Week-long reader poll wildly at odds with Terry Mills’ backflipped fracking stance

MORE than 70 per cent of voters have said they support fracking in the Territory in a week-long NT News subscriber poll, wildly at odds with Territory Alliance leader Terry Mill’s statement that ‘the (Territory) community is opposed to it’

More than 70 per cent of voters have said they support fracking in the Territory in a week-long NT News subscriber poll, wildly at odds with Territory Alliance leader Terry Mill’s statement that ‘the (Territory) community is opposed to it’

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MORE than 70 per cent of voters have said they support fracking in the Territory in a week-long NT News subscriber poll, wildly at odds with Territory Alliance leader Terry Mill’s statement that “the (Territory) community is opposed to it”.

The ntnews.com.au poll, which had garnered more than 1900 votes by Thursday evening, revealed 71 per cent of respondents were in support of fracking in the NT, compared to only 23 per cent who were against it. A further 6 per cent said they “didn’t give a frack either way”.

Mr Mills has drawn the ire of business and industry groups over his flip-flopping stance on fracking in the Territory.

The Territory Alliance leader last week backflipped his position on fracking, pledging that his party would now ban the practice in the Northern Territory if elected next month.

But. as recently as January this year, Mr Mills said Territory Alliance would back fracking in the NT for the foreseeable future.

That position was suddenly reversed in Territory Alliance’s Fracking in the NT policy position paper, which Mr Mills released last week.

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“Under Territory Alliance there will be no more fracking in the Northern Territory,” the report says. “Existing exploration licences will not be renewed, and no more production permits will be issued.”

The release of the party’s position paper coincided with the release of new polling from anti-fracking activist group Lock the Gate, which concluded 86 per cent of Territorians opposed fracking.

In a statement, Lock the Gate said their polling “revealed more than eight in 10 Territorians remain opposed to fracking”.

“The survey ... found a whopping 86 per cent of the 1264 residents questioned opposed fracking, with most poll respondents stating they were ‘strongly opposed’.

“Just seven per cent of respondents said they strongly supported the fracking industry.”

However, the NT News subscriber poll found much the opposite, with 1929 respondents voting heavily in favour of fracking in the Territory, with 71 per cent of respondents answering ‘Yes’ to the question, “Do you support fracking in the Northern Territory?”

The percentage of respondents in favour of fracking in the NT News poll has remained remarkably consistent over time as more and more subscribers cast their votes.

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At the end of the first day of the week-long poll 70 per cent of respondents said they were in favour of fracking.

The lowest the ‘Yes’ vote dropped to over the seven days was 69 per cent and the highest it polled was 72 per cent.