Terry Mills taking a huge gamble with pledge to ban fracking

TERRITORY Alliance leader Terry Mills has thrown a massive curve ball in the 2020 election race by changing his stance on fracking, now saying he will ban it if he is elected chief minister

Territory Alliance leader Terry Mills has thrown a massive curve ball in the 2020 election race by changing his stance on fracking. Picture: Katrina Bridgeford

• Territory Alliance will back fracking for forseeable future: Leader Terry Mills
• Terry Mills opinion: An Alliance government will allow fracking to continue
• Territory Alliance backflips and pledges to ban fracking if elected

TERRITORY Alliance leader Terry Mills has thrown a massive curve ball in the 2020 election race by changing his stance on fracking, now saying he will ban it if he is elected chief minister.

But is the curve ball going to come back and hurt his own party’s election hopes?

Mills’ change in stance — only five months after he penned an opinion piece in this newspaper saying “the economic and environmental benefits of gas are why a Territory Alliance government will permit (fracking) to continue for now” — has drawn the ire of the oil and gas industry.

Business groups are also fuming.

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They say if Mills gets in and bans fracking, it will cost the Territory thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in royalties over the coming decades.

It has again raised questions about ‘who is the real Terry Mills?’

With a history of flip-flopping, many are now questioning if he can be trusted with anything he says.

The change in fracking policy is a huge gamble by Mills who clearly believes a majority of Territorians now don’t want fracking.

His blatant political move is aimed at attracting Greens voters to his party and differentiates Alliance from Labor and the CLP, who both support fracking.

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In the Johnston by-election, the Greens received more primary votes than the CLP.

The anti-fracking vote is significant in certain areas, none more so than around Rapid Creek, Nightcliff, Alice Springs and Katherine.

But Mills’ gamble could also be a nail in Alliance’s coffin.