Sunday Mail YouGov Galaxy poll finds majority of South Australians oppose oil drilling in Great Australian Bight

Where do South Australians stand on oil drilling in The Great Australian Bight? Our exclusive poll reveals their thoughts.

• Q&A: Equinor answers oil drilling in The Bight questions
• Q&A: The Wilderness Society outline its position on Bight drilling

A majority of South Australians oppose plans for deepwater drilling for oil in the Great Australian Bight, a Sunday Mail poll finds.

Almost 60 per cent of 844 respondents to the YouGov Galaxy poll were opposed to the proposal by Norwegian firm Equinor.

A quarter were in favour and 16 per cent uncommitted.

Labor supporters were more strongly opposed than Liberals, however 48 per cent of the latter also were not in favour.

Exploration plans have generated significant protest.

More than a thousand people at Victor Harbor this month joined activists around the nation calling for a ban on exploring oil and gas in the Bight.

Protesters at Victor Harbor, opposing drilling in the Great Australian Bight. Picture: Nick Clayton

Equinor’s manager for Australia Jone Stangeland, writing in Saturday’s The Advertiser, says his firm is excited by the opportunity to explore the Bight’s potential, despite BP and Chevron walking away from their plans to drill there.

“We have spent two years preparing our environment plan to understand the environment in the Great Australian Bight and we are confident we can explore the area safely,” he says.

Mr Stangeland said a study last year had showed the Bight, if it produced 1.9 billion barrels of oil, could increase Australia’s annual GDP by $5.9 billion, create 1361 jobs and generate $1.7 billion in annual tax income.

But Wilderness Society South Australian director Peter Owen, writing in the Sunday Mail, says turning the Bight into an oilfield would mean almost constant impacts to the marine ecosystem and risks oil spills.

“A significant oil find that leads to the industrialisation of our Great Australian Bight for oil production would spell the end of this magnificent marine wilderness area,” he says.

Mr Owen questions why Equinor, a world leader in renewable technology, is imposing risky oil drilling plans when it has the technology to make Australia a renewable energy leader.

A parliamentary pro-industry event in Canberra planned for Tuesday spruiking a “deep dive into oil exploration and its economic potential for South Australia” has attracted the ire of environmentalists.

Greenpeace Australia Pacific CEO David Ritter has written to head of Australia’s offshore petroleum watchdog Stuart Smith urging him against speaking alongside the oil lobby at “The Great Australian Bight: The Big Opportunity” event.

Mr Smith will represent the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority at the event alongside Norwegian oil company Equinor, which is seeking regulatory approval to drill in the Bight.

By their side will be oil and gas industry body Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association.

“NOPSEMA are supposed to be an independent statutory authority charged with regulating Australia’s offshore oil and gas industry,” Greenpeace senior campaigner Nathanielle Pelle said.

“But the way this event is being promoted makes it sound like a foregone conclusion that Equinor’s dangerous, controversial and unpopular proposal to drill for oil in the Great Australian Bight will go ahead.”

NOPSEMA says its participation is completely neutral, and is being used only to explain its regulatory role and functions.

Equinor last month published a draft environment plan for public comment until the end of this month.