CLP to establish long-term fracking projects if elected

OPPOSITION Leader Lia Finocchiaro has announced the CLP will ‘go for gas’ and continue fracking long into the future if elected.

Opposition Leader Lia Finocchiaro has announced the CLP will ‘go for gas’ and continue fracking long into the future if elected. Picture: Glenn Campbell

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OPPOSITION Leader Lia Finocchiaro has announced the CLP will “go for gas” and continue fracking long into the future if elected.

Ms Finocchiaro revealed yesterday the CLP would work to establish infrastructure and agreements for ”long-term, multi-generational” fracking projects as soon as possible.

“We need to be looking and moving now to work with land councils and other land owners to ensure that we have the corridors of the future that we need,” she said.

“But, not only pipelines, but telecommunications and other important assets that are going to help unlock this gas opportunity and potential.”

Ms Finocchiaro said they would do so in accordance with the Pepper Inquiry, or the Scientific Inquiry into Hydraulic Fracturing in the NT, handed down in 2018.

“We will also confirm absolutely that we will stick to the 135 Pepper Inquiry recommendations which show a pathway on how onshore gas can be delivered safely here in the Territory going forward,” she said.

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It comes after Territory Alliance leader Terry Mills backflipped on his views towards fracking late last month, pledging to ban the practice in the NT if elected in August.

Mr Mills’ policy position paper coincided with new polling from anti-fracking activist group Lock the Gate, which found 86 per cent of Territorians opposed fracking.

When asked to respond to these figures, Ms Finocchiaro said they were a result of “misinformation”.

“Ultimately, there is a lot of conversation around onshore gas, and some of it is led through misinformation which really is unfortunate,” she said.

“We have had multiple reports show us that onshore gas can be done safely and that is a commitment.”

Ms Finocchiaro would not confirm yesterday who the CLPs preferences would go to at the August election, following Territory Alliance’s new fracking policy.

“When the writs are closed and all of the candidates are announced, the party will move to a preselection process,” she said.

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Ms Finocchiaro also confirmed the CLP would extend the current moratorium on Seabed Mining, due to expire next March, until after the release of a report currently being prepared into the potential environmental impacts of the practice.

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