniel Pelle said Boothby Baby Boomers were grey nomads who were more likely than any other generation to have visited the pristine coastline of the Bight.

Mr Pelle said they would also be the generation that lived as young adults through some of the nation’s biggest environmental fights, including the Franklin Dam project and anti-whaling in the Southern Ocean.

He said many of Boothby’s Baby Boomers could also be grandparents to teenagers and youth who tended to champion the need for urgent environmental action to correct the wrongs of previous generations.

Mr Pelle said the Boothby poll showed an intergenerational groundswell of public opinion against Equinor’s plans and urged the ALP to rule it out unequivocally before polling on Saturday.

“The Great Australian Bight Marine Park was established in 2012 as part of Australia’s world-leading network of marine parks by then (ALP) Environment Minister Tony Burke …. Allowing drilling in a marine park would put that legacy at risk.”